Migration Planning: When Paranoia Leads To Success

Robin E. H. Ove, Sr. Manager, University of California, Santa Cruz

Trish Harris, Sakai Relations Manager, rSmart

Attribution Non-Commercial

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UCSC Migration Experience from Blackboard Campus Edition (WebCT) to Sakai

Robin Ove, UCSC

Migration Strategies and ResourcesTrish Harris, rSmart

12th Sakai Conference – Los Angeles, California – June 14-16

12th Sakai Conference – Los Angeles, California – June 14-16

University of California, Santa Cruz

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Enrollment, 2009-10 (3-quarter average)Undergraduates: 14,888 / Graduate Students: 1,444 / Total: 16,332

• UCSC offers undergraduate majors in the Divisions of Art, Humanities, Physical and Biological Sciences, and Social Sciences, and the Jack Baskin School of Engineering. In addition, many of our majors are interdisciplinary and draw from the strengths of our faculty and researchers in multiple areas.

• UC Santa Cruz offers graduate study in 34 academic fields and 46 concentrations. Many graduate programs have interdisciplinary components, and students are encouraged to explore the conceptual connections between related fields as they acquire mastery in their areas of specialization.

• UCSC residential learning colleges provide students with academic support, activities, and events that enhance the intellectual and social life of the campus.

www.ucsc.edu

UCSC Migration Team

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Faculty Instructional Technology Center

• Project & Service Manager

• Instructional Designer/Faculty Support Specialist

• Evaluation Consultant/Faculty Support Specialist

• Applications Administrator

• 5 undergraduate student consultants

12th Sakai Conference – Los Angeles, California – June 14-16

“Change is not made without inconvenience, even from worse to better.”

--Richard Hooker,British clergyman and author

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Approach and Timeline

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Project Milestones   Start   End LMS Needs Assessment 2/07 4/08Requirements Definitions 3/09 5/09 Vendor Contract 5/09 7/09 Vendor Installation and Implementation 7/09 9/09 Configuration 9/09 10/09 Configuration Testing 10/09 12/09WebCT Migration Processing 9/09 8/10Release to Production 1/10Spring Pilot 1/10 6/10  Project Closure 1/10 4/10 Implementation Project Closed 6/10

Assessment Site:http://ic.ucsc.edu/services/learning_management_system/lms_assessment/ Project Site:http://its.ucsc.edu/projects/cle/sakai/index.php

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WebCT Usage History• In use since 2000• Non-integrated opt-in service• High manual administrative overhead• Quarterly usage highs averaged 194 courses/13,000

users

Migration Concerns• Recovering data and resources from existing courses• Converting complex activities to new tool applications

• Test and Quizzes• Assignments• Forums

• Time to complete before WebCT end of life.

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How big is the problem?

468 Unique Instructors

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In your dreams ….

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UCSC Migration Approach

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• Reviewed best practices and tutorials, documentation from community

• Migrated the most complex course samples to model best practice workflow

• Piloted with early adopters to fully understand transitional needs

• Established workflow for a variety of use cases

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UCSC Migration Approach

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• Provided self service instructions and workshops

• Mandatory orientation or training prior to personalized assistance

• Available web pages with tutorials and service requests www.ic.ucsc.edu/services/ecommons/migration/

• Offer consultation and production work

• Used a copy of course without student data for migration process

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UCSC Migration Approach

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• Delivered zipped archive materials via

email, ftp, CD and DVD-R

• Executed a Real Drop Dead Date to end

data retrieval from WebCT

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Tools, Tips and Best Practices

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Tools• Use assessment data and faculty input for tool

selections• Prioritize which tools are most important that

you can support immediately and be expert in• Define usage or case studies for practical course

activities• Be honest about which old tools were better,

but focus on what the whole package brings to the campus.

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Most our faculty:

• Wanted to archived course materials from previous course site

• Just started their Sakai courses from scratch or with archived materials from WebCT or their own resources

• Needed help with migrating Test and Quizzes which was most time consuming and complex

UCSC Migration Results

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From January 2010 to June 30, 2010 we provided services for over 100 faculty and archived nearly 300 courses before WebCT was turned off.

Workshops and eCommons Office Hours• 55 Workshops and Office Hour Consulting

Sessions offered Feb. 2010 to Oct. 2010 • 229 Faculty, Graduate Student and Staff

Attendees

UCSC Migration Results

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0 to 10,000 in 3 Months

Sakai Course Adoption Numbers• Spring Pilot 2010 – 14 courses, 1200 students• Summer 2010 – 43 courses, 1300 students• Fall 2010 – 264 courses, 10,000 students• Winter 2011 – 343 courses, 13,000 students• Spring 2011 – 378 courses, 14,000 students

Project Sites – 139, 1130 participants

Compared to WebCT usages• Fall 2009 – 152 courses, 9,500 students • Spring 2010 144 courses, 8,700 students

Inaugural Adoption Numbers

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Lesson Learned

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Migration – turned out not as overwhelming as we anticipated. Most faculty just started their Sakai courses from scratch or with archived materials from WebCT or own resources, but plan for the worst.

Communication is key. Create the plan, staff the plan, communicate the plan. Be diligent about informing faculty of due dates, resource and support availability.

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Success is anticipating their questions

And answering them! 12th Sakai Conference – Los Angeles, California – June 14-16

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MIGRATION STRATEGIES AND RESOURCES

Trish Harris, Sakai Relations Manager, rSmart

Key migration considerations

• Timeline• Sunset date for legacy LMS• First fully live term on new LMS• At least one beta term for new LMS+legacy

• Scope• # of courses, faculty, students• New entities who want “in”• Third party tools you want to include

• Available resources• Goals, high to low (a tweak on priorities)

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12th Sakai Conference – Los Angeles, California – June 14-16

Key migration activity

• Assessment-based planning• Look closely at your current environment

and activity as you plan• Connect with other institutions • Holistic view of your learning enterprise• Plan in phases or stages• Test, test, test

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Some Tips

• Lean on the skittish as well as the early adopters

• Test, test, test• Don’t be afraid to adjust the plan as you go• Manage expectations. • Communicate reality: migration involves

hands on work (no magic bullet)

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How rSmart can help

• Migration assessment • Migration tools• Model migration process• Support for the actual migration work

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Robin E. H. Ove, UCSC robino@ucsc.edu

Trish Harris, rSmart tharris@rsmart.com

Contact Information

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