Post on 25-Jan-2015
description
Any colour as long as it’s Blackboard
using a VLE to support courses in
art and design
A bit about me …
Tony McNeill
PL in Blended Learning
Academic Development Centre
Kingston University
a.mcneill@kingston.ac.uk
Working with faculties
• 7 faculties
– each with own BL strategy
– BL co-ordinator (.4 secondment)
– notional .4 e-developer allocation
• Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture (FADA)
Signifier of difference
Familiar reservations
• How much is this a replacement for contact hours?
• What are the implications of its usage for staff?
• Who owns what on Bb?
• I could never find the time.
• a programme designed to induce RSI.
• I really, really, really, hate Blackboard. I work with another educational content site based in Korea – and although that site is in Korean which I do not speak, it is 50 times more user friendly than Blackboard.
Useability
• Studio culture's all about students making things alongside one another.
• Creativity can't be taught over the internet.
• Students know the difference between an online and a studio-based course.
Studio culture
The studio
The studio
The studio
The studio
• Blackboard is aesthetically inappropriate for A/D staff and students.
• …they’re [Blackboard pages] the ugliest things you could ever look at. […] They’re horrible.
Aesthetics
2005: e-developers arrive
Their role was to:
• support the development of sustainable e-learning content resources and activities
• develop strategic exemplars that will act as catalysts for further engagement with educational technology.
FADA projects
We thought we’d:
• address the question of how a VLE might be used in the context of the studio
• explore how we might make it more visually appealing to art and design staff and students
2005/6 projects
BA Illustration and Animation Printmaking
What they said after …
• I’ve been impressed by the way Jake has made it much more accessible, visually accessible
• … great visual qualities which lots of people said you couldn’t do with Blackboard. … I think it’s brilliant.
More of what they said
• You have succeeded in making the Illustration and Animation site more visually interesting.
But unfortunately it still runs on Blackboard.
Unintended outcomes
• we found a new BL co-ordinator
• one member of staff secured a KU Learning and Teaching Fellowship
• good will and engagement
Unintended outcomes
What we learned
• Course-based approach worked well but whole course team need to be involved from the start
• More student-centred approach to the site
2006/7 projects
BA Fine Art Art and Design History
(Bigger) lessons learned
• Too early to say but …
• hybrid and customised approach works well
• Need to rethink support and development opportunities that address discipline-specific practices and needs
(Bigger) lessons learned
Take a look …
Blackboard:
http://lms.kingston.ac.uk/
(u: designs; p: designs)
Slideshare:
http://www.slideshare.net/amcneill/
any-colour-as-long-as-its-blackboard