Open Source LMS Advocacy at Weber State University: Challenges and Opportunities

Although Weber State has been using the Blackboard/WebCT LMS for the
last six years, it has also been investigating the promise of open
source learning management systems. Weber’s rationales for deploying
an open source LMS will be outlined, and the strategies and challenges
that Weber has faced in pursuing open source will be discussed.
Participants will be invited to share their own experiences and
concerns with open source learning management systems.

Objectives of the presentation (what are you planning to do)

A case study of how open source LMSs are being deployed (and evaluated) at Weber State University.

Practical Applications (how can your results/strategies be used by others)

Consider some of the merits and demerits of open source learning management systems.

Bio

Luke Fernandez is Assistant Manager of Program and Technology Development at Weber State University. On the side he writes articles on university IT issues and teaches adjunct courses in a number of learning management systems. His blog is at http://itintheuniversity.blogspot.com

Orienting Students for Online Learning

Purpose: This presentation targets those who develop online curriculum in general, but may be of special interest to those who oversee programs and seek ideas for providing a positive experience for online students and increasing their chances of success and completion.

Objectives: We plan to provide a very brief overview of UEN’s online course program and audience as a context, then focus on how we developed a fully-online solution to meet the orientation needs of both class participants and facilitators. We will demonstrate our current online orientation in BlackBoard Vista so participants can see how it is organized and how it works.

Practical applications: Those who attend this session should leave with an understanding of:
1) Why an orientation is important and how to shift from in-person to online
2) What to include for student success and facilitator convenience
3) The time commitment and tools required to create an online orientation
4) What has worked well and areas requiring improvement or change in UEN’s online orientation model

Information: At the time of submitting the conference proposal UEN Professional Development is offering the fully online orientation for the first time. By the time of the conference we will have offered 18 courses requiring completion of the orientation online. We hope to have some valuable insights to share regarding the success or difficulties with our new model. Measures of succes include facilitators’ evaluation of the quality of participation, quantity of technical issues or problems and the number of participants who begin a course the first week and persist until completion.

Biography
Victoria manages the professional development department for UEN. She has eighteen years of teaching and training experience including high school English and biology, university courses in writing and computer skills, seminars on technology topics at the University of Utah and university faculty development centered on use of technology in their curriculum. She also has experience in technical writing, marketing, and higher education information technology services. Victoria’s education includes an undergraduate degree in English and Secondary Education, with biology minor from Utah State University, and graduate work in Communication at the University of Utah.