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