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Interview with Dr. Jill Biden: Paving the way to Infographic: Community colleges are “one of student success: Overcoming plagiarism: 8 steps to creating America’s best kept secrets” An interview with Katie Blot a culture that fosters academic integrity

Great minds in education come together at a Blackboard’s openness initiative. From the Editor

IN THIS THIRD ISSUE OF E-LEARN FOR 2017, OUR Trey Buck, Senior Product Manager and SafeAssign focus is on BbWorld, the biggest expert here at Blackboard for his contribution. Functioning as a Blackboard event, where great minds in education come together to exchange ideas, Our gratitude also goes to Jonathan Bergmann, author teaching and learning share best practices, and address to- of the book “Flip Your Classroom: Reach Every Student day’s toughest educational challenges. in Every Class Every Day,” Izak Smit from the Cape community Peninsula University of Technology in South Africa, Luis collaboration, E-Learn In this opportunity, we had the privilege of Luévano from the Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios interviewing Dr. Jill Biden, former Second Lady Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico, and Tonia Malone of is a place for educators of the United States and lifelong educator. Dr. Cal Poly State University in the United States, all of whom Jill Biden, who is also set to open this year’s will also participate as speakers at this year’s BbWorld. to share ideas, BbWorld, has offered us invaluable insights insights, perspectives, about her perspective on education today. In addition, and according with our aim in provid- ing our community with the most relevant topics in and practices for the Our special thanks to Katie Blot, Blackboard education, we have included a great piece on acces- purpose of improving Chief Strategy Officer, who shared her insights sibility. It is a collaborative piece offering different on student success from a global standpoint. viewpoints from experts that also participated in student success. Blackboard’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day recent In this issue, we have put together a special webinar series. We also extend our thanks to Scott Want to participate article on plagiarism prevention - a topic of Ready, Diana Bailey and Kyleigh Edwards, Dr. James particular interest to the academic com- Cressey, Lucy Greco, Juan Simón and Eloisa Alpizar. Wed like to hear from you. munity – and one that we believe we can Share your eperience in an offer valuable insights to get the conversa- We would also like to thank some of Blackboard’s cli- interview, your perspective in a tion started. In the following pages you will ents for having shared their experiences in this issue: column, or your field of find an investigative piece and infographic, David Montes de Oca, Andrew Kapunin from Nation- epertise in an article. Suggest on how to effectively deal with this type of al University, Danny Harrington from ITS Education our net topic of focus, get in situation should it take place. We also thank Asia and Helen Richardson from Gateshead College. touch with the e-learn team. We hope you enjoy this issue!

Sincerely, The E-Learn Team mail [email protected] for further information. 1 Table of Contents BbWORLD 17 / July 2017 For more information, please contact: [email protected]

PRODUCTION SPECIAL THANKS

Carolina Pintor Katie Blot, Phill Miller, Heather Phillips, Laureano EDITOR Díaz, Lynn Zingraf, Katie Gallagher, Vivek Ramgopal, Interview with Dr. Jill Biden: Manuel Rivera Marina Ilishaev, Lisa Clark, Community colleges are Nancy Olmos, Andy Holohan, “one of America’s best kept secrets”.....4 CONTRIBUTING Rahayu Rahim, Sarah EDITORS Gregory, Minerva Carrizo, Paving the way to student success: Edgar Gonzalez, Sheryn An interview with Katie Blot...... 10 Shawnee Cohn Anthes, Trey Buck, Elisa Viali, Overcoming plagiarism: Liliana Camacho Sally Ewalt, Leticia Santoyo, Jonathan Bergmann: Flip your 8 steps to creating a culture Susan D’Aloia, Natasha classroom, embrace technology that fosters academic integrity...... 42 JOURNALISM Davidson, Marissa Carrillo, and enhance student learning...... 14 Luza Bohorquez-Thomas. The challenge of making Priscila Zigunovas How to use telepresence technology education accessible to all...... 46 Christina Gómez PROYECTOS SEMANA to increase student engagement...... 20 Enhanced instructor-student PHOTOGRAPHY Director Disruption: A driver communication with Paola Villamarín González for technological adoption...... 24 Blackboard Learn...... 54 AFP, Marya Figueroa, Christie’s Photographic Alejandro Torres The first annual Hackboard Under One Roof: National University’s Solutions, Ralph Germán Hernández embraces openness and gives the Use of Community Engagement and Alswang, Gary Fabiano. community a chance to be creative.... 26 Quick Enroll Modules...... 56 JOURNALISM ART AND DESIGN Student support and Education that gets you ready Sebastián Pulido, Christina success with Moodle tools ...... 28 for the real world: How to gain © 2017 E-learn. Some rights reserved. TRiiBU Studio Gómez, Enrique Santos. The views expressed in this magazine are the employment edge ...... 60 Camilo Higuera, Enny those of the authors and do not reflect Rise in plagiarism requires the opinions, policies or official positions Rodríguez, Camila PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR of Blackboard, Moodlerooms or Nivel integrated strategies...... 32 An alternative to mainstream Siete. Statements about future plans or Mejía, Laura Naranjo, prospects are given on the date this and school education...... 64 Erik Naranjo. Mario Inti García Mutis not intended to be a prediction of future Teaching academic integrity through events. We assume no obligation to update any statement at any time. plagiarism prevention technology.....38 E-learn Cartoon...... 68 E-LEARN INTERVIEW Interview with Dr. Jill Biden: Community colleges are “one of America’s best kept secrets”

Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, is a mother and grandmother, a lifelong educator, a proud military mom, and an active member of her community. With the February 2017 launch of the Biden Foundation, Jill Biden and her husband will continue their commitment to strengthening the middle class, protecting women and children against violence, and supporting community colleges and military families.

AS SECOND LADY, DR. BIDEN WORKED TO BRING better. As Second Lady, she worked to underscore attention to the sacrifices made by military fami- the critical role of community colleges in creating lies, to highlight the importance of community col- the best, most-educated workforce in the world. In leges to America’s future, and to raise awareness 2012, she traveled across the country as part of the around areas of particular importance to women, “Community College to Career” tour to highlight including breast cancer prevention, all while con- successful industry partnerships between com- tinuing to teach as a full-time English professor munity colleges and employers. In the fall of 2010, at a community college in Northern Virginia. she hosted the first-ever White House Summit Ralph Alswang Ralph PHOTO: on Community Colleges with President Obama, Dr. Biden has always said that community colleges and she continued to work on this outreach on are “one of America’s best kept secrets.” As a behalf of the Administration – visiting campuses, teacher, she sees how community colleges have meeting with students and teachers, as well as changed the lives of so many of her students for the industry representatives around the country.

4 E-LEARN INTERVIEW

As a military mom, Dr. Biden understands E.L: In today’s complex global education land- associate degree to a person who dreams of going into a firsthand how difficult it can be to have a scape, what role can educators play in help- trade. Sometimes that’s having flexible classes, so a student loved one deployed overseas. Dr. Biden’s ing students overcome obstacles to success? can juggle caring for family, holding a job, and pursuing children’s book – Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Frankly, the fact that I’m an education at the same time. Or sometimes, it’s the most Troops – was released in June 2012. Inspired DR. JILL BIDEN: Great teachers make all the affordable path toward a four-year degree at a moment still a novice with some of by real-life events, the book tells the story of difference – because the most important thing when the price of college is increasingly expensive. a military family’s experience with deploy- this technology bonds me they teach isn’t what’s on the whiteboard. ment through the eyes of Dr. Biden’s grand- with my students, too. They It’s helping them think in different ways and For me, the bottom line is this: If you want to learn a daughter, Natalie, during the year her father love teaching me about it, challenging students to push themselves. It’s skill that can help your community and provide a better is deployed to Iraq. The book also includes and I love learning! It’s a fun teaching students to believe in themselves. life for your family, you should have that chance – no resources about what readers can do to support role reversal. matter how old you are, where you come from, or how military service members and their families. When teachers connect with students like that, much money your family makes. Community colleges are the ramifications are huge. Confidence built one of the best tools we have for helping us get there. Through their Joining Forces initiative, First Lady in a math class might help a student finish a Michelle Obama and Dr. Biden issued a national book in a classroom down the hall, or believe E.L: We know from research that it is taking students challenge to all Americans to take action and find at a public high school and at a psychiatric hospital for adoles- that college is an attainable goal, or even set longer to complete their credentials. What do you ways to support and engage our military families cents. Dr. Biden earned her Doctorate in Education from the Uni- the course for success years down the line. think we can do to help students graduate on time? in their own communities. Joining Forces aims versity of Delaware in January of 2007. Her dissertation focused Is there a particular way that technology can help? to educate, challenge, and spark action from all on maximizing student retention in community colleges. She That’s what I think students mean when they say sectors of our society – citizens, communities, also has two Master’s Degrees — both of which she earned while a teacher changed their lives. Chances are that DR. JILL BIDEN: If we want more students to graduate on businesses, non-profits, faith-based institutions, working and raising a family. E-Learn had the honor of talking the classroom material will fade to some extent time, the most important thing we can do is invest in early philanthropic organizations, and government – with Dr. Biden and getting some of her views on education. as time goes by. But helping someone change childhood education. I know it’s counterintuitive to solve to ensure that service members, veterans, and the way they see themselves? That’s powerful. a problem you see at the end of an education by focusing their families have the tools they need to succeed E-LEARN: What motivated you to become an educator? on the beginning, but as we all know, education builds throughout their lives. At JoiningForces.gov, Was there a defining moment or influence in E.L: You’re a community college professor upon itself. If the foundation isn’t solid, it’s going to get Americans can find many ways to take action. your life that made you pursue this path? and are a strong advocate of the harder and harder to expand on it in the later years. importance of community colleges. What In 1993, after four of her friends were diagnosed DR. JILL BIDEN: Growing up, I sometimes had the role do you believe community colleges And I also think technology can help meet students where they with breast cancer, Dr. Biden started the Biden chance to watch my grandmother teach in her one-room should play in the future of education? are and solidify that foundation in places where it’s shaky. Breast Health Initiative in Delaware, which has schoolhouse. She had an infectious enthusiasm for learning educated more than 10,000 high school girls and was especially passionate about reading. I’ll never DR. JILL BIDEN: A growing number of the about the importance of early detection of breast forget listening to her read Mary Poppins aloud, with available jobs in this country require some cancer. Dr. Biden and the Vice President have also every child enthralled by her voice – me included! I saw form of higher education. So the simple fact served as the Honorary Co-Chairs for the Global just how powerful teaching could be by watching her. is that, for our economy to function – and for If you want to learn a skill that can Race for the Cure in Washington, D.C. As Second members of our communities to have a chance help your community and provide Lady, Dr. Biden continued to stress the importance She fostered a love of reading that has stayed with me my at good, rewarding, high-paying jobs – we of breast cancer research and early detection. whole life. And as I got into education, I wanted to help build need higher education to be more accessible. a better life for your family, you those skills in my students, even those who weren’t lucky should have that chance. Dr. Biden has been an educator for more than three enough to have teachers like my grandmother early on. That’s exactly what community college does, decades. Prior to moving to Washington, D.C., she That’s why I taught remedial reading, trying to help students and it does it for students of all ages and life taught English at a community college in Delaware, of all ages not just learn to read – but learn to love it, too. circumstances. Sometimes that’s offering an

6 7 E-LEARN INTERVIEW

And frankly, the fact that I’m still a novice with some of this And I once met a principal of a girls’ school in Jor- technology bonds me with my students, too. They love teaching dan, an elementary school outside Amman, named Dr. Biden me about it, and I love learning! It’s a fun role reversal. Maha Al Ashqar. With the incoming Syrian refugees, meets with students during her classes were becoming overcrowded, and she her Community College to Career bus tour in 2012. E.L: What are you most excited about when knew they didn’t have the resources to take on any you think about the future of education? new girls. But she also couldn’t turn desperate, often sobbing mothers away. So she came up with a solu- DR. JILL BIDEN: I’m excited because I see teachers with more and tion: send your daughter to school with a chair – any more tools at their disposal for connecting with their students. chair you can find – and she can enroll. And since then, with an array of beat-up old chairs, and the We were just talking about new technologies, and that’s help of those mothers serving as teacher’s assistants, definitely part of this. I was in Tennessee earlier this she’s been able to enroll 65 new refugee students. year, and I saw teachers using computer quizzes that asked reading comprehension and vocabulary questions Stories like that give me a lot of hope. that could adjust based on the students’ performance. They were so engaged – you could see their confidence E.L: In the US and globally, we have building as they moved through the lesson. seen a re-examination of the purpose of Department of Labor of Department higher education that reflects a greater But new technology is just one of the tools teachers have. shift to workforce readiness. Do you When I was in Malawi, I saw a teacher who based lessons see this happening? Why/why not? around rhyme and song. It was stunning to see the amount of joy and understanding she elicited through that tech- DR. JILL BIDEN: I do see this happening, because as nique that’s probably as old as teaching itself. So I think jobs become more technical, they require more train- Gary Fabiano/U.S. Fabiano/U.S. Gary PHOTO: it’s important that we teachers remember that the tech- ing. Community colleges and apprenticeship pro- A couple of years ago, I visited a lab at Austin Communi- For my day-to-day – and this isn’t flattery; it’s niques at our disposal aren’t shifting – they’re expanding. grams in particular are helping close the skills gap. ty College where faculty taught developmental math, using the honest truth! – the technology I use most technology to identify specific areas where students need- in my classes is Blackboard. It’s so helpful E.L: Are you optimistic about the current A couple of years ago, I hosted a bus tour with the ed help. The results were just incredible. One woman, a to have everything in one easily accessible global education trends? At a high level, are Secretary of Labor called “Community College to new mom who was working full time while going to college place, from my syllabus to extra articles I societies and nations in general doing a good Career,” which highlighted partnerships between at night, told me that she’d struggled with math anxiety suggest for students if they want to pursue a job of implementing this great equalizer? industry and community colleges to help train work- for her entire life. Using the lab helped her conquer chal- subject further. I’ve seen how much it helps ers. The administration also hosted the first ever lenging concepts. Now, she wants to be a math teacher! students stay on top of their studies, and how DR. JILL BIDEN: Yes, I’m very optimistic. Of course, progress is White House Apprenticeship Summit and invested it can be helpful for parents who want some uneven – it always is. And in my travels, I’ve seen some heart- in apprenticeship programs across the country. E.L: As a professor, how have you used visibility into their children’s education, too. breaking situations with schools and students who aren’t get- technology in your classes? ting the resources they need. But I’ve also been inspired by the We focused on workforce readiness because we be- Blackboard also helps build community in a heart, strength, and determination I’ve seen again and again. lieve deeply in it. As a teacher, I see how engaged my DR. JILL BIDEN: Probably the most cutting-edge technology class, which is one of the most important things students are when they know that what they’re learn- I’ve used in my classroom is 3D video with Google Card- to me. The discussion boards are a place for my When I was in India, I watched girls coming from some of ing will be useful to them down the line. And we’re board. Implementing exciting tech like this is a simple way students – even the ones who can be nervous the poorest slums, dressed for school in pristine, starched all better off when businesses can find the workers to get students engaged, and it can inspire them to think about speaking up in the classroom – to engage white shirts. They dressed with incredible care, because their they need to do their best work and when people critically about the world around us. It is truly magic. with me and one another in a thoughtful way. education was one of the most important things in their lives. can find the jobs they need to live their best lives.

8 9 E-LEARN Sponsored by Blackboard INTERVIEW

widely from student to student. For one person, that might mean their goals. And the rise in performance-based earning a degree or certificate to position them for a career. For funding has required institutions to change how Paving another, that could mean taking focused coursework to help they define success. I find this very exciting – them broaden their skill set and advance in their current job. because the goals of the student and the goals the way of the institution are becoming more aligned. E.L: What is the most important contribution a professor can make toward student success? E.L: What are some of the factors that to student institutions need to pay close attention K.B: A positive professor-student relationship is critically im- to in order to increase learner success?

Christie’s Photographic Solutions Photographic Christie’s PHOTO: portant for learners to achieve their educational goals. Profes- success: sors are usually the face of learning to the student and the most K.B: When looking to increase learner success, I important personal connection the student has in their academ- would say that nothing is more important than An interview ic life. That’s why a timely outreach from a professor can make data and information. It is nearly impossible all the difference when it comes to a learner who may be strug- to improve something you can’t measure – or gling to understand the material in a course. With that said, to help people if you do not know they need with professors are often leading classes of several hundreds of stu- help. Data can be used in a multitude of ways dents, so it can be challenging for them to connect on a personal to advance student success. It can be used to Katie Blot level with each student, or keep track of how they are perform- inform institutional decision-making around key ing. That’s why at Blackboard, I’m proud that we are focusing components of the student experience; to enable on providing innovative technology that proactively alerts personalized experiences that engage students in professors to students who may be struggling and makes it easy meaningful ways; and to help the student make for them to reach those students with personalized outreach. informed decisions about his/her own pathway. Katie Blot is Chief Strategy Officer learning and the links between education and employment. at Blackboard Inc. In this capacity, She participates in discussions on innovation in education E.L: How has the definition of student In today’s world of an almost overabundance of data, she’s responsible for aligning and serves on the Executive Board of a local early-childhood success changed in the last 20 years? the challenge is less about having data and more Blackboard’s business to industry education provider, the Board of Directors of the NEA Foun- about how to harness it as information and surface and customer needs – overseeing dation, and the Board of Directors of UPCEA. Thanks to her K.B: I think the most profound change that’s happened in the last it at the right time to be able to make a difference. key functions including industry background, E-Learn had the opportunity to interview her. 20 years is the evolution in how we think about measuring suc- strategy and development, business cess. We have moved from the measure of success being ‘access’ E.L: What does it mean to line leadership, product and partner E-LEARN: What is your definition of student success? alone to an expanded ‘access and completion’ to, now, a holistic be student-centric? view of ‘access, progression, completion and career readiness.’ I management, and marketing – KATIE BLOT: Broadly, I think of student success through two think there has been a shift in the education community and there K.B: Simply put, student-centric means that we and ensuring Blackboard lenses: that of the institution and that of the student. As an indus- is now consensus that it’s not good enough to help students gain think first about the student and their needs builds and delivers products try, we have always focused on the first, defining the outcomes entry into college. We also need to cultivate supportive environ- as we define the education experience – and and services that customers love. a given institution has for its graduates both academically and ments that help them succeed when they are enrolled and ensure we use those needs to shape what we do. I more holistically. Something happening now that is personally they graduate and are positioned for whatever is next for them. contrast that to the institution-centric way that

AS A MOTHER OF THREE BOYS, KATIE IS BOTH very exciting to me is the growing emphasis on the lens of success education evolved in most cases. We identi- professionally and personally dedicated to as defined by the student. After all, our systems of education Student success is more important today for both students fied the outcomes that we wanted for students, advancements in education. She is active- exist to serve students and the societies of which they are a part. and institutions than it’s ever been. For individuals, the determined the best way to deliver them to large ly involved in research and trends in stu- So, I think part of how we define success has to be whether we increase in the percentage of jobs that require post-second- numbers of students and then created an experi- dent-learning outcomes, competency-based have helped the student achieve their aims, which can vary ary education means more need higher education to achieve ence completely shaped by our delivery abilities.

10 11 E-LEARN INTERVIEW

I think the rapid rise in student expectations coupled with the critical building blocks of education (e.g. Another way is through research. Blackboard also as humbled by a greater appreciation for the increased competition for students has really accelerated courses and credit hours), change happens conducts unique and complementary types of research to different challenges that various locales face. the student-centric movement. Today’s students want the slowly. When I think of a five-year horizon, I help us garner insights about the world of the learner. personalization, flexibility, and conveniences that they have think the changes within that window that will The things I see that most areas have in common in all other aspects of their lives in their education. They be transformative are how we use emerging In our data science research practice, we investigate how are: (1) a mission of equitable access to a quality demand tools and experiences that meet these expectations technology to drive learning outcomes and faculty and students use learning technologies and look into education, (2) a growing student focus on the and set them up for success. Given this fact, it simply is student success. An area of growing excitement the relationship between that use and student achievement. value of education (a combination of whether it is not feasible for most schools to have an institution-centric is how augmented intelligence and cognitive We conduct this research with anonymized data to improve our affordable and whether it is ‘worth the invest- model anymore. With the advancements in technology, it is computing will greatly increase our ability to products, but also to share our findings and insights with the ment’) and (3) an increased emphasis on career also possible to be student-centric today in a way that it just scale truly personalized learning experienc- broader education community. With the large data footprint that readiness as a primary outcome of education. wasn’t before. For example, before technology, it was near es. At Blackboard, we’re working closely with Blackboard has to analyze, our team is able to look at student impossible to provide a personalized student experience IBM to see how we might be able to leverage learning and achievement in a way that no other company can. Some of the things I have seen that are unique at scale – even though we all knew that this was probably their Watson technology to influence student to certain markets are (a) a need to rapidly scale more effective and certainly more appealing to the student. pathways and their persistence in college. We also do qualitative, empathetic research that seeks to under- quality education – usually seen in countries with stand what people do and why they do it. We spend a lot of hours a rapidly growing middle class and (b) greatly in- STUDENT-CENTRIC E.L: What initiatives does Blackboard have in the classrooms of faculty, and in the dorm rooms of students creased competition with pressure on enrollments I that contribute to a better understanding conducting immersive interviews around the higher education – usually seen across mature education systems. of the world of the learner? experience and with advisors who are helping students every day. E.L: When thinking about technology for T K.B: There are several ways in which The quantitative research helps us understand “what” and the qual- education, the LMS usually comes to Blackboard is able to garner unique itative research helps us understand “why.” When we pull these mind. What are institutions missing out insights about the world of the learner. together, we get powerful insights into the world of the learner. on when they limit themselves to only thinking about or considering an LMS? One way is through community interaction and in- E.L: Given your role, you’ve had the opportunity to put. Blackboard serves over 16,000 clients across understand the current status and challenges in edu- K.B: Driving learning outcomes isn’t only about what I’m seeing more and more institutions adopt a student-cen- 90 countries, reaching over 100 million users. This cation worldwide. What are some of the biggest com- happens in the classroom. What happens outside of tric approach to everything from curriculum design to unparalleled reach gives us an incredible vantage monalities and differences you’ve seen across regions? the classroom is just as important–and sometimes student services. They ask key questions such as “What do point from which we’re able to understand what’s more important. For example, in K-12, involvement our students want?” or “What would make their lives easier?” happening in education. Every day, we have the of parents and community members is critical to They involve students in almost every decision they make opportunity to sit and hear from education leaders HAVE IN COMMON student success. That’s why digital communications impacting the student experience and they recognize that around the world about the challenges they are tools that allow teachers to connect directly with a UNIQUE TO students aren’t a single category – but are actually a super set facing and how students’ needs are changing. CERTAIN MARKETS parents, and help school districts share important a of many, many different cohorts who may have unique needs. We also actively solicit input from our clients news with the community are imperative. In higher b on a regular basis, leveraging everything from education, non-traditional students who are juggling E.L: What do you think will be the most significant technical previews of our products and customer b multiple personal and professional responsibilities change in education within the next 5 years and research groups, to our Innovative Teaching Se- can benefit greatly from online collaboration tools how is Blackboard preparing for this change? ries where we bring together cohorts of educators that allow them to connect with professors or class- to talk about best practices. In addition, through K.B: One of my favorite things about what I do at Black- mates outside of school hours. For these reasons, in- K.B: While there are a lot of big changes that seem to be our Blackboard Community, we actively engage board is the opportunity to meet with people dedicated to stitutions should be thinking holistically about how afoot in education, such as the exploration into new de- our clients in discussion forums and use their education and student advancement around the world. I am technology (outside of just the LMS) can improve livery and funding models and the re-thinking of some of feedback to inform our decisions as a company. always struck by the commonalities across regions–as well all aspects of the student experience and lifecycle.

12 13 y b consists of the following:consists ofthe Model Flipped the In essence, abilities. andunderstanding learning students’ goalof enhancing withthe them, to thatwasavailable technology bracing the byem- traditionalclassroommodel flip the to decided alongwithacolleague, teacher, JONATHAN BERGMANN, A HIGH SCHOOL CHEMISTRY student learning and enhance technology embrace Flip yourclassroom, JonathanBergmann: 14 E-LEARN o g a c i h c class time, and the presence of their teacher presence andclassmates. oftheir andthe time, class way where take can students advantage minds, full of ofeducating memorize,Flipped The Learning Modelisadifferent beenflipped. has listen andhopeto whilestudents learn and talking, classroom of the infront teacher where stands the modelofeducation traditional The 2. 1. : :

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PHOTOS: AFP Joshua Lott thoughts on education and how the Flipped Model works. FlippedModel andhowthe thoughts oneducation tohimabouthis talked E-Learn booksoneducation. other Day,”aswelleight ClassEvery inEvery Every Student in the world spend most of their time delivering content at the content atthe delivering time mostoftheir worldspend in the top.Mostteachers atthe andcreationare analysis, evaluation application, graph,andthen understanding, inthe space biggest withthe one whichisalsothe bottom isknowledge, and the it istothinkofBloom’sTaxonomy,whichapyramid derstand of what the Flipped Classroom Model is? JONATHAN BERGMANN: E-LEARN: Author of Flip Your Classroom: Your Classroom: Flip of Author Jonathan Bergmann Jonathan Bergmann Reach Every Student in in Student Every Reach Could you please share a brief explanation Every Class Every Day Every Class Every It’s a simple idea. The best waytoun- Thebest It’sasimpleidea. That is the idea of Flipped Learning inanutshell. ofFlippedLearning idea That isthe analysis. andtogenerate toevaluate it tocreate, anduse level andunderstanding learning in the lessclasstime Taxonomy isflipped,soyou spend Bloom’s for handsonlearning.Soessentially, isused classtime andthe watch ontheirowntime students thatthe through shortmicrovideos content the delivers space,sotheteacher personal deliverytothe content instructionandthe direct the moves model learning flipped The creation. and application, analysis,evaluation inthe is used little andvery delivery isincontent classtime the somostof level, andunderstanding knowledge INTERVIEW 15 E-LEARN INTERVIEW

E.L: What do you think is the main did not originate with me, the concept came from Dr. Robert has a 45 minute class period, they have that problem in education today? Talbert, he says that we have to think of Flipped Learning as entire class period to individualize, personal- Jonathan Bergmann continues the operating system of education. A computer has an internal ize and differentiate for each kid. The students J.B: We’re stuck in this model where all the knowledge and to teach, record, and publish operating system, Mac or Windows, or how a phone has An- who have understood the material go on to do information has to come from the teacher and we live in an his videos on his YouTube droid or OS. On top of that, the device has other things, it has experiments and activities, while the kids who are information age where you have to actively engage with stu- page, and gives conferences applications. So if we think of Flipped Learning as the operating struggling a little more make a group where they dents. People often ask me why Flipped Learning works and to convince others about system and on top of that the apps might be project-based can discuss along with the teacher. This way, the my answer is that because, number one, it makes the group learning, mastery learning, inquiry learning, etc. Those are the class is divided into two or three groups, and the the power of this model of space or the class time an active place of learning and all the things that you can add to, but you need the time to explore teacher gets to spend a certain amount of time research out there shows that active learning is what makes education, which he believes in a group space these other apps, and Flipped Learning gives with each group, and talk to every kid individ- the big difference. Secondly, and something that I think is to be the best and to truly you that. What “apps” a teacher uses depends on what type of ually to see where their understanding level is very overlooked, is that it allows students better opportunities accomplish the goal of content they are delivering. Throughout this process we have and what they need help on. As a teacher, you to have better relationships with their teachers. Again, the teaching: getting kids to learn learned how to take the schools through the cultural change that can’t really do that unless the class is Flipped. research is clear on this, a student or a trainee in a corporate and to love to learn. involves going from being a regular school to a Flipped School. setting has a better relationship with their teacher, and to that E.L: What is the importance of Mastery? degree they will be more successful. We are relational humans. E.L: What is your view on the current grading system. Many students are unmotivated by the J.B: The Flipped Mastery model is the apex of the E.L: And how do you think technology has also realize that it’s an amazing tool, we have need to get certain grades, and others do just model. Flipped 101 is where the kids watch a video changed education? What are the benefits? the world at our fingertips, we can have access fine but aren’t really learning the material, they and the next day they do an activity in class, and to any information that we want by just ask- just do what they are told… Do you agree? then repeat. In that model, all the students see J.B: I think technology is not the answer to education. Lots of ing Siri or any other bot you want to use. the same video on a certain day. But in a Mastery people think that if we throw a computer in front of somebody, J.B: I was a very traditional grader before I flipped my classroom Model, students can move at a flexible pace, it’s going make education better, but it hasn’t. Once again, that E.L: If you could create your own school, and I believed in it. As I began to flip my classroom, I realized where throughout the semester they can move is pretty well researched. But technology can enhance learning. and change the entire educational that we needed a paradigm in assessment. I moved to more of a as fast or as slow as they want, considering that One thing I know about Flipped Learning is that it serves a system, how would you structure it so standards-based grading system, where you either pass or you they have to finish by a certain time to finish the good purpose to technology, because good education really that learning is really enhanced? don’t, and I think that is the way we ought to go, and I do believe course. All over the world, people are moving to happens in a group space, to engage and enrich in mean- that one of the biggest problems in education is our assessment the Flipped Mastery Model. After the unit or topic, ingful activities during that class time. A rich and engaging J.B: Obviously as an advocate for Flipped Learn- system, whether it’s by letters, numbers or percentages. I don’t the student has to take a summative assessment activity is not sitting and having somebody talk at you. But in ing, I think that the places where I’ve seen the best think that helps students or schools. I think that a student to prove they have achieved mastery, which order to really have a rich, meaningful experience, you have results are the entire schools that have become should get a passing or a failing grade, and they should only means that they have understood the model, if to know something about the subject matter beforehand, Flipped Learning Schools. That takes a big pro- pass if they show proficiency. The point of school is to learn, not they can pass it they can move on, and if not, they so that is the point of the flipped part, where students still cess. You have to find people who are willing to to get by with a below average grade, without truly learning. stay in that unit until they learn it. The beauty of receive information, but in a different time and manner. work outside of the box, such as educators, teach- this is that the students actually learn stuff. In ers, administrators, students and parents. It’s E.L: Everybody has different strengths and weaknesses, most classrooms, the class comes to the end of a E.L: And what do you think are the setbacks amazing what I’ve seen in these Flipped Schools, everybody learns differently. How can a school section, students take a test, and however they do, to using technology in education? what they have been able to do, the amount of keep being economically viable, have a number of the class moves on. For those students who are active learning that is taking place, the innovation students, and still provide a personalized education? lost, they get further and further behind without J.B: We definitely have a culture where people have too much that is happening in those schools, projects that understanding the subject material. The tradi- screen time. We don’t want to enhance additional screen the kids have been able to do has been mind-blow- J.B: The beauty of Flipped is that that is exactly what is does. tional educational system wants to get every kid time. In terms of using technology, I think we have to be ing. I really think that Flipped Learning should be- It reduces the class size, in a way. For example, if the students on the same page at the same time, and that’s not cautious of how we use technology and not overly use it. But come the new foundation of our schools. Flipped see the micro videos ahead of time, before class, if the student how it works. The Flipped Model works because

16 17 E-LEARN INTERVIEW

in a traditional class, the teacher has to move on, J.B: The Flipped Model really changes the dy- they can’t wait for every student to catch up while namic for the teacher. Instead of being on stage, the students who do understand just wait. But in they become a guide alongside the student, the Flipped Model, those who understand just and those teachers who have embraced flipped move on to the next subject matter, and those learning have really seen a dramatic change in who don’t can learn the topic well so they don’t the way they interact with students and in the fall behind with the more complex issues. As we way they interact with content. 95% of them will were talking about before with Flipped being the say that they will never go back to the tradi- operating system, Mastery is an app like Proj- tional model, because of the engagement that ect-Based Learning. There is no one way to do it. they see with their students, with the success, typically their test scores even go up, and this E.L: Why has the traditional model is the new paradigm we need for education. not had any changes in such a long time? Why has generation after E.L: You say that you talk to every generation learned the same way? kid, every day, in every class. Why is that so important? J.B: Education is slow to change. I think we are seeing the change happen right now. It’s J.B: The foundation to a good education is re- a matter of time before it will change. I think lationships and connections, and to the degree that the power that we have in our pockets with that you can have a deeper relationship with your our phones, has changed the game. Because students, it means that the student is going to information now is cheap and easy to find. From learn more from you, is going to perform more, the poorest kid in Argentina to the richest kid is going to be willing to take risks, and there’s in Spain, students are getting access to these nothing better than to see that. That is why devices. I visited a province called Misiones that (hopefully) teachers get into education, because is completely adopting Flipped Learning within of the impact and the way they can change 5 years. Misiones is poor, the kids are poor, lives, they don’t just want to deliver content. and it seemed like every kid had a cellphone in their pocket with a data plan. I asked how these E.L: What will you be talking about at BbWorld? learning can mean a little bit less connection or relationships. E.L: How do you get students motivated kids could afford these cell phones, and they It can be done, however. I’ve seen it happen with a Blackboard to learn and to go to class? told me that they always find the way. So these J.B: I’ll basically be saying that Flipped Learning has to be Collaborate room where you can have a proper discussion with schools in Misiones built an app so that the kids the new operating system. The title is Teaching and Learning your students, but my preferred model is Flipped. I think the J.B: I think the best way to motivate a kid can access it at school, they can download the in Unprecedented Times. I’ll talk about learning 3.0, which future of E-Learning is that it is going to keep growing, but who is unmotivated is to let them know that videos they need so they can see them at home, means things are changing so rapidly, with even some of hopefully with a blended approach that allows students to have you are there, you are on their side. That is even if they don’t have WiFi.. Education is going the political realities that are happening in our world, and that connection to the teacher and make it more personal. the best way to motivate a kid. Flipped is to be disrupted whether they like it or not. If we need to really rethink what education should look like. the ideal for that, because instead of having anybody gets opposed to it, they are going to E.L: The life of a teacher can be hard. They a lecture of 30 minutes each day, then you be out of the job, eventually. But it’s exciting, E.L: What do you think is the future of E-Learning? have to repeat lessons every day, they have to only have about 20 minutes left to interact we are in the most exciting time of education be in the front of the class “performing”, and with kids, but in a flipped environment, as it goes through this transition, from the 19th J.B: I like online learning, I teach classes online, but I also un- most people don’t understand that. What can you get the whole class time to work on century model, to a more active learning model. derstand the limitations of online learning. Often times, online be done to make teachers’ lives better? motivating and encouraging kids to learn.

18 19 E-LEARN Sponsored by Blackboard CUSTOMER SNAPSHOT How to use telepresence technology to increase student engagement Luis Eduardo Luévano Belmonte With its ‘Profesor Avatar’ project, Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores seeks to enhance the teleconferencing system by using real-time image de Monterrey (ITESM) projections. As a result, distance learning gains a human quality.

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z a c a t e c a s , m e x i c o

THE CLASS BEGINS AT THE SCHEDULED TIME teleconferenced classes. The idea, which turned and, in the middle of the room, the teacher into the ‘Profesor Avatar’ project, began with bursts into it like lightning. The students the intention of solving the enormous difference recognize the familiar body shape and hear that exists between attending a face-to-face his words. They greet him back, although class versus a long-distance, online lecture. they know they are speaking to air. In reality no one is there, it is only a projected image – This innovation resulted from a collaboration bright and clear–transmitted as if by magic. between three professors at the university: Luis Eduardo Luévano Belmonte, Eduardo López This virtual professor, seemingly of flesh and de Lara Díaz, and Eduardo González, who bone, is a revolutionary innovation the Insti- together analyzed student-teacher commu- AFP Ernesto Moreno Valtierra Moreno Ernesto AFP tuto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de nication challenges, and found telepresence

PHOTO: Monterrey (ITESM) has implemented to replace technology to be an answer to this challenge.

21 E-LEARN CUSTOMER SNAPSHOT

Increasing student interest was also a clear goal. The Pontificia Universidad Católica in Chile) in professors hoped to reduce a student’s tendency to order to demonstrate the collaborative capacity lose focus when solely interacting with a screen. of telepresence technologies. It was tested through a pilot class on how to build an electric As a result, they decided to complement the telepres- power generator using recycled materials only. ence technology with a robot that the professors re- fer to as a ‘telepresence kit’. It is a system that, when Thanks to this ‘kit,’ students from universities working simultaneously, has shown to have an in- in Mexico, Peru, Guatemala and Chile were able credible effect on the connection and empathy gen- to work together to complete this challenge. erated between the students and their teacher. “We thought technology was going to be the But, what are these technologies leading actor, but it was not,” recalls Profes- and how exactly do they work? sor Luévano. “After overcoming the initial fascination that comes when implementing The telepresence robot is an instrument that allows the semi-futuristic and innovative solutions, teacher to have a physical and autonomous presence within project leaders were surprised to see that the the classroom, while controlling it remotely. In addi- technology was quickly adopted by students.” tion, this automaton has several features that reinforce Studio its interaction potential. For instance, it has two camer- At the end of class (carried out last year), b u ii as that transmit audio and video in several directions, the quality of the synergy generated with 'Profesor Avatar’ t r

: project at Instituto which provide the ability to give students personalized the implementation of this initiative was a Tecnológico y de Estudios attention. “It’s a robot that improves telepresence best great sign. More than 80% of students felt Superiores de Monterrey. practices, but its effect is also amplified when it works in comfortable with the telepresence system, illustration conjunction with a projection,” explains professor Luévano. and more than 90% said they would par- “This technology allows us to generate an image of the ticipate in an activity like this again. But the success of “Challenge i” has not been the only where it was born, students who otherwise professor, which is much more accessible and expressive achievement accomplished by Profesor Avatar’s team. wouldn’t have had the chance are attend- than that of a computer or television,” states Luévano. Recently, they received the Silver Award in the category ing lectures by world-class educators. of Best Use of Information, Communication and Tech- The robot is complemented by a projected image, since nology Tools in the 2016 Reimagine Education Awards. Institutions in Germany, large regions in it provides the illusion that the professor is in fact in the African, and even the Government of Co- classroom, and the robot works to give him or her hu- Currently, the biggest challenge for Profesor Avatar is to lombia have demonstrated their interest The professors hoped man characteristics that make their presence feel ‘real’. become a high-impact initiative within the world of educa- in increasing the scope of this initiative. “When we take these technologies and use them togeth- to reduce a student’s tion. The necessary requirements to use the telepresence er, we come up with a package that could potentially take tendency to lose focus kit effectively cannot be found in many places. However, For Profesor Avatar’s founders, his goal has distance learning to a new level of connectivity,” he says. when solely interacting as these technologies become less expensive and more never been to replace the teacher’s role. On with a screen. accessible, projects that use them will grow exponentially. the contrary, he aims to get educators where In an effort to demonstrate the transformative power of they cannot be in person. “The human ele- their initiative, Profesor Avatar’s team launched “Chal- In the meantime, the potential of the things Profesor Av- ment has always been the leading actor,” says lenge i.” This challenge is a collaborative network that was atar can do comes to life little by little at the universities Luévano. “With Profesor Avatar, distance extended to three more universities in Latin America (Rafael and institutions where it has been adopted. At the Insti- learning can get that human aspect to it, and Landívar University in Guatemala, TecSup in Peru, and tuto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, possibly innovate the E-learning field.”

22 23 E-LEARN Sponsored by Blackboard CUSTOMER SNAPSHOT

as Izak Smit, Director of the Center for Innovative an opportunity for university administrators to assess the Educational Technology at Cape Peninsula Uni- utilisation of online resources, including the use of tech- versity of Technology points out, the disruptive nology in teaching and learning. Not only does a blended character of those protests can be seized as an approach help to mitigate the impacts of severe disruptions, opportunity to make way for the adoption of tech- it also represents an improvement in education accessibility, nologies, which can support the academic process. engagement and quality. When physical facility improve- AFP Rodger Bosch Rodger AFP PHOTO: ments need to be made after protests, that requires time, Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) effort and costs to cover damages. Therefore, technology Izak (Sakkie) Smit is the only university of technology in the Western serves as a valuable solution in a challenging environment. Director of the Center for Innovative Educational Cape, and is the largest higher education estab- Technology at Cape Peninsula lishment in the region. With more than 34,000 Izak also reflected on the most common generalization made University of Technology students, Izak and the CPUT are faced with a great about technology: that it ‘saves the day’. This is, without challenge. With the initial protests, students who a question, false, as CPUT’s vandalised servers demon- were supposed to be finishing their studies at the strate. However, in a blended model, technology can be end of 2015 had to wait an additional term, due to a lifeline for those who have the will and need to contin- class and academic activity disruption. At the time, ue to teach and learn in the face of unexpected events. CPUT hosted all of their Blackboard Learn data locally. Some protesters located the power source Disruption can be positive when it serves as a driver for change, for the servers, and managed to disrupt services. and in CPUT’s case, it resulted in technology adoption and In early 2016, the university migrated to a hosted improvement. As a result, it also became necessary to adjust Disruption: A driver for solution to avoid similar events in the future. pedagogical methods in order to suit the new learning approach (online learning). To this effect, CPUT’s instructors were as- Students who were not able to complete their sisted with learning design, and most of the training was done technological adoption courses in 2015 due to the protests had access to through Blackboard Collaborate in order to reach all instructors online assessments to make up for lost classes. displaced during the protests, or those located far away. As However, online activity slowed down as regular one might imagine, time was of the essence, with thousands of Over the past three years, a SINCE THEN, PROTESTS HAVE DISRUPTED ACADEMIC ACTIVITY ‘talk and chalk’ classes were resumed and aca- students stranded in-between terms without having finished highly volatile situation has repeatedly and for extended periods of time. This situation is demic activities carried on normally. September their courses. This is why what CPUT managed to accomplish been developing in the higher strongly connected to the unemployment rate in the country, 2016 was going as expected when a second wave of was no small feat: they went from 536 instructors and 20,000 education sector in South Africa. one of the highest in the world. Currently, about 27% of South protests hit CPUT. This time, with more violence students enrolled in the online platform at the end of 2015, In September 2015, a movement Africa’s population is unemployed, with approximately 56% and even arson, some buildings in the university’s to 1037 instructors and 33,400 students as of June 2017. of that group under 30 years of age. South Africa also has campus were burnt. This was, according to Izak, that was started by students more people receiving social grants than those in employ- the tipping point for those at the university who Albeit, this transition was not challenge-free. Although the Na- from multiple universities gained ment. As a result, there has been an enormous pressure on the had not yet seen the possibilities of online learn- tional Government has a policy on open and distance education to traction and worldwide attention, younger population to get a specialized field qualification. ing. Eventually, after seeing what was possible fol- broaden access to education and rely less on classroom time, some as their slogan with the hashtag lowing the initial implementation in 2015, those students might not have proper Internet connection or bandwidth. #FeesMustFall went viral. Along with other destabilizing political events, as well as rising inside CPUT ‘jumped on the bandwagon’ for good. Even if they are not participating in violent protests, they are some- tuition costs, student unrest has prevailed. When students find times forced to leave their studies due to connectivity issues. To this themselves in such a complex situation, with a lack of access to It is important to keep in mind that CPUT has end, authorities and some Internet providers are working together

b y : s e b a s t i á n p u l i d o z e t h e l i u s education and a high unemployment rate, they may not be able a blended learning approach, not a fully online to provide free WiFi hotspots or broadband access for students to

c a p e t o w n , s o u t h a f r i c a to continue with their studies. Alternatives must be found and, one. As a result, these events have presented have access to online learning platforms and continue their studies.

24 25 E-LEARN Sponsored by Blackboard EVENT

Java-based “Building Block” APIs, SOAP web services, and Openness has been a focus of Blackboard’s for some The first annual Hackboard a Partner Cloud service that provides access to education- time now. The company advocates for a “no-bar- al resources from publishing and educational partners. riers” approach to teaching and learning, and they want the whole community to pitch in and help embraces openness and gives Last year, Blackboard added support for REST APIs. After improve education globally. They understand that REST was integrated, Scott started looking at raising support everyone may have some type of solution in mind in order to make the hackathon a reality. With REST API’s, and that if we can all truly collaborate to think about the community a chance everything lives outside of Blackboard and any coding what could be better in education, and share our language can be used. By requiring all Hackathon entries thoughts and solutions, Blackboard could have an Scott Hurrey to inteact with Blackboard REST APIs, all the applications even stronger worldwide impact on teachers and to be creative Blackboard Code Poet / will have the ability to be incorporated into Blackboard students. With Moodlerooms, also a part of the Senior Software Engineer or other LMS’s that support interoperability, such as Blackboard solutions toolkit and internationally re- Moodlerooms, Sakai and others. All contest entries for the nowned for being an open source solution that any- hackathon will be open source, giving a kick start to the one can modify, and now with the adoption of REST A hackathon is a sports-like event open source community around the REST Applications. API’s, there is a true calling to give the community for coders, where they compete a chance to contribute their ideas and solutions. to create the best software or All hackathons search for an innovative idea that will contribute application with a specific goal in to the hosting company, as well as the individual who creates it. Aside from organizing the Hackboard, Scott also orga- mind. Hackathons always have a Those who enter and have the possibility of winning greatly ben- nizes DevCon, the Developers Conference that Black- purpose that needs to be met, such efit from the personal growth they undergo when creating some- board hosts right before its annual BbWorld user thing of value for a great cause, such as teaching and learning. conference. DevCon is where coders meet for a chance as improving existing software, Another great aspect about Blackboard’s hackathon, which may to see new innovations, listen to different speakers building an app, enhancing design, be appealing to applicants, is that there are no limitations as to on the advances of technology, and see what the or meeting educational needs. the type of problem that they may solve. Entrants can think about community has been working on. There, the winners Blackboard’s first-ever Hackathon anything related to teaching and learning that might have a solu- of the Hackboard will get a chance to be introduced to is focused on the latter, as it is tion, an issue they experienced in school or something that could the community and to present their winning project. intended to improve the teaching be improved, and provide a solution to that problem. “There is and learning experience, overall. a lot of opportunity for personal growth, personal satisfaction When looking through application entries, Scott will and exposure to make a name for yourself,” Scott explains. be hoping to find applicants that address education concerns and what they perceive to be the gaps in the From Blackboard’s perspective, the company also benefits a teaching and learning experience, with really inno- b y : c h r i s t i n a g ó m e z e c h a v a r r í a The man behind Blackboard’s hackathon is great deal with these contests. First, getting education com- vative ideas. He is particularly interested in tools that c h a r l e s t o w n , w e s t v i r g i n i a , u n i t e d s t a t e s Scott Hurrey, better known at Blackboard as munity members to take advantage of REST API’s strengthens help personalizing learning and student pathways. the ‘Code Poet.’ His main goal at Blackboard the API’s themselves, as the more people that use them, the

BLACKBOARD IS CONSTANTLY INNOVATING IN ORDER TO PROVIDE is to foster Blackboard’s coding community, more they can learn about how to improve them. Also, the His hope is to open up the Hackboard to the clients with the highest-quality tools to enable student success. As and he came up with the Hackboard as a way more Blackboard apps that use REST API, the easier it will be global community in the next year, as well as to AFP Tasos KatopodisTasos AFP part of this mission, Blackboard decided to launch a competition to build that community, as well as introduce for all programmers who might have good ideas but who find Moodlerooms clients. Certainly, it will be very that challenges developers and college students in the United States Blackboard Learn REST API’s. Blackboard PHOTO: it difficult to develop them in Building Blocks. Ultimately, the interesting to see what highly creative people to create a unique, user-friendly and impactful application that supports a number of integration frameworks main objective of the Hackboard is to unleash participants’ come up with, in order to create solutions for will integrate with the Blackboard Learn learning management that allow customers and partners to integrate creativity and provide them with a barrier-free environment teachers and students that enhance education system (LMS) to improve the teaching and learning experience. with and extend Blackboard Learn. They include so they may create something that helps others learn. and change the learners around the world.

26 27 E-LEARN INTERVIEW Student support

Tonia Malone Instructional Designer / Lead Moodle and success with Administrator, Center for Teaching and Learning Technology. California Polytechnic Moodle tools State University, SLO

Moodle and its different tools can store great amounts of data that can be of high value for faculty in any given institution.

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s a n l u i s o b i s p o , c a l i f o r n i a , u n i t e d s t a t e s

NOT ONLY DOES DATA ALLOW FACULTY IMPROVE engineering and architecture, among others, course content and allocate resources efficiently, with a high employment rate for graduates. it could also offer a helping hand to students who might be having a hard time with their studies. Da- Tonia Malone is an Instructional Designer and ta can help faculty determine student performance Lead Moodle Administrator in the Center for and spot at risk students who need help to pass Teaching, Learning & Technology (CTLT) at Cal their courses. More importantly, data paves the way Poly. She shared her experience with the teaching for a timely response and personalized support. and learning community through an interview with E-Learn. Also, she will be a speaker at the To that end, the California Polytechnic State 2017 BbWorld New Orleans Moodlemoot. University (Cal Poly) has put together an initia- tive that aims at making the best possible use Malone works with faculty on the use of tech- of Moodle tools for student support. Locat- nology, making sure they are using it effectively ed in San Luis Obispo, halfway between San to support student learning, and promoting the Francisco and Los Angeles, Cal Poly is a highly use of formative assessments. With experi- ranked public university, and one of Califor- ence giving workshops at the Student Support nia State University’s 23 campuses. It offers Center about note taking, writing and time

Marya Figueroa Marya PHOTO: renowned programs in business, economics, management, she has worked closely with

28 29 E-LEARN INTERVIEW

students who are on academic probation FORMATIVE GRADE FORUMS and is aware of the challenges and oppor- ASSESSMENT BOOK tunities surrounding this sensitive issue. 1 4 5 Cal Poly is currently saving all the data it can, with Malone wants to show the LMS more as a learning Malone spends most of her time helping faculty with the According to Malone, it could be plans to make use of it in the future and analyze tool for students than a grading tool for faculty. Since Grade Book. At the CTLT, the team sits down with professors argued that forums are difficult Cal Poly has 10-week quarters, some faculty will to help them find the optimal settings for their Grade Book multiple courses or quarters per student. The goal to grade. An alternative is to use only hold three tests during that time. As a result, depending on the grading scale they use, the number of the Completion Tracker feature is to improve their capacity to offer proper support. it can be difficult to identify which students are at grades, and whether they wait until the end of the quarter to to improve the grading process In the meantime, Malone wants to use all available risk until the fourth or fifth week, when courses enter the grades. In some cases, professors wait to the end and make certain requirements are almost halfway through and recovery becomes to add grades, even though students can benefit from getting for students, such as posting resources to collect information about students difficult. Thus, formative assessment exists to go regularly updates on their grades. Or they don’t know how once and replying twice. A Q&A who can eventually end up on academic probation. beyond head nodding and make sure that students to use certain features. With the Grade Book, for example, Forum can also be used in cases actually understand class topics from the beginning. some of them might ask for guidance when it is already too where it’s best for students not to Adequate use of quizzes, assignments and other late for some students, which highlights the importance of read other posts before they write She is set to start some workshops at the uni- tools is essential for students to take advantage always using these tools. The Forecast Report tool was also their own. Malone’s workshop versity in order to talk with faculty about the of lower stakes grades and be less reliant on activated for students to type in different values and find also includes some methods summative assessment, if they are having academic out the grades they need to pass. Also, personal response for creating well formulated initiative to identify at-risk students, and to difficulties. After faculty has added more formative system (clickers) are used in some of the classes. The questions for the forums, like determine what can be accomplished through assessments, they can look at the information Moodle data from those clickers is also pushed to the Grade Book beginning with an example or the use of the tools and information at hand. provides and determine which students are at risk. and can be used to keep an eye on struggling students. avoiding yes or no questions. In their case, those Moodle tools include:

QUIZZES AND COMPLETION However faculty may be using the LMS, whether ASSIGNMENTS it is for face-to-face classes, blended, flipped or Cal Poly is currently TRACKING AND LOGS 3 online learning, Malone and the CTLT want to saving all the data it 2 encourage them to use it as a supplemental tool to can, with plans to make support all levels of learners, even in face-to-face Quizzes can be randomized and multiple attempts use of it in the future It can be very useful for professors to check classes. With the formative assessments in place are allowed. At the Center for Teaching, Learning & if students completed all the assignments and analyze multiple Technology, Malone and the rest of the team have and quizzes, and whether they did well or not. to gather information, and with logs, reports, access to the usage data from faculty, as well. When performance is low, Completion Tracking Completion Tracking, quizzes and grades, they courses or quarters They have seen a significant increase in formative gives clues as to where the weaknesses might can determine which students are struggling to per student. assessment activity; a surge that is seen in the be, and then faculty can reach out to those form of quizzes and assignment uploads, as well students via email or in person between the keep up, and reach out via e-mail and in person. as more feedback for students. For assignments, second and fourth week, in order to look comprehensive documentation for different at options like tutoring or counseling. This submission types, best suiting each course, is feature can be configured to show a check Student Support departments should also be a are not necessarily academic problems. Some- provided by Moodle though their support site. mark on every required task for assignment. part of this process, therefore Malone has reached times students can be going through personal Also, faculty can track their students’ LMS activity using the Logs feature, and data collected can out to them to make sure they can be involved. or financial problems, are sleep deprived, help determine if a student is going to need help. In The Wellness Center, Food Bank, Dean of Stu- or are unable to afford three meals a day. If addition, some publishers have developed Moodle dents office, Counseling Department, Academic students know that their school cares about quizzes for their textbooks. The Office of Institutional Research, as well as the CSU Affordable Learning Skills Center, study groups, and workshops can all their well-being, they might seek help for Solutions program, also provide some content for help faculty in using every tool available to be two themselves using some of the Student Support formative assessment quizzes and assignments. steps ahead of the students. Academic challenges resources that can be put in place for them.

31 E-LEARN Sponsored by Blackboard RESEARCH

ABCDE FGHIJ Rise in

ABCDE FGHIJ Understanding plagiarism as a complex phenomenon is essential for institutions to develop an effective approach to tackle academic dishonesty.

lagiarism b y : p r i s c i l a z i g u n o v a s

illustration a n d g r a p h i c s b y : t r iib u Studio

requires IIN 2016, AN INVESTIGATION BY THE TIMES NEWSPAPER REVEALED in academic institutions. The authors stress that that almost 50,000 students from 129 British universities “universities cannot assume that its students had been caught plagiarizing in the prior three years.1 This will take the time to familiarize themselves with integrated “plagiarism epidemic” brought several ethical questions campus rules about academic integrity on their to surface, including “contract cheating” – when students own, and even if they did, an institution’s failure to pay for individuals or companies to write assignments emphasize for its students the high value it places on their behalf. In fact, student behavior studies show on academic integrity sends the message that it that academic cheating is prevalent and that some forms is not a high priority.” Therefore, “such institu- of plagiarism have increased over the past decades. tions should not be surprised if they experience strategies above-average levels of academic dishonesty.”3 The percentage of undergraduate students who admitted to hav- ing cheated on written assignments and tests has reached 68%, In fact, a high percentage of students claim that according to surveys conducted from 2012 to 2015 by Donald Mc- they have not received any training in tech- Cabe and the International Center for Academic Integrity.2 For niques for academic writing or plagiarism issues. graduate students, the number is somewhat lower, at 43%. Mc- According to the paper Impact of Policies for Cabe, former professor at the Rutgers University Business School Plagiarism in Higher Education Across Europe: and a leading researcher on the subject of cheating, collected Results of the Project, research conducted in 25 data from 71,300 undergraduate and 17,000 graduate students. European countries shows that, whilst more than 75% of students said they received training in In the article Cheating in Academic Institutions: A Decade of Austria, Greece, United Kingdom and Finland, less Research, McCabe and Linda Klebe Treviño, a professor from than 35% of students from Italy, Bulgaria, Czech Penn State University, review ten years of research on plagiarism Republic and Poland received such instruction.4

33 E-LEARN RESEARCH

HE CHEA CESSS SES HA SA HE RECEE RA AAS AARS , UNDERGRADUATE ,

GRADUATE

A C R

Institutional action students cheat.” From their point of view, “the their own; submitting a paper written by someone Unintentional cheating standards across the sector need to be equal, so else; copying sections of material from one or The implementation of programs and policies that students cannot assume that they can cheat more source texts and supplying proper documen- Park explains that “some students plagiarize unin- promoting academic integrity, such as honor by moving to a more lenient institution.” 5 tation but leaving out quotation marks, thus giving tentionally, when they are not familiar with proper codes, has been proven to positively influence the impression that the material has been para- ways of quoting, paraphrasing, citing and referencing students’ behavior. According to McCabe and To cheat or not to cheat: phrased rather than directly quoted; and para- and/or when they are unclear about the meaning of Treviño, honor codes can be quite successful; why students plagiarize phrasing material from one or more source texts ‘common knowledge’ and the expression ‘in their own however, “a truly effective honor code must be without supplying appropriate documentation. words’.” These difficulties in understanding proper well implemented and strongly embedded in the Plagiarism is not a new phenomenon, as recalls citation caused a new cheating resource to emerge: student culture,” meaning that merely the exis- Chris Park, Professor Emeritus at Lancaster McCabe and Treviño3 mention a few reasons why online paraphrasing tools that help students modify tence of a code is not enough to prevent cheating.3 University. In the article In Other (People’s) students cheat: pressure to get high grades, paren- original texts in order to write “in their own words.” 6 Words: Plagiarism by University Students—Lit- tal pressures, desire to excel, pressure to get a job, “Many stakeholders are convinced that plagiarism erature and Lessons, he highlights that “copying laziness, lack of responsibility, poor self-image, In the article Using Internet Based Paraphrasing is a serious academic problem and institutions from other writers is probably as old as writing and lack of personal integrity. They stress that Tools: Original Work, Patchwriting or Facilitated will have to demonstrate that they are tackling itself, but until the advent of mass-produced “contextual factors, such as students’ percep- Plagiarism?, Ann M. Rogerson and Grace McCarthy, it,” say researchers Fintan Culwin and Thomas writing, it remained hidden from the public tions of peers’ behavior, are the most powerful from the University of Wollongong, Australia, say that Lancaster, from South Bank University. In the gaze.” According to Park, “opportunities to pla- influence.” Therefore, students may cheat because “the case of a student submitting work generated by article Plagiarism Issues for Higher Educa- giarize have expanded greatly since the advent they do not want to be at a disadvantage compared an online tool without appropriate acknowledgement tion, the authors point out that there is a lack of and increased accessibility of the internet.” 6 to their peers. Studies have also shown that men could be considered as a form of plagiarism, and the consistency across the higher education sector. tend to cheat more than women and young stu- case of academics trying to reframe texts for alternate “Some institutions have a pro-active anti-pla- Amongst the most popular forms of plagiarism dents cheat more than mature students. Addition- publications could be considered as a form of self-pla- giarism policy, some a reactive policy and a few by students, according to Park, there are: stealing ally, when students know that they are at risk of giarism.” According to the authors, both scenarios still claim, but cannot prove, that none of their material from another source and passing it off as being caught or punished, they tend to cheat less. could be considered as ‘facilitated plagiarism.’7

34 35 E-LEARN RESEARCH

in live courses. “One possible explanation is that with essay mills, or “contract cheating” – when New Zealand, since 2011 it is illegal classroom social interaction in live classes plays a student pays a company or person to write an to advertise or provide third-party “Plagiarism represents some part in whether students decide to cheat,” assignment that they will pass off as their own, assistance to cheat, and the New say Watson and Sottile. “Familiarity with fellow generally through a website. Many of these web- Zealand Qualifications Authority an opportunity for students may lessen moral objections to cheating sites announce “plagiarism-free guarantees,” or (NZQA) has the power to prosecute teaching students as they work through assignments and assess- papers tested against plagiarism detection tools. anyone providing or advertising about integrity and ments together over the course of a school term.” such services. In the United States, originality in a world According to recent information from the United 17 states have some form of law where being original is Nevertheless, the study shows that one type of Kingdom’s Quality Assurance Agency for Higher addressing custom essay writing increasingly difficult.” dishonest behavior does deserve to be discussed Education (QAA), there are currently more than services (data from October 2014). by online course developers. “The data showed 100 essay mill websites in operation. In the re- 9 In the United Kingdom, the QAA that students were significantly more likely to port Plagiarism in Higher Education, published recommended the development of obtain answers from others during an online test by QAA in 2016, the agency states that “there is “new laws to make it illegal to help or quiz. This ability to receive answers without no single solution” and that universities need “a students ‘commit acts of academic Cheating in online learning the monitoring of a professor presents prob- multi-faceted approach that builds on published dishonesty for financial gain,’ lems for the standard lecture-based, test-driven research and the steps that universities and punishable with fines,” according It may be surprising for some, but evidence shows course,” say the authors. They suggest instructors colleges are already taking to promote good aca- to The Guardian newspaper.10 that online students are not more likely to cheat. should “change the assessment from objective demic practice by students, to ‘design out’ oppor- Researchers George Watson and James Sottile, measures (multiple choice and true-false) to tunities for plagiarism in their assessments, and Plagiarism is a major challenge from Marshall University in West Virginia, United more subjective (essays and research papers) to identify and penalize academic misconduct.” 9 that needs to be considered in States, interviewed 635 undergraduate and grad- that require more in-depth understanding the development of institutional uate students enrolled in online and live courses.8 of a topic and more personal expression.” Government involvement strategies. However, it also rep- “The most important finding from this analysis was resents an opportunity for teaching that there were no significant differences in the stu- Contract cheating Although plagiarism is not a crime in itself, students about the value of integrity dents’ admission of cheating for live (face to face) helping a student to cheat has become a crime and originality, in order for them and online courses,” the authors wrote. In fact, the Universities all over the world have been dealing in some countries, showing that governments to thrive in a world where being results showed higher rates of academic dishonesty with the growing business of plagiarism, specially could also play a part in reinforcing integrity. In original is increasingly difficult.

SOURCES

1. Mostrous, A., & Kenber, B. (2016). Universities Brunensis,63(1), 207-216. doi:10.11118/actaun201563010207. 488. doi:10.1080/02602930301677. Retrieved May marshall%2Buniversity%2Bcheating%26sc%3D0-28%26s face student cheating crisis. Retrieved May 22, 2017, Retrieved May 22, 2017, from https://www.researchgate.net/ 22, 2017, from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/ k%3D%26cvid%3D49F9AF9DDC034ED688D80819CBD- from https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/universi- profile/Tomas_Foltynek/publication/276864042_Impact_of_Pol- download?doi=10.1.1.198.971&rep=rep1&type=pdf. 63C21#search=%22marshall%20university%20cheating%22. ties-face-student-cheating-crisis-9jt6ncd9vz7. icies_for_Plagiarism_in_Higher_Education_Across_Europe_Re- sults_of_the_Project/links/587cc82e08ae9a860ff0ad17/ 7. Rogerson, A. M., & McCarthy, G. (2017). Using Inter- 9. QAA. (2016). Plagiarism in Higher Education - The 2. International Center for Academic Integrity (n.d.). International Impact-of-Policies-for-Plagiarism-in-Higher-Education- net based paraphrasing tools: Original work, patchwriting Quality Assurance ... Retrieved May 22, 2017, from http:// Center for Academic Integrity - Statistics. Retrieved May 22, Across-Europe-Results-of-the-Project.pdf. or facilitated plagiarism? International Journal for Educa- www.bing.com/cr?IG=F007BA6CC0C546E8AF40D- 2017, from http://www.academicintegrity.org/icai/integrity-3.php. tional Integrity,13(1). doi:10.1007/s40979-016-0013-y. D64E5ECB056&CID=28464D277D226BA50D6447AC7 5. Culwin, F., & Lancaster, T. (2001). Plagiarism issues for higher Retrieved May 22, 2017, from https://edintegrity.spring- C246AD0&rd=1&h=iiV57MtKA4n9vzqyi0Kx4HjNMF4h- 3. McCabe, D. L., Trevino, L. K., & Butterfield, K. D. (2001). education. Vine,31(2), 36-41. doi:10.1108/03055720010804005. eropen.com/articles/10.1007/s40979-016-0013-y. KM39DJcgpCFkrAE&v=1&r=http%3a%2f%2fwww.qaa. Cheating in Academic Institutions: A Decade of Research. Ethics Retrieved May 22, 2017, from https://www.researchgate.net/pro- ac.uk%2fen%2fPublications%2fDocuments%2fPlagia- & Behavior,11(3), 219-232. doi:10.1207/s15327019eb1103_2. file/Thomas_Lancaster/publication/228793273_Plagiarism_is- 8. Watson, G. R., & Sottile, J. (2010). Cheating in the Digital Age: rism-in-Higher-Education-2016.pdf&p=DevEx,5087.1. Retrieved May 22, 2017, from http://www.middlebury.edu/ sues_for_higher_education/links/02bfe50f689294102d000000/ Do Students Cheat More in Online Courses? Online Journal of media/view/257513/original/Decade_of_Research.pdf. Plagiarism-issues-for-higher-education.pdf. Distance Learning Administration 13(1). Retrieved May 23, 2017, 10. Khomami, N. (2017, February 20). Plan to crack down from http://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&- on websites selling essays to students announced. Re- 4. Foltýnek, T., & Glendinning, I. (2015). Impact of Policies for Pla- 6. Park, C. (2003). In Other (Peoples) Words: Plagia- context=eft_faculty&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww. trieved May 23, 2017, from https://www.theguardian. giarism in Higher Education Across Europe: Results of the Proj- rism by university students--literature and lessons. As- bing.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dmarshall%2Buniversity%2Bcheat- com/education/2017/feb/21/plan-to-crack-down-on- ect. Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae sessment & Evaluation in Higher Education,28(5), 471- ing%26qs%3Dn%26form%3DQBRE%26sp%3D-1%26pq%3D- websites-selling-essays-to-students-announced.

36 37 technology plagiarism prevention throughintegrity academicTeaching 38 E-LEARN SafeAssign present learning opportunities to improve presentSafeAssign writing. student learning opportunities “catching” doing wrong, tools than something students likeRather Sponsored by Blackboard SafeAssign productSafeAssign expert Senior Product Manager at Blackboard and Trey Buck Trey

PHOTO: AFP Kelly Wilkinson rism prevention tool based on text-matching ontext-matching toolbased rism prevention isaplagia- solution, BlackboardSafeAssign Blackboard Learn asapartoftheoverall Offered tool Educational original,aswell.” more tobe needs content our possibilityofplagiarizingisgreater, the that out,butgiven voices their people toget allowPlatforms likeTumblrandFacebook importantthanever. more is unique–are communicate thatinformationinaway write about,andultimately understand, really informationand toassimilate able skills –being butcriticalthinking solveproblems, can help availablethat isinformationreadily that there toeducation opportunity.Itisabenefit a real itas though,Isee time, “Atthesame expert. product atBlackboardandSafeAssign Manager Product own”,saysTreyBuck,Senior their thangenerating quicklyoreasily more created hasalready else someone finding ananswer up mayend andstudents answers, own unique upwithour tostrivecome itharder makes it tohumanity.Ibelieve new thing entirely issome rightatyourfingertips imaginable “Having theanswertoalmostanyquestion ordifficulttounderstand. morediffuse become ofauthorshipmayhave concept applications, the and websites sharingandother dia, musicfile Wikipe- like resources up usingcollaborative grown whohave ofpeople For ageneration traceable. –andmore this practicemucheasier has made bility ofinformationandtechnology PLAGIARISM HAS ALWAYS EXISTED, BUT THE AVAILA- s i l o p a n a i d n i y b : : a l i c s i r p

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s e t a t s - of original writing as well as proper citation.” citation.” asproper of originalwriting aswell value studentsaboutthe sign asawaytoteach - SafeAs touse want isforourcustomers really Whatwe inallcases. going to‘catch’students thatis asaperfectmechanism not betreated should “SafeAssign tool forpolicingstudents. thanapunitive asaninstructionaltoolrather use isitsintended technology plagiarism prevention thatthemostimportantthingabout Buck states says. toschoolsandinstructors,”he choice and flexibility provides andassignments ses itinsideofcour- touse todecidewhere able within BlackboardLearnissoeasy,andbeing EnablingSafeAssign sophisticated. far more toolsbroadlyhasgotten educational online naturaladoptionandusageof the because of tools types emphasisonthese start toplace willtime. “Moreandmoreschools,Ibelieve, forthefirst withSafeAssign coming online schools andnew regularly SafeAssign more using Blackboardclients by bothexisting driven Thisgrowthisbeing year. year over increases tool,with30to40percent of the adoption asignificantgrowthinthe has been there years, lastfive with SafeAssignforthe workingAccording toBuck,whohasbeen cross-institutionalplagiarism. prevent help fromBlackboardclientinstitutions to dents bystu- volunteered thatwere tains papers Database,whichcon- GlobalReference the including sources, acrossseveral documents Itcompares material. paperandsource tted asubmi- between matches andinexact exact multiple ofdetecting algorithms capable INTERVIEW 39 E-LEARN INTERVIEW

He reminds us that there are several forms of plagiarism from a separate tool in Blackboard Learn – where the teacher As for the future, he believes that SafeAssign out there, and unintentional plagiarism is a reality. “I had to create a separate assignment type to use – to an should present matches in a smarter way. often use the example of a history class. An introductory Plagiarism can be a integrated option in the native Learn assignment workflow. “Today we very much rely on the teachers to do history class in, let´s say, the history of Brazil, is very “We have also made some adjustments to the algorithms over their own understanding and interpretation of constant malaise in the likely to have a lot of the same high level topics that have time, to make results more accurate, and we have improved the originality of the reports, even in the most been covered for years – even if the prompts change – and education sphere, and many the user experience and overall quality of the SafeAssign Ori- basic level. That is good in some ways, but we therefore it can be difficult for students to write truly new schools have academic ginality Reports,” affirms Buck. “Another interesting thing can certainly continue to make the results more and unique content about that sort of subject. So, it is very conduct policies that at is that, for each client that signs up to use SafeAssign, every intuitive. And I think that, over time, we will possible that students end up writing something similar least mention plagiarism. document that has been submitted by their users goes in a likely start to roll in additional functions to to what has previously been written, even totally unin- database just for them, and the longer they use the server, SafeAssign that surround that basic progress.” tentionally. We want users to think about SafeAssign as a the bigger that database gets. So they have an ever-growing tool to help improve the educational experience and the database of documents to analyze student work against.” Although tools like SafeAssign tend to get practice of administrating education, and not as a way responsibility to teach their students about this,” smarter with time, Buck emphasizes that they of trying to catch students doing something wrong.” he says. “I think it is the responsibility of schools should never replace a human. “It is concer- to use tools like SafeAssign to help educate their ning when we see schools that will set policies Buck points out that it can be difficult to engage stu- students as a part of the learning process, in like, ‘if the match percentage of originality in dents on the topic of plagiarism without it feeling threa- addition to giving them writing assignments the report is over a certain amount, that report tening: “That is something we hear from students quite a and allowing students to do their own creative automatically gets flagged for review by an bit, that they feel like the school is always judging them, work. And then, in cases where intentional or academic oversight committee’ or something so to speak. That may not be the school´s intention at unintentional plagiarism may be of concern, similar. I also know that, to students, a policy all, but because of the way the students often feel about schools can use the analysis of a tool like SafeAs- like that feels very much like oversight rather these types of tools, the perception is inherently negative. sign to help facilitate the appropriate actions.” than support and further exacerbates students’ Even the idea of plagiarism is kind of a negative thing, so concerns about these types of tools,” he says. people do not necessarily want to talk about it,” he says. In Buck’s opinion, the main challenges that institutions are facing are setting the right “Blackboard is extremely conscious of the im- In order to mitigate students’ feelings that they may be expectations for both instructors and teachers plications of accusing students of plagiarizing punished by using the service, it can be a helpful practi- when they are using these types of tools, making and that is why we always position SafeAs- ce to allow students to submit drafts and correct their own sure they understand what they are getting out sign as one tool of many in an instructor’s work prior to submitting the final version of an assignment. of the tool, and ensuring that students do not toolbox. We always leave the choice in our Instructors can also create assignments with an unlimited feel like they are getting punished in every way clients’ hands as to what to do with the results; number of submissions to allow students to resubmit after by the school and the institutions that use these we do not flag them for follow up, we do not review. In short, it’s important to use plagiarism software in tools. “There are so many learning opportu- report them anywhere,” Buck adds. “The tool a preventative and educational way so students will not feel nities that these tools can create, and we want is meant to support our clients’ pedagogies that they are being caught by surprise or assessed unfairly. people to recognize and act on those occasions and beliefs in how education should happen as opportunities rather than punishments.” at their school. At the end of the day, humans Plagiarism can be a constant malaise in the education sphere, – not machines – should be deciding whether and many schools have academic conduct policies that at least Technology evolution plagiarism has occurred and then taking the mention plagiarism. Additionally, students should be learning subsequent actions. Programmatic tools like about original writing throughout their educational journey. Blackboard has owned SafeAssign for more than SafeAssign are built to help inform deci- “It is a topic that covers a lot of different writing levels as well a decade, and over that time the tool has impro- sions that humans should always be making as educational levels, and I do not think it is the school´s sole ved in many aspects. For example, it was moved based on as much information as possible.”

40 41 E-LEARN Sponsored by Blackboard HOW TO

When students are part of a community in which integrity is a strong value, they are less likely to take part in dishonest behavior. To create such Overcoming plagiarism: environment, institutions should consider plagiarism a reality and develop strategies to deal with it, using technology as an ally. Instructors can create 8 steps to creating a their own classroom culture, offering students guidance and support. b y p r i s c i l a z i g u n o v a s culture that fosters infographic b y : t r iib u Studio

ALLOW STUDENTS TO SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL academic integrity 3 CORRECT THEIR OWN WORK 4 STUDENTS

By allowing draft submissions through plagiarism In the United Kingdom, research showed that detection tools, students can make the necessary students from outside the European Union were changes and enhancements to their work before four times more likely to plagiarize in exams and HAVE AN TEACH STUDENTS submitting the final version of an assignment. This coursework. For the Quality Assurance Agency HONOR CODE TO WRITE BETTER practice increases the feedback loop for students and for Higher Education (QAA),2 some possible 1 2 helps mitigate the feeling that plagiarism detection explanations include cultural differences and software is meant to punish rather than help them. distinct learning styles. Language competence Programs and policies promoting academic integrity through Unintentional cheating is often caused Instructors can also develop a “writing zone” by or proficiency, particularly where English is an institution improve students’ behavior. In campuses with by a lack of understanding around having assignments with an unlimited number of not the first language, can affect students’ strong, well-implemented honor codes, new students will notice using proper citation and paraphrasing. submissions. This provides students with a space ability to write in their own words. Therefore, significantly less cheating than on non-code campuses, and Teaching students how to research they can always go to in order to check their work developing programs and policies to support as a result, begin to internalize this new community ethic. Even and become better writers can be the for originality prior to their formal assessment. these students can help reduce plagiarism. better, studies indicate that honor codes can have a long-term key to ignite their passion for learning effect, having a positive influence in future workplace behavior. and find their own voice. In order for Instructors can also create a classroom honor code, placing this to happen, institutions should appropriate responsibilities and obligations on students.1 integrate writing in the curriculum.

42 43 E-LEARN HOW TO

USE REFLECTIVE DEVELOP FAIR FORMS 5 METHODS 6 OF ASSESSMENT

Rather than stimulating behavioral change only Being supportive with students promotes through sanctions, institutions should focus respect and reciprocity, causing them to on policies and practices that emphasize self- cheat less. Instructors should develop fair and reflection, inner understanding and dialogue, in consistent grading policies and procedures, an integrated manner. Nijunk Dalal, professor and punish transgressions in a strict, but at the Oklahoma State University, defends that fair and timely manner. When possible, while approaches based on sanctions may pressure can be reduced by not grading bring about desired changes in behavior, it is students on a strict curve. It is important not clear whether these changes are based on to focus on learning and not just grades, fear of punishment or rather transformative inner and to create interesting assignments.1 learning. If change comes out of fear, students may cheat again in situations where they are unlikely to be caught or punished. However, he affirms, if change comes from within, the student is unlikely to resort to illegitimate short-cuts.3

MAKE SURE ONLINE BE CLEAR AND 7 STUDENTS GET THE CONSISTENT ABOUT SAME TREATMENT 8 ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

Since they are not on campus, online- Institutions need to affirm the importance of academic learning students may not receive the integrity, clearly communicating their expectations same kind of information regarding about behavior that constitutes cheating. Also, it is plagiarism as on-site students. essential to establish and communicate cheating Institutions need to find ways to policies and to encourage students to abide by those communicate their policies to online policies. The institution must also convince students students and offer them plagiarism that plagiarism will be met with strong disapproval, and instruction. That can be done, for that cheating is the exception on campus, not the rule. example, by asking them to sign pledges When cheating occurs, the institution must be prepared that they will not cheat, or by requiring to hold students accountable, employing sanctions students to take a course on the subject. that have both educational and deterrence value.1

SOURCES

1. McCabe, D. L., Trevino, L. K., & Butter- 2. QAA. (2016). Plagiarism in Higher Education - The 3. Dalal, N. (2015). Responding to plagiarism using reflective means. Interna- field, K. D. (2001). Cheating in Academ- Quality Assurance ... Retrieved May 22, 2017, from http:// tional Journal for Educational Integrity, 11(1). doi:10.1007/s40979-015-0002-6. ic Institutions: A Decade of Research. www.bing.com/cr?IG=F007BA6CC0C546E8AF40D- Retrieved May 22, 2017, from http://download.springer.com/static/pdf/750/art% Ethics & Behavior,11(3), 219-232. D64E5ECB056&CID=28464D277D226BA50D6447AC7 253A10.1007%252Fs40979-015-0002-6.pdf?originUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fed- doi:10.1207/s15327019eb1103_2. C246AD0&rd=1&h=iiV57MtKA4n9vzqyi0Kx4HjNMF4h- integrity.springeropen.com%2Farticle%2F10.1007%2Fs40979-015-0002 Retrieved May 22, 2017, from http://www. KM39DJcgpCFkrAE&v=1&r=http%3a%2f%2fwww.qaa. -6&token2=exp=1495552113~acl=%2Fstatic%2Fpdf%2F750%2Fart%252 middlebury.edu/media/view/257513/ ac.uk%2fen%2fPublications%2fDocuments%2fPlagia- 53A10.1007%25252Fs40979-015-0002-6.pdf*~hmac=aef7c966848ad- original/Decade_of_Research.pdf. rism-in-Higher-Education-2016.pdf&p=DevEx,5087.1. c329f4b0a8a8a68274ee87261776eef7e51347abee542c9197e

44 45 E-LEARN Sponsored by Blackboard ROUNDTABLE

Although accessibility awareness is growing, putting theory into practice can be a The challenge of tough endeavor for educational institutions around the globe. To better understand the challenges of making education accessible to all students, E-learn interviewed making education speakers from Blackboard’s Global Accessibility Awareness Day webinar series. b y : p r i s c i l a z i g u n o v a s accessible to all illustration a n d g r a p h i c s : t r iib u Studio

CURB CUTS - THE SMALL RAMPS BUILT INTO THE CURB OF A SIDEWALK has been addressed and we have an inclusive digital to ease passage onto the street - started to appear in different environment, so that we are no longer trying to cities around the globe in the early 1990’s. That small change make accommodations, but rather we design the ended up making a big difference for people in wheelchairs, environment and provide it to be inclusive for all stu- and ultimately brought benefits to a much larger community, dents. Right now, the biggest challenge that we are from mothers with strollers to cyclists and skateboarders. facing is building the awareness of how to do that.”

These changes in accessibility to the physical environment A complex global problem did not happen spontaneously. They were enforced by law. Canada was the first country to legislate standards of acces- More than a billion people in the world live sibility, through the Canadian Human Rights Act in 1985.1 with some form of disability.3 However, disabilities disproportionately affect vulner- In 1990, the United States instituted the Americans with able populations, generating a cycle that is Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination and ensures hard to break. People in poverty are more equal opportunity for people with disabilities.2 The act has also likely to become disabled, and people who established that new business constructions must be accessible are disabled are more likely to be poor.4 and that existing businesses are required to increase the acces- sibility of their facilities when making renovations. Since then, According to the World Health Organization, many countries have created similar legislation, such as Australia people with disabilities experience lower (1992), South Africa (2000), France (2005) and Norway (2008).1 educational achievements and less econom- ic participation.3 Children with disabilities “We had the laws and the standards in place [in the United are less likely to start school, and have lower States] so that the physical environment had to become acces- rates of staying and advancing in schools.1 sible. Buildings had to have elevators and ramps installed. The sidewalk curbs had to be cut out in order for individuals with Promoting accessibility in education is the best wheelchairs to be able to easily cross the streets,” describes way to change those numbers. “Throughout Scott Ready, Blackboard’s Principal Strategist for Accessibility. the world, accessibility varies from coun- try to country, and there’s different cultural “But the digital environment is just now really getting addressed values that come into play, as well as the legal for accessibility. I look forward to the day when our online learning aspects of region to region that impact how programs have that same kind of approach, where accessibility well accessibility is provided,” said Ready.

46 47 E-LEARN ROUNDTABLE

According to Ready, one trend today is that students are Institutions and accessibility Learning (UDL). UDL is a set of principles for becoming much more aware of their rights and also more curriculum development intended to give all active in fighting for accessible education. “The oth- “The cost of inaccessibility is that people are individuals equal opportunities to learn.7 er trend here in the United States is that there’s been a not receiving the education that they want, so surge of litigation and investigations in higher education basically the institutions are not able to achieve “In my classrooms, I see amazing future to identify barriers or those that are violating accessibil- their mission,” says Lucy Greco, Web Accessi- Lucy Greco teachers who are ready to master the art and Web Accessibility ity. Often times, the remediation of that is to force the bility Evangelist at the University of California, Evangelist at science of teaching, and I find that they are institution to review and to make their learning environ- Berkeley. As an evangelist, Greco works with UC Berkeley very interested in UDL and special education,” ments accessible. That is changing the environment for people who are new to accessibility in order says Cressey. “They are going to be general students with disabilities, as institutions realize that it to teach them how to incorporate accessibility education teachers, but UDL really helps them becomes very expensive to go through a litigation process.” into their work. Blind since birth, she has been think about the complexities of a classroom working her entire life helping people with Frances of students with and without disabilities.” If we think about the curb cuts example, we will see that disabilities find unique ways to get tasks done, Friendly accessibility imposed by legislation eventually led people mostly with the support of assistive technologies. partner dog According to Cressey, traditional, inflexible teach- to understand the importance of such measures and as a ing can have harmful psychological and academic result, awareness about physical accessibility followed. “What is happening in education today is that edu- consequences to students, and the root causes to The same should happen now with digital accessibility. cational institutions are all aware of what accessi- that are sociological and systemic. “In my teachings bility is, and all have kind of a basic idea that they and presentations I frame that through ableism, should be including people with disabilities, but which is discrimination and stigmatization of AFP Jana Asenbrennerova Jana AFP PHOTO: very few institutions actually have the resources, or understanding, or knowledge of how to accom- ‘Nothing for us without us.’ You can’t understand plish that,” says Greco. For her, that is why it is how to include a person with a disability until you important that institutions create an accessibility include a person with a disability. You can’t create policy, and specifically a policy document to help a tool that you think is accessible without having people understand which path they need to take. a person with a disability there with you, because you don’t know. And the only way for you to know “If you work on accessibility, you are improving and understand how a person with a disability yourself as an organization, and the impact for works is by interacting with them, engaging with everyone at your institution is greater and more them, and realizing that, first of all, people with effective than anything else you can do,” says disabilities are people, and they can contribute.” Greco. “Improving accessibility is just making a better product, and including individuals of A way to teach all: Scott Ready all different styles, abilities, understanding and Universal Design for Learning Blackboard’s Principal comprehension is what education is all about. Strategist for Accessibility We don’t teach to teach the privileged and the James Cressey is an Assistant Professor of few, we teach to teach all, and if we don’t become Education at Framingham State University in James accessible, we are not teaching everyone.” Massachusetts, United States. As a licensed Cressey Assistant Professor special educator and nationally certified school of Education at For Greco, the best way to work on accessibility psychologist, he teaches courses in special Framingham is to include people with disabilities. “There is education at the undergraduate and graduate State University AFP Casey Atkins Casey AFP PHOTO: AFP John Carrington John AFP PHOTO: a common statement here in the United States, levels, with a focus on Universal Design for

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disability and people with disabilities. Ableism can In Kansas, an inspiring experience Award and the Lawrence School District be seen as inherently linked with racism and sex- from Deerfield Elementary Learn from Bailey and Edwards Teacher of the Year for 2014. “All students can ism, heteronormativity, xenophobia and ideas like learn and they have a deep desire to do so,” says English-only teaching or the unfortunate ‘America Diana Bailey is a fifth grade teacher at Deerfield Ele- • Start small. Choose a single subject area, a Bailey. “It is just a matter of giving them more first’ kind of thinking. Ableism supports this para- mentary, a public school in Lawrence, Kansas (Unit- single class, or even a single activity to allow choice and allowing them a myriad of ways to digm of the mythical ‘normal’ or ‘average’ student. ed States). Four years ago, she implemented the your students to tailor that assignment or demonstrate their knowledge instead of making If teachers are replicating that way of thinking blended learning model in order to personalize learn- that objective to their personal needs. that so rigid like it has been in the past.” in the classroom, they are really creating trauma ing for every student in her classroom, along with for students rather than helping them learn.” Kyleigh Edwards, a special education teacher. • Get to know your students. Talk to the Born to be accessible parents, create surveys or activities that In the United States, says Cressey, enormous “Four years ago, there was really that old factory mod- allow students to talk about themselves. Universidad Abierta y a Distancia de México research goes into the testing, evaluation, and the el, as I like to call it, a teacher in front of a classroom, (UnADM) is a unique institution. It was created eligibility determination process for disability. rows of desks, and the teacher would be kind of shoot- • Be flexible and have an open mind. “I like in 2012 with the mission to guarantee access to “If we could use UDL more, we could reallocate ing for the middle of all abilities. Then you have your to consider myself this architect, that education for the most vulnerable populations some of those resources, and special educators higher kids being bored and unengaged, and your lower designs learning paths for each student, in the country, such as people with disabili- and school psychologists could build more UDL students, who are struggling to understand the context, instead of that ‘sage on the stage,’ ties, people deprived of their liberty, ethnic practices into classrooms and partner more with feeling frustrated. It was just not working,” tells Bailey. standing in front, kind of controlling groups, and indigenous communities. With teachers to build in accessibility. And then we can everything about their day,” tells Bailey. spend less time sorting children into catego- At that time, special education students had to leave ries of disabled or not disabled and more time the classroom at certain periods to study with Edwards. • Celebrate diversity. “There is no one right building high-quality learning experiences.” That separation was not working either. Together, the answer to how to teach and how students learn,” says Edwards. “Nobody is the same Diana Bailey Kyleigh and we should not expect them to be the Grade Level Edwards same, because our diversity is what makes Teacher at Special Lawrence Public Education us unique, and is what makes things Schools, Teacher at interesting and fun in the classroom.” Kansas Lawrence Public Schools, Kansas two teachers made a plan to implement a more person- alized learning model in order to keep special education students in the classroom, learning at their own pace. The changes ended up benefiting all the students. Eloísa Alpízar Gómez “I can see on the kids’ faces that they are excited to be in this Curricular Design Leader at Universidad Abierta y a room, they are excited to engage in the assignment,” says Distancia de Mexico (UnADM) Edwards. “And especially the special ed students, who are excited because we found a way to make them successful based on their strengths and what they are interested in.”

For her innovative work, Bailey has been recognized with

AFP Dave Kaup Dave AFP PHOTO: multiple awards, such as the Unusually Excellent Educator Montoya Bernardo AFP PHOTOS:

50 51 E-LEARN ROUNDTABLE

OE AT ABOUT AEBLT

A A B D

Juan Simón Isidro Technology and Educational A E Innovation Coordinator at Universidad Abierta y a Distancia de Mexico (UnADM)

23 bachelor’s degree programs, 19 associ- ate’s degree programs and two postgraduate Learn from UnADM programs, digital accessibility is essential for D UnADM to fulfill their mission and vision. • Education for all. Instead of aiming for the middle, consider a wide range “We want to be an institution that increases of learning needs and styles. coverage and inclusion in higher education, that promotes education through an open and • Consider accessibility from the beginning, in every remote model as an alternative for people who course and all educational material, rather than do not have access to face-to-face higher educa- thinking about it in terms of accommodations. tion,” says Juan Simón Isidro, Technology and “This practice allows us to include people with Educational Innovation Coordinator at UnADM. disabilities from the beginning and not wait for the demand to respond to or adapt to The university currently has 929 students the situation presented to us,” says Alpízar. with some form of disability. According to Eloísa Alpízar Gómez, Curriculum Design • Improve your practice on an ongoing SOURCES Leader at UnADM, accessibility was always basis. Count on the advice of specialized considered an important part of the model. 1. United Nations. (2015.). Global 3. World Health Organization. 5. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines institutions. For example, collaboration Status Report on Disability and (2011). World report on disabili- (WCAG) 2.0. (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2017, “Our content production model was developed Development. Retrieved from ty. Retrieved from http://apps.who. from https://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20. with the Institute for Persons with http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ int/iris/bitstream/10665/70670/1/ taking into account the accessibility standards Disabilities of Mexico City (INDEPEDI) led the documents/disability/2016/ WHO_NMH_VIP_11.01_eng.pdf. 6. What is Universal Design for Learning. of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) ,” GlobalStatusReportonDisabil- (n.d.). Retrieved June 15, 2017, from http:// university to detect the need to improve ityandDevelopment.pdf. 4. The cycle of poverty and dis- www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/whatisudl. says Alpízar. “In this model, criteria for the ability. (2017, February 17). Re- accessibility for the deaf community. production of each course was defined, as 2. Search ADA.gov. (n.d.). Re- trieved June 14, 2017, from https:// 7. The global disability crisis. (2017, April 04). trieved June 15, 2017, from https:// www.add.org.uk/why-disability/ Retrieved June 14, 2017, from https://www.add. well as accessible versions of the courses.” www.ada.gov/2010_regs.htm. cycle-poverty-and-disability. org.uk/why-disability/global-disability-crisis.

52 53 E-LEARN Sponsored by Blackboard CUSTOMER SNAPSHOT

management system (LMS). He spoke to E-Learn about for the entirety of the course, instructors can change Enhanced how they optimize communication with students using the the student settings from “participant” to “reader” Blackboard Learn across all of Keiser University’s campuses. and have the contents always available for review. Lastly, instructors can subscribe to threads so that instructor-student The online environment in Keiser University when a student posts a question, they are instantly notified via e-mail to answer as soon as possible. All campuses have face-to-face courses that are now al- communication so entirely supported by an online companion and hybrid At Keiser, instructors are also required to offer courses, which are utilized to collect grades and to offer an one-hour live sessions each week using Black- online component to students. Within that scope, the Online board Collaborate, which can be recorded and with Blackboard Division has its own students, who can earn their degrees available at any time. It is common at the begin- entirely online. Keiser offers up to three hundred online classes ning for instructors to display a PowerPoint pre- per month, which students in all campuses can access. sentation and talk through it at first. In Professor Learn DiStasio’s experience, his understanding and use Using Blackboard Learn tools to of the tool has changed over time. He currently optimize communication with students takes students via screen sharing to the online classroom itself to be able to read, reflect and Keiser offers four-week intense courses that typically require discuss each assignment. He can share Microsoft the students’ engagement on discussion boards at least three Word documents, and if there is an assignment, he days a week. The discussions are all graded and usually can demonstrate how he would have approached there’s a minimum time requirement for when the instruc- it. Some courses at Keiser require students to de- tor has to reply to the student. In order for the communi- liver speeches and oral presentations using their Daniel DiStasio Department Chair for General Innerarity Andrew AFP cation to be fluent, it is very important that throughout the webcams. And, when students require assistance, Education at Keiser University course and in particular on the discussion boards, that reply Blackboard Collaborate allows the instructor to PHOTO: time is quick to engage the student in the topic at hand. hold one-on-one sessions, and some even use it Multimedia content can also be shared through discussion to record instructions or sessions that are saved boards, so it is recommended to avoid only using text, as and archived for the students to view later. Keiser University was started 40 years ago b y : s e b a s t i á n p u l i d o z e t h e l i u s even the smallest visual support makes a big difference. as a health care services-oriented school f o r t l a u d e r d a l e , f l o r i d a , u n i t e d s t a t e s Across different campuses, as is the case at Keiser, to meet the economic and workforce needs These requirements help strengthen the communication between the use of a single LMS makes the online classroom in Florida. From their first and main campus DANIEL DISTASIO’S JOB IS MULTIFACETED BUT HE instructors and students by taking their interactions one step experience totally seamless for instructors as thinks of himself mainly as an English professor. further. For example, when asking specific questions while inter- well as students. Today, for any course, whether in Fort Lauderdale, Keiser has expanded to At Keiser University, he is the Department Chair preting a poem or a literary fragment, students should think for on-campus or not, students are all enrolled through 19 campuses across Florida, one campus for General Education in the Online Division, themselves instead of paraphrasing. The instructor can then con- the same LMS version. Moreover, the university in Nicaragua and another in Shanghai. and works with the faculty on several areas of figure the discussion so that students can only view other threads library is fully online and for every discipline and It is Florida’s third largest private, General Education to assist them on their online after they write a post about the topic that is being discussed, which course, students and staff have access to endless nonprofit, regionally accredited university class delivery. Daniel is also a Course Developer can have surprising results compared to just asking students to resources. In the case of the Nicaragua campus and provides over 100 undergraduate and a member of Keiser’s Instructional Design write voluntarily. Discussion boards are a course participation for instance, Keiser has an entire Latin-American and graduate degree programs in Team. He has been working in online education component that is graded, therefore, full discussion content is only division where students can earn their undergrad- Business, Criminal Justice, Health Care, for nine years, six of which have been with Black- available for one week to encourage rich interactions within that uate to master’s degree fully in Spanish, while Technology, Hospitality and Education. board, ever since Keiser adopted the learning timeframe. For discussions that may need to be referred back to having access to resources from all other campuses.

54 55 E-LEARN Sponsored by Blackboard CUSTOMER SNAPSHOT

David Montes de Oca Under One Director of e-Learning Services. Center for Innovation in Roof: National Learning at National University University’s Use

Andrew Kapunin of Community Sr. Developer. Center for Innovation in Learning at Engagement National University and Quick

Enroll Modules Wechter Bill AFP PHOTO:

Today, there is a rising NOT ONLY ARE BUSY WORKING ADULTS LOOKING TO FURTHER • National University (NU): Graduate, undergraduate, LMS environments, such as LTI integrations demand for alternatives their careers, many other populations could benefit from associate and extended learning and custom solutions development. David works to traditional educational an alternative educational approach. The National Uni- with a team of developers and project manag- institutions. As diverse student versity System (NUS) is meeting this need with a unique • John F. Kennedy University (JFK): Graduate, ers on the functional extension of the system. bodies pursue degrees in one-class-per-month format, along with the implementa- undergraduate and extended education Working alongside him is Andrew Kapunin, a tion of their LMS across multiple affiliate institutions. Senior Programmer with a background in project specialized fields, they require • City University of Seattle (CityU): Doctoral, planning, research, development and support. a more flexible and responsive The NUS is a non-profit educational system that serves master’s, bachelor’s, and associate’s degree They both spoke with E-Learn about utilizing the education to meet their needs. learners of all ages through its affiliates. Founded programs delivered on-site and online native features of Blackboard Learn’s Commu- in 1971, its main affiliate, the National University, nity Engagement Module (CEM) and the Quick is an accredited private non-profit university with a • National University Virtual High School: Enroll Module (QEM) tool to consolidate a single one-course-per-month format. National University An accredited online high school managed-hosting environment for all affiliates, offers flexible online and onsite programs serving while maintaining a high level of autonomy

b y : s e b a s t i á n adults and veterans with flexible online education David Montes de Oca is a System Administrator of a shared among brands. They shared their experience, and p u l i d o z e t h e l i u s options. More than 70 degree programs are available multitenant LMS environment, comprised of those four unique provided some advice on best practices to take in l a j o l l a , c a l i f o r n i a , u n i t e d s t a t e s fully online across all NUS affiliates, including: Institutions. He has experience in functional extensions of to account when approaching similar projects.

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The Community The Quick Enroll Module Key tips for approaching Engagement Module a Hierarchy Under the institutional hierarchy for NU, CityU, JFK, and NU- The next challenge was to When David, Andrew and their team executed VHS, they also use another customization tool called the Quick • Institutional hierarchy should not be the migration from their previous LMS to Enroll Module. They can path an administrative role to a course provide users with unique forced. This means being very mindful Blackboard Learn, they applied the same ad- level role specific to each affiliate. For instance, CityU has an ad- content, depending on the of the course management permissions ministrative and faculty access structure they ministrative role that is used by three staff members in charge of school or institution they for different users and tool availability, already had in place. Once that was set, and faculty support. They provide best practices for the use of online were enrolled at. such as feature customization for a courses were being migrated over to the new tools or troubleshooting technical issues. David’s team created smaller student body with different platform, the CEM stood out to the team, as it that role within CityU’s hierarchy, very much like a partition, needs, or an LTI integration. allowed them to build an institutional hierar- so that those staff members only have access to their affiliate’s chy with a node structure that was native to the courses but with specific privileges, such as turning tools on and • Set up efficient communication platform. As a result, David and the develop- off, or managing Tabs and Modules. The experience is seamless • Delineated permissions  channels with Blackboard Learn ment team could create a platform tailored for the end user, and administrators can be sure that their The next challenge was to provide users with unique administrators. Team leaders should to the affiliate, schools or colleges within the activity won’t affect entities outside of their affiliate’s hierarchy. content, depending on the school or institution they were discuss which permissions should be system and courses by subject. Administrative enrolled at. This was possible thanks to the flexibility of granted to different users. If permissions access, course access and tool utilization can be Having a Quick Enroll feature, however, does not auto- Tabs and Modules (System Admin > Communities are not enabled by default, discuss with managed with the creation of delineated admin matically provide an experience like National University’s, > Tabs and Modules). This section allows creating the Blackboard Learn administrative roles and privileges for different individuals. but it does make it possible, as faculty have the freedom to top-level navigation, second-level navigation items, and team what options are available. access tools that are specific to a subject matter or institu- modules for each page. Modules are small widgets (pieces Establishing an tion. It is the way in which faculty make use of that freedom of content) that are flexible enough to display content • In a shared environment, it is a give and Institutional Hierarchy that makes that experience possible. For example, an LTI associated with a particular tool, or simply with HTML. take relationship between institutions, (Learning Tool Interoperability) integration could be exe- and roles should be clearly defined to Trying to make one system act like another is cuted and turned on for single subject matter courses only. • Admin roles  prevent possible mishaps with admin a risky approach, so, with the complex struc- Administrative support staff at Blackboard Learn settings. It is useful to focus on how the tural organization of multiple institutions, Reasons to consider an helped the development team find a way to map an experience for the staff member that serves the management of users and courses by a Institutional Hierarchy individual Program Director or Course Lead role to a students and faculty is in practice. Then, small department would have been virtually specific course role with administrative access so they it is easier to map a similar role in the new impossible. At the same time, it is import- • Custom branding  could search for a course by term, course name, or LMS without providing full system admin ant to separate access to student data for With Blackboard Learn, the team was able to customize course ID. Quick Enroll allows them to avoid having access, as it is a shared environment. each affiliate. With that in mind, The Center each brand in detail. A set of cascade style sheet (CSS) multiple versions of courses that can increase loading for Innovation and Learning (CIL) team files was downloaded in the form of a theme package. times and create confusion with enrollment. In short, trying to make one system act like established a detailed hierarchy of the entire Each CSS file describes how every element of the user another is risky, as David and Andrew have National University System within Blackboard interface will be presented. This gives administrators To engage each brand with users and their affiliates sepa- revealed. When trying to find the way through Learn (System Admin > Communities and developers an excellent tool to manage the look rately, and to show only relevant modules to those users, an LMS implementation or integration, > Institutional Hierarchy). This allowed and feel of the LMS. Not only were they able to create a Institution Roles come into play (System Admin > Users NUS’s case shows that expectations can be them to designate administrators to each custom theme for each affiliate, they could also further > Institution Roles). Each user, when enrolled in the LMS, met, even surpassed, when the Design and node, with the ability to manage courses and improve user experience. For instance, Font Awesome is assigned an institution role that represents the brand of System Management teams are mindful of organizations under that node. Essentially, was added as an open-source icon kit within the course the affiliate and their target group (students, instructors or the tool’s capabilities and limitations. This, each node administrator can have exten- content. This functionality is available at System staff). Each theme, navigation structure, and set of modules along with careful planning, is the key to sive privileges, but within a limited scope. Admin > Communities > Brands and Themes. is associated with the respective institution roles as well. building a seamless end user experience.

58 59 E-LEARN Sponsored by Blackboard CUSTOMER SNAPSHOT

their maximum potential and get ready for This allows the staff on the careers team to look at the what they will face when they leave college. progress of the different students. They have access to the CVs of the students, and can professionally assess Gateshead College has five campuses and over if each student is capable of entering the workforce, AFP Scott HeppellScott AFP 5,000 students. They deliver higher education as well as what subjects, extracurricular activities, PHOTO: (degree courses), post-graduate education, or additional skills they might need to acquire. This part-time programmes and apprenticeships. helps prepare the students by the time they graduate.

They have implemented three main initiatives 3. Helen, along with Jisc (a non-profit organization in the to help students prepare to leave college: United Kingdom which promotes the use of and invest- ment in technology in education), has come up with several The Careers Team projects that use technology to enhance the students’ Helen Richardson learning, as well as their employability. They first came Learning Innovation A dedicated team within the college that up with the cARv Project. Helen Richardson was aware Manager at Gateshead College works alongside the teaching staff to support of the fact, that sometimes a paper CV is not sufficient- students to acquire the skills they need ly accurate in letting the employer know what skills the to get their dream job. They do different person who is applying has - especially a person who just things to get that job done such as: graduated and probably has little to no experience in the workforce. She came up with an idea to put augmented 1. The careers team has partnered with entre- reality (a live or indirect view of a physical and real-world preneurs in the area, one for each faculty environment that is transmitted via a computer generated Education that gets you (catering, business administration, etc.), and input, such as audio or video) inside the CV. With the those entrepreneurs will visit the college once help and funding of Jisc, she filmed a short recording a month to talk to the students. This allows of the students performing a certain skill, for exam- ready for the real world: How the students to ask them questions about the ple, chopping while the student talks to the camera and field they are interested in joining, and the introduces him or herself. Then they generate a QR code entrepreneurs can give them feedback on the for the video and include it in the CV with an opening to gain the employment edge things that are important to learn, master, letter giving the employer instructions on how to access and expand on. This motivates the students, the video. The employer can then scan the QR code with because, as Helen says, work is very different their phone and the video immediately pops up on their The working environment is very different b y : c h r i s t i n a g ó m e z e c h a v a r r í a from college, and if a student is studying to screen. This way, not only does the student stand out, but from the academic environment, and when g a t e s h e a d , e n g l a n d become a chef, the end goal is becoming a the employer has an idea of who the student is and what students graduate college, they may not chef and not being a student. Seeing individ- their skills are, and can make a more informed decision. understand what it means to be in an office GATESHEAD COLLEGE HAS MADE SURE THIS DOES uals that represent their future goals in front not happen to their students and have of them motivates them to become better They use software to make the creation or how to carry out their profession. They taken the necessary methods to ensure their students and professionals. The careers team of E-Learning courses easier are not taught work ethic and they may students are prepared for the workforce. makes sure that all students take part in prac- not know what to put in a CV or resume to Helen Richardson, Learning Innovation tical work experience before they graduate. 1. Stuart Horn says that Articulate, a software tool that stand out from the crowd. Most colleges Manager, and Stuart Horn, E-learning allows you to build interactive E-Learning courses, has don’t teach these skills, and students Technologist, have come up with a variety of 2. The careers team has an LMS designed just been a great addition to their Moodlerooms LMS. The are left to figure it out on their own. methods to help students in each field reach for this area, which is called “On-Track.” E-Learning team realized that the teachers have had a

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difficult time embracing technology. However, they also and the students go into the kitchen and contrast, the college has to find out what is new and person does when they are having fun. For this realized that when they effectively present the tech- have a camera on them the whole time. look at how they can implement that tool to existing reason, they asked a games teacher to work with nology to each teacher and thoroughly explain how it The students are viewed live in the dining technologies in an effective and realistic manner. the E-Learning department to come up with works for their specific courses, they understand it better room by the paying customers. This makes fun and engaging ways to enhance learning. and are more open to embracing it. For this reason, students more mindful about how they Helen says that she will keep on working to keep Gateshead But always, and most importantly, Gateshead Stuart and the e-Learning team have begun to make handle the food and encourages them to College at the forefront when it comes to integrating technol- College ensures their students are prepared E-Learning packages using Articulate. The process is so conduct themselves professionally at all ogy in education. She says that the college is full of forward for the real world and can leave college with a easy that they are able to personalize each course with times. This also allows the students to look thinkers and that they are continually trying to develop good job of their choice, and that their work the specific tools and content that the teacher needs at the footage after the exam so they can and implement the best technology possible. They believe satisfies their employer. At the end of the day, for that course, to carry it out as well as they can. conduct a critical peer and personal review in the power of gamification and the amount of learning a that is the purpose of a college education. of their work, in order to assess what they 2. Stuart has also been able to identify certain problems that need to improve and what mistakes they specific faculties have, and try to fix them using technology. made. This, Helen explains, is an effective 5 tips to achieve work success while studying For example, the Travel and Tourism students hadn’t quite way to use technology to enhance learning. gotten the hang of using technology for their studies, and most of them do not have the money to be able to travel the 2. They also use technology to teach staff about USE TECHNOLOGY world. Stuart created an interactive map of the world in Ar- technology. Since the E-Learning team 1 TO SELF-ASSESS 2 USE TECHNOLOGY TO STAND ticulate and applied gamification into the pedagogical ap- inside the college is very small and there are YOUR SKILLS. OUT TO POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS. You can record, photograph, All CV’s look the same. With design, proach to get these students to be able to “travel” the world lots of faculty members and departments, it and/or document your creativity, and some technology, you through technology. A specific example is the learning of would be too time-consuming to teach each progress so you know what can make a CV that stands out from world capitals. By using the Articulate map with Google Ex- one of the teachers how to use the technol- to work on, what you are the rest. Make a video resume that doing well at, and how much shows your skills and energy to make peditions, and an interactive white board, the students can ogy. Helen, along with Jisc, invented what you have progressed. an impression on the employer. connect the dots of the capitals with each country. When they call the Innovation Chain. This means

they get the correct answer, a picture of that city pops up that Stuart meets with his team and ten BE RESOURCEFUL WITH so they know what it looks like and what the main interest faculty members, for example. Stuart teaches TECHNOLOGY TO HELP YOU IN 3 WHAT YOU NEED TO WORK ON. 4 points are. This is a fun and effective way of learning. them the tools, the software, and what they There is so much information online; you can do with it. The faculty members are can learn practically anything. Take full LEARN TO MANAGE advantage of those resources and reach YOUR TIME. Implementation of the very then asked to teach what they learned to out to experts for them to give you guidance With the possibility best technology available three other faculty members. The faculty so you can grow. Experts on different of taking E-Learning members are asked to teach while using a subject matters might be able to help guide courses at any time, you on what is important for you to know you can build your skills Helen explains that she is all for technology in education, Wiki, and record how they teach others. and how to make yourself stand out. at your own pace. but that it can inhibit education if it is used without pur- Then, the Wiki can be uploaded to the LMS pose and without considering the advantages and uses so that other faculty members can log in that the technology will have in a specific classroom. and view it. This way, they could share the START SCOUTING FOR JOBS TOMORROW, 5 BEFORE YOU GRADUATE. WHEN YOU ARE A vital information with minimum effort. This way, you will know what job opportunities BONUS PROFESSIONAL, 1. The students who are in catering school have to be able This way, you will know what job opportunities YOU WILL THANK are out there, how the industry is evolving, to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to paying 3. Stuart explains that he is constantly talking THOSE WHO and what it is asking for. It is always good to TAKE THE TIME customers. With that in mind, Gateshead College opened to students to see what they are using know how to do an interview, even if you do TO REACH OUT, its very own restaurant, Enfields Kitchen, and they in terms of technology. He said it would not get the job. Ask for part-time jobs that can STAND OUT, help you get a foot in the door of your industry WORK HARDER, invite the local community to go and eat there. When be wrong to apply a bunch of technolo- and gain contacts and inside knowledge. AND GET AHEAD. the students present their exams, the restaurant opens gy to students that they do not use. In

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IN MANY SCHOOLS AROUND THE WORLD, THE LEARNING MODEL potential?’ So the idea of ITS and its purpose was still remains fairly close to what it was 150 years ago: kids born out of creating more options for learners watching a teacher at the front of a classroom. That is the in Hong Kong, so that they could find ways to go reality of learning for many children. At ITS Education Asia, through their learning, go through their school- the idea of education is that it should be compatible with ing, that were more suited to them as individuals, modern life. Hundreds of students from Hong Kong, South- but still get all of the important qualifications east Asia, China, the Middle East, and East Africa study in a that they needed to be able to continue their flexible learning model through real-time, online classes. education, perhaps, at university or college, or even just to go to the workplace.” In 2005, Har- “The potential of online learning used correctly is the way that rington and a colleague named Gary Hadler set An alternative we can fit education into modern life and into the way that mod- up ITS Education Asia in order to fill that gap. ern children actually experience life. The ITS model allows us to be much more accommodating to what a current learning gen- An innovative e-learning model to mainstream eration is actually doing and how they need to be prepared for the future, using technology, leading things, being able to col- ITS started as a physical school in Hong Kong. school laborate, using social media,” says Danny Harrington, co-found- In 2009, a second school was founded, and in er of the institution. “We cannot run away from these things, 2012 the founders began to wonder what was we have to embrace them and work out how we can effectively the next step. “We began to think about online education educate people without holding them back for the future.” education, and we found that there was a bit of a jump in the quality of learning management Looking for a new pathway systems and virtual classrooms that were being In Hong Kong, a teacher has made available, becoming more accessible developed a school model Harrington went to Hong Kong in 1997, and worked as a geogra- for smaller institutions,” says Harrington. focused on student success. phy teacher for a small tutorial group. After a few years, he realized Their e-learning approach there was something missing in Hong Kong’s education landscape. At that moment, instead of building new physical offers real time classes for local schools, ITS decided to allow anybody with and international students. “In Hong Kong, you only had two kinds of education going an internet connection to access their existing on. One was to go to a mainstream school, a standard kind schools. “That was the approach we determined,

b y : p r i s c i l a z i g u n o v a s of school that we see all over the world, where you sit in a and that is where our online model came from.

h o n g k o n g class with 30 to 40 students and you just go through that There are very few institutions running live, curriculum, all very rigid and traditional,” he says. “The online classes in real-time where the students other kind of education were private tutors and private and the teachers are connected, as they would tutorial schools, like the one I was working for. But they are be in any class in any physical school,” he adds. not able to provide full time education, so they are only ever providing support to children in their mainstream schools.” With that approach, ITS ended up choosing a Danny Harrington co-founder of ITS Education Asia model with a small profit margin. “That is why Over discussions with other teachers, Harrington found out nobody else is doing that, but we think it is the that they agreed with his vision. “We would think to ourselves, most valuable and highest quality and it felt ‘what about all the people that cannot get a good education like a natural move to us,” Harrington explains. from a mainstream school? And what about the fact that most “We have got such a depth being a proper school children in a mainstream school are not maximizing their organization, unlike many other online options,

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content and P stands for professional educators. Harrington Educational services explains it point by point: “By providing a flexible environ- ment, we allow students to learn where they want and, to Although ITS was created as an alternative to a certain extent, when they want, but certainly where they mainstream education, they still needed to be a are is up to them, because online, with Collaborate Ultra, part of the system. Students still needed certif- you can be anywhere,” he says. “The learning culture is icates. “Therefore, we offered non-mainstream about being student-centered, having much greater depth pathways to the mainstream qualifications. Now of exploration of subject material and lots of reflection we are very UK-focused in our accreditations, so and extension of ideas that the traditional curriculum we provide the International General Certificate does not do. The intentional content means that there are of Secondary Education (IGCSE), and the Interna- still points where you have got to actually teach things, tional A-Level, the two things that finish off high you cannot just have students self-learning, so we make school or secondary school in the UK. They are sure we identify those and then make them accessible to recognized globally, so you can use them in many everybody. The teachers are of course still there, and they countries for work or university application.” are incredibly important in this model. They are available to students at all times, they are assessing formatively Over time, ITS added to its portfolio further qual- much more than summatively, and we encourage them to ifications from the UK and the BTEC (Business collaborate and train with other teachers to share ideas and and Technology Education Council), including build up a real ecosystem of learning professionalism.” official admissions courses, professional coun- selling and education planning. Also, ITS was the first in Hong Kong to open a school placement AFP Isaac Lawrence Isaac AFP PHOTOS: service. “The purpose here is that we will happily that students really get that level of assessment, the stakeholders in any one learner’s situation. In tradi- take a student at any point in their learning life understanding, and flexibility all mixed in. Most tional schools, there is a big disconnect and often big time and we will help them along the way with as of the time when you get ‘flexible learning’ online, lapses between what students do and what parents see, for much as they need, for as long as they need, and you actually just get electronically delivered example. When you create something in Moodlerooms, then, whenever they need to move on to, we help distance learning. You do not have the teacher everything is recorded and stored in the LMS. Any one of them identify that, and then achieve that. That is in [so present in the learning environment]. We those stakeholders can go and look at it at any time. That really what we are about,” affirms Harrington. are the only ones that really bring the benefits of just makes our ability to help a learner along that pathway everything together into one place. And they get so much better,” he says. “The second thing I love about it When asked about ITS best practices, Harrington this for a fraction of the cost that they would if is just the fact that Moodle is so widely used and accepted, says there is only one. “Our best practice – and it they went off to a university. That is a key point.” particularly in the international school community and in is also the starter of our philosophy, everything the UK school community. For us, to be collaborating with we do depends on it – is really, truly, honestly, A flexible online environment other schools is very easy if we are all talking about the keeping the student at the center of everything,” same system. So I like it because it is successful already.” he emphasizes. “The way we organise things, plan, The classes at ITS happen through Blackboard and are always asking, ‘what is best for the learn- Collaborate, and the learning management FLIP learning er?’ That is the best practice that any educator can system (LMS) is Moodlerooms. “What I love ever apply, and everything flows from that, and about Moodlerooms is from a holistic and ITS runs what is called the FLIP pedagogy or FLIP learning, everything is subordinate to that. So you have to strategic point of view. First of all, for us, it a modern approach in which F stands for flexible environ- ask the question first and then you can decide how is an excellent central point to bring together ment, L stands for learning culture, I stands for intentional you organize yourself around that to deliver it.”

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