Driving forward University Strategy: Benchmarking TEL Growth in
Blackboard Learn
Mark Gamble
University of Bedfordshire, UK
• 23,000 students, 2 main campuses• 100+ countries represented• 46% of students aged over 25 years• 4 Faculties, 26 Departments
Background
• Strategy intended to drive an increase in use of Technology-Enhanced Learning
• Reporting to Heads of Department, starting 2008/9
• Data Sources, Range, Volume, Complexity• Simple, Meaningful, Visually Powerful
= a single value for TEL ‘Modeness’a single value for Activity
3-Step Process
Run 6-part query to retrieve
data from the Bb
database
6 .csv files per year
Import into MS ACESS
database to
aggregate and
simplify data
1 .xls filefor all units
Separate into dept sheets in
workbook, create scatter graphs
1 animated .ppt file
Separate into dept sheets in
workbook, create scatter graphs
1 animated .ppt file
file
Import into MS ACESS
database to
aggregate and
simplify data
1 .xls file6 .csv files per year
Run 6-part query to
retrieve data from the Bb
database
Step 1
1. Selection of course details including id, name, and availability – selected from course_main table
select course_name, course_id,row_status, available_ind, pk1 from course_main where course_id like '10-11%'
2. Counting the number of student users who exist within the courses – selected from the course_users table
select course_main.course_id, count(course_users.users_pk1)
from course_users, course_main, users
where
course_main.pk1=course_users.crsmain_pk1
and course_users.users_pk1=users.pk1
and course_id like '10-11%'
and course_users.role='S'
and users.ROW_STATUS=0
group by course_id
Queries
3. Counting the number of different content types within each course (includes file names, differing content types e.g. wiki, blog, Turnitin assignments, media files, folders); uses the x-content type field from course_contents
select course_id, cnthndlr_handle as "Content Type", count(cnthndlr_handle) as "Content type total"
from course_contents, course_main
where
course_main.pk1 = course_contents.crsmain_pk1
and course_id like '10-11%'
group by course_id, cnthndlr_handle
4. Counting the number of active discussion boards (active is defined as having posts as opposed to being extant)
select course_id, count (msg_main.pk1) as "Messages"
from forum_main, conference_main, conference_owner, msg_main, course_main
where
(forum_main.confmain_pk1=conference_main.pk1)
and (conference_main.CONFERENCE_OWNER_PK1=conference_owner.pk1 )
and (msg_main.FORUMMAIN_PK1=forum_main.pk1 )
and (owner_pk1 = course_main.pk1)
and (course_id like '10-11%')
group by course_id
5. Counting the number of hits from student users in the activity accumulator for each active course – uses course_main, course_users and activity accumulator table (activity_accumulator table from BB60_Reports database not main DB).
select bb_bb60.course_main.course_id, count(bb_bb60_stats.activity_accumulator.course_pk1) as "Course Hits"
from bb_bb60.course_main, bb_bb60_stats.activity_accumulator, bb_bb60.course_users
where
bb_bb60.course_main.pk1 = bb_bb60_stats.activity_accumulator.COURSE_PK1
and bb_bb60.course_main.course_id like '10-11%'
and bb_bb60.course_users.users_pk1 = bb_bb60_stats.activity_accumulator.user_pk1
and bb_bb60.course_main.pk1=bb_bb60.course_users.CRSMAIN_PK1
and bb_bb60.course_users.role='S'
group by course_id
6. Counting the number of Announcements for each active course
select course_main.course_id, count(announcements.pk1) as "An Count"
from announcements, course_main
where
(course_main.pk1=announcements.CRSMAIN_PK1)
and (course_main.COURSE_ID like '11-12%')
group by Course_id
Raw Data – 6 files
Run 6-part query to retrieve
data from the Bb
database
6 .csv files per
year
Separate into dept sheets in
workbook, create scatter graphs
1 animated .ppt file
file
Import into MS ACESS
database to aggregate
and simplify data
1 .xls file
Step 2
Coping with content types
Q - How can we arrive at a sensible list of content type which we can arrange into a scoring system?
A – We remap groups of content types
Our item typeThe content type in BBoard
How do we count Items?
Score Per Item
MaximumScore
Three types of blog reduced to one type (via aggregation). For blogs we say the score per item is 5 up to maximum 30
The Access formula is: if (Content Total * Score Per Item) > MaxScore then
Set value as maximum score else (it is smaller)
set value as Content Total * Score Per Item
Non-Content Items
Announcements and Discussion Boards are not ‘content’ as such• The tool is written in such a way that it is possible
to make up a content type– e.g. x-content-bananas
• We take query 4 (message = discussion board) and query 6 (announcements) and make an entry in the list of content, before it is counted, using the following types:– resource/x-bb-activeDBoard and– resource/x-bb-announce
Item Scoring List
File types weighted by TEL importance and maximum score capped
Simplified, 2-part Dataset4 years, 26 Depts
7,095 rows on a spreadsheet
Queries 1 – 6 from Bb database
Queries 1 – 6 from Bb database
Queries 1 – 6 from Bb database
Queries 1 – 6 from Bb database
Queries 1 – 6 from Bb database
Queries 1 – 6 from Bb database
All data sources
List associating unit MOD codes
with departments
11-12S2AAXYZ001-2
List associating departments with faculties
List simplifying content types to consider + scores
Run 6-part query to retrieve
data from the Bb
database
6 .csv files per
year
Import into MS ACESS
database to
aggregate and
simplify data
1 .xls file
Separate into dept sheets
in workbook, create scatter
graphs
1 animated ppt file
Step 3
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08-0909-1010-1111-12
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‘Interesting’ Aspects….
• Assigning units to correct department, especially where there are units offered across courses from more than one discipline
• Needing to cope with occasional departmental restructuring
• Provides no pedagogical interpretation for what is happening, but we cross-link with Unit Student Perception Survey