University Uses Web-Based Collaboration Platform for Student-Centered Learning

Microsoft Office System Customer Solution Case Study

Overview “Students using Office SharePoint Server 2007 will Country or Region: United States gain experience with collaboration and intellectual Industry: Education property management tools that will provide a Customer Profile personal foundation for the lifelong learning Washington State University (WSU) is a public research university in Pullman, process.” Washington. It has 24,396 students and Nils Peterson, Assistant Director, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, WSU employs 2,200 faculty and 1,304 staff.

Business Situation The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT) at The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Washington State University (WSU) is well known for its Technology (CTLT) at WSU wanted to provide students with technology that research into how technology can encourage student-centered would help them take ownership of their learning. The CTLT had been looking for collaboration learning process and provide real-world skills. technologies to integrate into university curriculum so that students can take control of their learning experience and reach Solution WSU deployed Microsoft® Office beyond the boundaries of the classroom. The CTLT found such

SharePoint® Server 2007 and a technology with Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server 2007. encourages students to use the My Site feature to enrich their learning Using the My Site feature, students can create their own experience through self-reflection and workspaces, reflect on their learning, and share information with collaboration. people inside and outside the university. All over WSU, students Benefits and faculty are using My Site to move beyond traditional  Supports research into student- centered learning classroom learning, better preparing graduates for using  Facilitates student-centered learning collaborative digital technologies in the workplace. and collaboration  Embraces global outreach  Encourages self reflection  Modernizes curriculum, improves learning outcomes “Our learning Situation intellectual, and international boundaries. Washington State University (WSU) “We need to refocus technology in environment should opened its doors in January 1892. Today, education to provide students with their give students WSU is Washington state's largest land- own learning space to reflect not only on grant university and offers more than 200 what they are learning, but on how they are opportunities to fields of study. The flagship 620-acre learning,” says Peterson. collaborate across the campus is located in Pullman, and WSU has regional campuses in Vancouver, Brown calls this approach “learning curriculum, both within Spokane, and the state’s Tri-Cities area. ownership.” He explains: “This would put the university and students squarely in the center of their The Information Technology Services (ITS) learning network, which starts with their beyond.” department at WSU provides IT classmates and their professors and Gary Brown, Director of the Center for administrative and support services to the extends out through the university to the Teaching, Learning and Technology, WSU university. Its collaboration with the rest of the world through digital university’s award-winning Center for communications and social networking.” Teaching, Learning, and Technology (CTLT) underscores the university’s Moving Toward Collaboration interest in blending pedagogy and Collaboration is a founding principle for this technology to improve learning outcomes. new model of learning. Students are “We partner with ITS to develop accustomed to collaborating online with assessment-centered integration of social networking tools such as Facebook, technology with student learning,” says but this has not been encouraged in Gary Brown, Director of the Center for education, where faculty tend to think of Teaching, Learning and Technology at collaboration as cheating. “When students WSU. “We are committed to the leave school, they will enter jobs where advancement of authentic learning— collaboration and virtual teams are learning that takes place in and beyond the commonplace,” says Brown. “Our learning classroom—that encourages the exchange environment should give students of knowledge across disciplinary, opportunities to collaborate across the institutional, and national boundaries, and curriculum, both within the university and that recognizes the need for participation in beyond. The student should always be in a global dialogue.” control of the intellectual connections he or she wants to make to shape his or her Aiming for Learning Ownership learning.” According to Nils Peterson, Assistant Director of the Center for Teaching, Looking for “Worldware” Learning and Technology at WSU, the To achieve collaborative, student-centered future of education lies in putting students learning that would be relevant for life, the at the center of their personal learning CTLT began looking for a tool that students experience. The challenge is to find the would likely use once they graduate. This right technology tools for students to sort of tool falls under the moniker become engaged with learning beyond the “worldware.” Coined by education expert classroom, dissolving institutional, cultural, Steve Ehrmann, the term describes software applications that have a Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 for substantial market outside the educational students to enter their own content and sector, but are also valued for teaching and collaborate on assignments.” learning. Microsoft® Office software is a familiar example. My Site provides students with a single location from which to manage documents, “Inherent in the worldware concept is the content, and individual tasks, and conduct idea of flexibility, and this also appealed to collaborative teamwork. Students can us,” says Brown. “A tool that meets the create their own workspaces and share needs of students and educators, as well content and documents with people inside as the needs of people working in all kinds and outside the university. Under the terms of organizations is, by definition, flexible. At of the Campus Agreement, My Site would the university, we were getting boxed in also be available to all faculty and staff at with commercial vendors for the WSU. To help the CTLT understand how educational sector, whose products did not students used My Site and other offer lifelong relevance. How many SharePoint technologies to document their students are going to graduate and go to learning, in January 2007, Peterson work and use the Blackboard Learning decided to offer an ePortfolio contest. System?” “Students can create an ePortfolio within their My Site. It is an electronic collection of evidence that demonstrates a person’s Solution learning journey over time, and it may In 2006, the ITS department decided to roll relate to specific academic fields or to out Microsoft Office SharePoint® Portal lifelong learning,” says Peterson. “The key Server 2003, which it already licensed as aspect of the ePortfolio is a student’s part of its Campus Agreement with reflection on the learning process, including Microsoft. The Campus Agreement is a their mistakes. The contest finalists subscription licensing program developed impressed us with their innovative and for higher education institutions, and Office insightful use of their personal spaces to SharePoint Portal Server 2003 was part of document learning journeys.” For example, the Desktop Package to which the one contestant used the ePortfolio university subscribed. However, the ITS environment to reflect on a paper she wrote needed a business case for deploying this earlier in her freshman year, where she communication and collaboration solution shared her learning growth with site across the campus, and it turned to the visitors: “What the heck are diffusion CTLT for help. bonding and casting methods? My guess is that I was parroting an article.” “We knew that the CTLT was looking for technology tools to foster student-centered Shortly after the contest, in June 2007, ITS learning environments,” says Debby took advantage of the Software Assurance Lawson, Director of ITS at Washington portion of its Campus Agreement to State University. “The CTLT expressed upgrade to Microsoft Office SharePoint interest in using the My Site feature within Server 2007. In Office SharePoint Server 2007, there are enhanced features to My Site that better enable social networking. “SharePoint For example, the My Sites can contain technologies showed Web parts, RSS feeds to internal or external content, page links to personal us what students can and public blogs, wikis, lists, and document accomplish when they libraries. These features encourage information discovery for My Site visitors have control of a very and facilitate social interaction through powerful space like My sharing common interests and feedback on the content. Staffers in the CTLT were Site.... It's a very excited about these enhancements flexible and freeing because they supported their goals for improved collaboration across the learning tool." curriculum, both within the university and Nils Peterson, Assistant Director, Center for beyond. Teaching, Learning, and Technology, WSU

Benefits For the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Supports University Research on Student- Technology at WSU, the move to Office Centered Learning SharePoint Server 2007provides a rich field With Office SharePoint Server 2007 now for research into how students can benefit available to students and faculty, the CTLT from learning with collaborative can continue its research into technology technologies they are likely to encounter that’s even better suited for student- later in life. To support this research, the centered, collaborative, and self-reflective CTLT sponsored another ePortfolio learning. “Last year’s ePortfolio contest contest, which ended in March 2008, provided a setting to get ideas and wherein students learned how to use the examples of how students took ownership technology to reach beyond the classroom of their learning, which we could then take to collaborate with different entities, to the faculty and integrate into classrooms enriching the self-reflective learning to further improve the learning environment experience. And across WSU, students at WSU,” says Brown. “A new ePortfolio and faculty are integrating their My Site contest using Microsoft Office SharePoint personal sites into the curriculum and into Server 2007 would take us further along campus life to enrich faculty/student this journey. We are excited about relationships and improve learning SharePoint because the technology is so outcomes. flexible and powerful it can be rendered to support students’ unique approaches and purposes for learning.”

For example, Kelley Waldin, one of two second-place winners in the 2008 ePortfolio contest, does not have a technology background. She is an MBA or not, as desired. It’s a very flexible and graduate who worked with another student freeing learning tool. When individual to create an EEG Patient Monitory System students take charge of their own learning ePortfolio that documented their environment, it is possible to redefine what collaboration with faculty, the WSU it means to literally put the learner in the Research Foundation, inventors, and center. When classroom walls dissolve it is engineers to develop a business plan for a not chaos that emerges, but diversity of wireless EEG patient monitoring device innovation. These were capabilities we developed at WSU. Her experience didn’t see from other vendors, and with underscores the value of educational Office SharePoint Server 2007, the tools technology that provides her with life-long, got more refined in a way that added relevant skills to ensure her success in the greatly to the whole ePortfolio experience.” workplace. “I found the technology intuitive and easy to learn, despite having no Web With Office SharePoint Server 2007, design experience or any idea how to write students can take advantage of two major HTML code,” Waldin reports. “I’m used to improvements to facilitate collaboration Microsoft Office products, and it had the outside the university boundary: same look and feel. Creating the ePortfolio was a great experience that gave me a lot  Anonymous access: By enabling of confidence that I could work with Office anonymous access to an ePortfolio, a SharePoint Server 2007 in any job setting.” student can allow anonymous users to browse his or her entire ePortfolio. This Facilitates Student-Centered Learning and way, students can publish their ePortfolio Collaboration to the world while retaining control over The enhancements to the My Site feature the privacy of their content on other in Office SharePoint Server 2007 were of pages of their My Site. particular interest to the staff at CTLT, who  Really Simple Syndication (RRS) feeds: decided that the new ePortfolio contest Students can incorporate and publish should focus on collaboration. Their hopes constantly updated content from other that the new version would take them sites, including blogs, podcasts, and further along in understanding how news headlines. technology could put students in control of their learning process as they reached out “These are all capabilities that facilitate to collaborate with others were fulfilled. reaching out, and they demonstrate how Office SharePoint Server 2007 is valuable “SharePoint technologies showed us what as worldware,” says Brown. “SharePoint students can accomplish when they have technologies allow this because they are control of a very powerful space like My both simple and ubiquitous.” Site, where they act as the administrator in control of authorization down to a fine level Embraces Global Outreach of granularity,” says Peterson. “The CTLT staff is excited about the potential the students benefit from creating personal improvements in Office SharePoint Server learning environments that they can share 2007 bring to the ePortfolio experience. “Office SharePoint “Office SharePoint Server 2007 helps bring for a technology tool that students can use the ePortfolio outside of the university,” to engage with learning beyond the Server 2007 will help says Brown. “With the second contest, we classroom, and this is a perfect example,” us modernize our saw students reaching out to create a says Peterson. “Here we saw students learning community that extends into the engaged in cross-institutional collaboration approach to learning at world.” between an elementary school and the WSU by providing university charged with preparing future For example, the 2008 grand-prize winning teachers.” faculty with compelling ePortfolio, called the Kayafungo Women’s evidence of the Water Project, documented the efforts of Encourages Self Reflection Engineers without Borders at WSU as they A major goal for the ePortfolio contests was benefits of students partnered with the Student Movement for to improve the CTLT’s understanding of taking control of their Real Change to provide clean water to “ePortfolio thinking,” where students 35,000 people in Kayafungo, Kenya. evaluate their work in progress, take risks, learning.” reach out for feedback, celebrate their Gary Brown, Director of the Center for The ePortfolio that was awarded first place successes, and face their challenges—all Teaching, Learning and Technology, WSU is called the El Calaboz ePortfolio and was the while providing a vibrant, authentic created by a WSU graduate student who is representation of the iterative process of part of the Apache community. She used learning. her My Site to present her story of mobilizing more than 70 stakeholders in a True to the self-exploratory nature of border conflict at the Mexico-United States creating an ePortfolio, Waldin found herself border. “She invited people from her reflecting on the learning process and community to participate in her My Site, working in a group when she and her adding their real-world voice to her teammate wrote the brainstorming and dissertation so it becomes a living “team norming” sections of the EEG Patient document,” says Peterson. “Using her My Monitory System ePortfolio. “The design of Site as a hub for global interaction, she is, the Web site helped us reflect on what we at the same time, in complete control of her had done because we built it like a timeline site.” that showed a progression of my understanding of my work style compared Other examples of using the My Site to others. I realized I was a bit naïve about feature to collaborate beyond the expecting other people to work the way I boundaries of a traditional classroom have do. Documenting the process got me started to occur within students’ normal reflecting on how I interact with others and course work. In one case, a group of how I could adjust expectations student teachers set up a My Site to share accordingly.” their experience as student mentors in a local elementary school. They shared their Modernizes Curriculum and Improves materials and discussed issues, inviting the Learning Outcomes mentoring elementary school teacher to The second ePortfolio contest provided the contribute to the discussion and augment CTLT with a greater understanding of how the peer-review process. “We were looking students are using their Office SharePoint Server 2007 My Site to take control of their created a collaboration site and used learning and define the collaborative blogs and wikis to increase relationships that would augment their communications with busy faculty projects. Today, the CTLT is working with members who are often on the road WSU faculty to integrate My Site giving lectures. Students have gradually capabilities into their courses to improve evolved the site to help them connect learning outcomes and provide better with professional alumni working in services to the students. communications, an invaluable way to connect with mentors and potential “We have some faculty development work employers. “The sites offer opportunities to do because faculty members have not for engaging with the university after been trained in designing and facilitating graduation and underscores our belief courses that facilitate student-centered that worldware such as Office learning,” says Brown. “Office SharePoint SharePoint Server 2007 supports Server 2007 will help us modernize our learning for life,” says Theron Desrosier, approach to learning at WSU by providing Design Consultant at CTLT. faculty with compelling evidence of the  WSU Honors College: This college has benefits of students taking control of their an ePortfolio for assessing senior thesis learning.” projects. The Thesis Proposal course is also using a SharePoint class site with a The following are some examples of these blog as hub to develop thesis proposals. initiatives:  International Christian University in Japan: Ten students are developing  National Science Foundation project: Six ePortfolios as part of a joint-enrolled institutions—WSU, University of Oregon, course with the World Civilizations University of Arkansas, Colorado School course at WSU. of Mines, Rowan University, and the University of Nigeria—are building an “Students using Office SharePoint Server ePortfolio where faculty and student 2007 will gain experience with collaboration teams will share the results of their work. and intellectual property management tools At the current stage of the work, faculty that will provide a personal foundation for uses the site for project management the lifelong learning process,” concludes and project assessment. It is anticipated Peterson. “If we can provide that that the project assessment will move foundation at WSU, we will have more than into a project portfolio as the work accomplished our mandate to prepare our matures. students for the road ahead.”  Cross-institutional first-year program: The University of Idaho and WSU jointly administer a project management site that has involved the entire faculty from “core” courses at Idaho.  Edward R. Murrow School of Communication: Graduate students For More Information Microsoft Office System For more information about Microsoft The Microsoft Office system is the business products and services, call the Microsoft world’s chosen environment for information Sales Information Center at (800) 426- work, providing the programs, servers, and 9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft services that help you succeed by Canada Information Centre at (877) 568- transforming information into impact. 2495. Customers who are deaf or hard- of-hearing can reach Microsoft text For more information about the Microsoft telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) Office system, go to: 892-5234 in the United States or (905) www.microsoft.com/office 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: www.microsoft.com

For more information about Washington State University products and services, call (509) 335-3564 or visit the Web site at: www.wsu.edu

Software and Services Hardware  Microsoft Office system  Servers: − Microsoft Office SharePoint Server − HP Proliant DL380G4, dual 3.4 G 2007 Xeon processor, 2 gigabytes memory − HP Proliant DL385 G1 dual 2.4 Opteron processor, 4 gigabytes memory

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Document published August 2008