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Centre for Learning and Teaching Development
E-LEARNING PLATFORM ADMINISTRATION PROCEDURES
1. Preamble
E-learning is a tool to obtain the mission statement of Walter Sisulu University (WSU). WSU commits itself to providing technological learner-centred education, innovative learning and teaching, and opportunities for life-long learning.
WSU envisages a strategy on how to integrate the use of information and communication technology (ICT) into the curriculum to enhance teaching and learning. On that basis, lecturing staff and students need both academic and technical support to accomplish this goal. The Centre for Learning and Teaching Development (CLTD) has a unit, the Education Technology and Innovation Unit (ETIU) that is primarily responsible for the e-learning academic support and the WSU ICT Services is responsible for the technical support. The two units share administrative responsibilities. It is important to note that all staff and students’ problems/issues have to be registered with the ETIU, who will escalate the technical and administrative issues to ICT Services as need arises. 2. Acronyms used in the document include:
CLTD - Centre for Learning and Teaching Development ETIU – Education Technology and Innovation Unit ICT - Information and Communication Technology WSU – Walter Sisulu University
3. Terms used in the document include:
Academic Course means a course offered by any academic department of WSU to its students; this course is part of the student curriculum
2 Blackboard means the learning management system that is being used by the University to manage the resources/components of the various courses
Computer literacy means the knowledge of how the computer system functions and the ability to use it
e-Learning means all digital forms of teaching and learning
Learning Assistant – a student who is employed by CLTD to assist students on e-learning in the e-Learning Centres
ICT Services means the University unit that is responsible for all information and communication technology services
Information literacy means the ability to search, analyze, synthesize and evaluate information
University means Walter Sisulu University
4. Purpose
This policy/procedure document outlines the responsibilities of various stakeholders including CLTD, ICT Services, lecturers and students. The objective is to ensure the smooth running of the e-learning activities at WSU.
5. Application
All the lecturers and students of the university, ICT Services. 6. Principles
In fulfilling the above objective, the respective stakeholders have to work in collaboration.
6.1 The ETIU performs the following activities relating to the Learning Management System:
a) Capacitating lecturers on e-learning
b) Providing e-pedagogical support to lecturers
c) Assisting lecturers align ‘Learning Outcomes’ with the appropriate technology tools d) Promoting the development of interactive lessons
e) Assisting/coaching lecturers develop online courses outside e-learning workshops (by appointment; at most two contact hours per week per lecturer). Development of courses in Blackboard comprises two aspects; associating content with tools is handled by E-Learning Specialists, and multimedia (graphics, animations,
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audio/video) aspects are handled by the Learning Materials Developer. (See Table 1 for contact details)
f) Enabling the availability of all courses and users on the Blackboard server
g) Creating, deleting and organising both Academic and Support courses (on the Blackboard server, but does not add content to courses. The adding of content is completed by lecturers/instructors of a given course. The unit:
a. Creates a new course (See Appendix A);
b. Modifies an existing course (See Appendix B); and, c. Deletes / transfers an existing course (See Appendix C) h) Linking of lecturers to their courses
i) Managing the CLTD laboratories
j) Determine the user type of access to any Blackboard course (e.g. student, lecture) k) Assisting lecturers identify peers (who use e-learning) from other institutions l) Facilitating staff collaborations with peers in and across the university
m) Training (in 2009) and supporting lecturers on computer skills n) Training lecturers on information literacy
o) Orientating students on Blackboard and providing student manuals
p) Providing Blackboard support to staff and students (telephonic and/or by means of e-mail – Blackboard Helpdesk). The ETIU will make sure that e-mails are replied on a regular basis (turn-around time will be three hours, initially) and may take longer when issues are referred to ICT Services or Blackboard org.
q) Providing technical support to lecturers in the E-Learning Centres and in the classrooms (on call). E-Learning Administrators handle this (See Table 1 for contact details)
Table 1: Contact details for course development and technical support persons Mrs T. Mayisela Tel: 047 502 2585/2208; Fax: 047 502 2207 E-mail: [email protected] Mr N. Mkunyana Tel: 047 502 2800 E-mail: [email protected]
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E-Learning Specialist, Mthatha Campus and
Blackboard Academic Administrator
E-Learning Administrator, Mthatha Campus
Mr Mponco
Tel: 047 502 1458
E-mail: [email protected]
E-Learning Administrator, Mthatha Campus Miss T. Magi
Tel: 047 401 6246
E-mail: [email protected]
E-Learning Specialist, Ibika Campus
Mr M. B.Ngini Tel: 047 401 6018 E-mail: [email protected] E-Learning Administrator Mr S. Kigundu Tel: 043 709 4069 E-mail: [email protected]
E-Learning Specialist, Buffalo City Campus
Mr L. S. Cwala Tel: 043 407 4069
E-mail: [email protected]
E-Learning Administrator, Buffalo City Campus
Miss Z. Nxenye (To assist) Tel: 045 807 8755 E-mail: [email protected] Queenstown Campus Mr M. Mafuna Tel: 045 807 8755 E-mail: [email protected]
E-Learning Administrator, Queenstown Campus
Mr F. Mlungu (Learning Materials Developer – Services all campuses) Tel: 047 502 2999
5 6.2 ICT Services will be involved in Learning Management System activities such as:
a) Budgeting for the Blackboard license and making arrangements for annual renewals b) Providing the Blackboard server and ensuring that it is functional at all times
c) Managing the security for the Blackboard server and any relevant backups, which may be required
d) Uploading of the student database (registered students) from the ITS to the Blackboard database on a weekly basis (until the closure of registration)
e) Creating a dummy account for each course (for the first two years) to enable lecturers have a feel of the students’ view
f) Managing Blackboard server settings (e.g. port numbers, course and user settings) – in consultation with the ETIU
g) Managing the integration of Blackboard with other interfaces (e.g. ITS, University Intranet and other Learning Management Systems (LMS)s- until they are phased out)
6.3 Responsibilities of Lecturers
Lecturers are the rightful owners of the e-learning courses. They are then responsible for the following:
a) Developing their own courses; ETIU only capacitates lecturers on course development
b) Filling and signing the request form for the addition and modification of a course, as well as deletion of a course from Blackboard. The electronic form may be filled and
sent to [email protected] but a hardcopy must be signed and sent (by
hand or fax) to the Academic Administrator within 7 days of the application. c) Adding of content of a given course
d) Requesting the Academic Administrator to register an individual student in Blackboard if the need arises because of some exceptional reason
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f) Phoning or e-mailing the ETIU at [email protected] for technical,
administrative and academic support (See Appendix D). It is the responsibility of this Unit to attend to all lecturer issues and accelerate the issues to the ICT Services or Blackboard Support System (Blackboard Org.) when need arises
NB: Lecturers are encouraged to use Blackboard communication tools, such as forums to interrogate course development matters among themselves
g) Whereby two or more lecturers are offering the same course, they have to communicate amongst themselves to ensure who adds what to the course content h) It is on the onus of the lecturer to be computer literate by the time he/she attends
the e-learning training workshops. 6.4 Responsibilities of Students
a) Phoning or e-mailing the ETIU at [email protected] for technical,
administrative and user oriented support (See Appendix D). When in the laboratory, the students must ask E-learning Assistants (at e-learning centres) and Lab Assistants (at ICT laboratories) for help. The E-learning Assistants will escalate the issues they are unable to handle to the relevant person (s). It is the responsibility of this Unit to attend to all student issues and accelerate the issues to the ICT Services or Blackboard Support System (Blackboard Org.) when need arises.
b) Students need to liase with their lecturers who will forward the matter to the Academic Administrator, if they have, for any reason been omitted in a course for which they have registered in a given year
c) The students need to adhere to the computer laboratory rules as outlined in the Computer Laboratory Management Policy of the ICT Services. The students are expected to:
a. Comply to the POLICY AND PROCEDURES ON ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS
b. Must not eat and drink in the lab
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d. Must leave the laboratory immediately when the allocated duration is expired
e. Must obey the orders of the lab administrator or his student assistants at all times
8 Appendix A: Addition of new course
SECTION A First name: Last name: Department:
School & Faculty/Unit Campus:
Office number: E-mail address:
SECTION B COURSE DETAILS
Program/Qualification
(e.g. BSc Computer
Science):
Course title (e.g.
Introduction to
Information Systems 1):
Course code (e.g.
INS 1101):
This course will be:
A brand new online course
An existing online course from another platform (besides Blackboard)
If the online course already exists, indicate when it was created ………. How long have you been using the online
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course?... Semester to be taught
(as indicated in the prospectus): Semester 1 Semester 2 Year course Any additional comments/notes concerning the new course:
Signature: Date:
Appendix B: Modifying an existing course MODIFICATION OF A COURSE FORM CONTACT DETAILS First name: Last name: Department: School & Faculty/Unit: Campus: Office number: E-mail address: COURSE DETAILS
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Course title:
(Existing Blackboard title)
Course code:
DETAILS OF COURSE CHANGE Semester to be
taught (as indicated in the prospectus): Semester 1 Semester 2 Year course No. of students
registered for the
course: If different from the ITS class list, please provide the student list
If the course ends on dates that are not the standard semester or year start/end dates,
please indicate
here:
Course start date: Course end date :
Any additional
comments/notes
concerning the
new course:
11 Appendix C: Deleting / transferring an existing course
DELETION OR TRANSFER OF A COURSE FORM CONTACT DETAILS First name: Last name: Department: School & Faculty/Unit Campus: Office number: E-mail address: COURSE DETAILS Course title: (Existing Blackboard title) Course code:
DETAILS OF COURSE CHANGE
I would like:
This course to be deleted altogether This course to be transferred From:
To: No. of students
registered for the
12 If the course ends
on dates that are not the standard semester or year start/end dates,
please indicate
here:
Course start date: Course end date :
Any additional
comments/notes
concerning the
new course:
13 Appendix D: Blackboard Support Flowchart
Problem/Support issues
Technical Administrative User oriented Technical Administrative Course development
E-learning Assistant E-learning Assistant E-learning Assistant E-learning Administrator Academic Administrator E-learning Specialist E-learning Administrator E-learning Specialist Student Lecturer ICT Services ICT Services Blackboard.org Blackboard.org Academic Administrator (in consultation with the respective lecturer)