Blackboard at BlackboardSwinburne’s LMS migration
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia 2
About Swinburne
• Dual Sector• Certificate I through to PhD• 5 Main Campuses• Increasing use of on-line delivery
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia 3
About Swinburne
• TAFE and HE Sectors (2009)> 21,877 HE Students (15,935 EFTS)> 39,672 TAFE Students (14,748 EFTS)> Approx 2,600 Staff FTE
• Centralised IT
Background
4
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia 5
Swinburne’s LMS
• 2 systems> TAFE uses Blackboard CE 8> HE uses Blackboard Academic Suite 8
• Varying approaches and usage> Different support levels from Different
areas• 2 Business Owners
Mission Critical
• Perhaps most important student facing application
• Used for domestic and international delivery
• High reliability expectation> Zero unscheduled downtime> Few if any maintenance/upgrade
windows
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 6
The Driver
• Blackboard CE end-of-life• One LMS
> Common user experience across both sectors
> Consistency of delivery
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 7
The Challenge
• One Swinburne LMS• Run it
> Better> More efficiently> With minimal disruption
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 8
The Approach
• Use Blackboard’s Managed Hosting Service to host the 2 existing Blackboard systems through and beyond their migration to Blackboard 9.1
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 9
The Business CaseThe case for external hosting
10
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia 11
Why consider hosting
• Why are we still running Data Centers?• Mission Critical systems require 24x7
support but…..> Expertise may be hard to get and may
relate only to one aspect of the system> Staff work 7.35 hours per day, 5 days
per week> Staff take leave (planned and
unplanned)
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia 12
Tangible Benefits
• Hardware Savings> No Hardware costs
• Software Savings> Single System – only one license
• Salary Savings> Single support structure> Full positions only
Intangible Benefits
• Staff> Space, Training> DBA, Sys Admin> Support
• Staff focus> Not keeping lights on> Innovation> Improve support
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 13
Intangible benefits
• Fully supported LMS – “One throat to choke”
• Improved user uptake• Data Center Costs• Improved scalability and reliability
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 14
Estimated Benefits
• Realisable (tangible) savings of >$350K over 5 years
• Total benefits (includes above and estimated intangibles) >$1.5M over 5 years
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 15
Due Diligence
• Inspected data center> AARNET connection> Tier 4 DC is one of 5 worldwide
• Considered vendor> More than 10 years experience> More than 600 clients and >7M users
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 16
What have we done
• Hosted LMS at BB DC in Sydney> All Updates/Upgrades/Hardware
refresh> 24x7 monitoring> 99.7% uptime guarantee (currently
99.9%)• Dedicated CHM
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 17
Risk Management
• Complex Hosting Manager• Retained existing hardware as fallback
for 6 months (remainder of lease)• Reduced dependence on individuals
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 18
The Project
19
Project Approach
• Executive level support• 15 – 18 month duration• 2 phases
> Transition to hosting (3 months)> Towards a Single LMS (12-15 months)
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 20
Transition to Hosting
• An “IT Project”• Comparatively simple and low impact on
end user• BB and WebCT different
> Differing data transfer methods> Ensured multiple options for data
transfer• Test, test and test again
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 21
Transition to Hosting
• Challenges> Finding a window> Volume of data> Length of outage window> Customisations> Documentation
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 22
Did it go Smoothly?
• Yes (generally)> Completed as scheduled> Most users unaware that the system is
now run out of Sydney> Some unforeseeable teething problems
– Mainly interfaces and firewall issues that were simple to resolve
– Some challenges with Swinburne customisations
> Enlightening……
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 23
Towards one LMS
• Not an “IT project”• Complex• Technically simple?
> Installing an LMS is easy> Making it usable is not
• Change Management> HE – Evolutionary> TAFE – Revolutionary
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 24
Towards one LMS
• Converging on Blackboard 9.1• Workshops and analysis to identify
needs currently underway> Needs are the same – but different> Need Agreement
• Work in progress• Expected go-live Sem 1 2011
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 25
Challenges
• Blackboard 9.1> Evolution for HE> Revolution for TAFE
• Agreeing a single set of requirements• Timeline• Training• Change management• We don’t know what we don’t know…Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 26
How does Hosting help
• Staff are focused on implementing one LMS
• Hardware constraints irrelevant• No requirement to manage
environments• Technical implementation expertise from
BB
Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne Australia 27
Thank You
For more information on this presentation please contact:Matthew SmithAssociate Director IT Governance, Strategy and PlanningInformation Technology [email protected]
Top Related