Vista Implementation Enterprise Wide
Georgi aV IE W P OIN T S 200 9
G eo r g i a' s Vi r t u a l C l a ss r o o m

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"Creating A More Educated Georgia" www.usg.edu

Transforming Ideas into Action GeorgiaVIEW: Vista Implementation Enterprise Wide

F aculty and staff members from institutions across the University System of Georgia (USG) share a commitment to teaching and learning.

They use their knowledge and skills to meet the unique missions of their institutions as well as the strategic goals of the USG. At the heart of this entire enterprise is the collaborative learning process between students and instructors. It is through these interactions between students and instructors that ideas are transformed into action.
As enrollment continues to grow across the USG, the GeorgiaVIEW service must continue to provide a stable, robust, featurerich online environment to meet the needs of supplemental, hybrid, and fully online courses. In 2009, USG institutions and the GeorgiaVIEW team completed the complex migration to Blackboard Learning System Vista Enterprise License (Vista 8). The new product provides improved performance and a more robust and stable architecture for the GeorgiaVIEW service. It also provides new and enhanced functionality for teaching and learning as well as a greater potential for integrating with additional products and tools.
With the GeorgiaVIEW service, faculty members have the tools to communicate and collaborate with students, and to explore additional paths to support teaching

and learning. In this issue we explore how some USG institutions and programs use Vista to transform their ideas into action, engaging students in the learning process to do their best work. From the College of Coastal Georgia's new mission as a fouryear institution to Albany State University's creation of a virtual classroom that combines Vista and Wimba Classroom, the articles that follow illustrate how faculty and staff connect with students and facilitate the collaborative learning process Transforming ideas into Action, the theme of GeorgiaVIEWPOINTS
2009.
It is through these interactions that students and instructors share ideas and transform ideas into action.
Members of the GeorgiaVIEW team at the Office of Information and Instructional Technology (OIIT). (Doug Hyche, Rann Rudisill, Ryan Ross, Liz Johnson, Harold Powers, and Jeanne Ann Davidson)

Beverly Norwood Executive Director, Integration & Deployment Services and Application Services
Doug Hyche GeorgiaVIEW Program Director

GeorgiaVIEWPOINTS 2009 - Georgia's Virtual Classroom

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2009 Page 1 of 17

GeorgiaVIEW Weekly Web Conference

Sharing Information and Ideas

In This Issue...

E very week, GeorgiaVIEW institutional administrators from across the USG
take part in the weekly web conference with the GeorgiaVIEW team in Athens. The GeorgiaVIEW institutional administrators manage the day-to-day operation of Vista at their campuses. The web conference is an opportunity for these institutional representatives and Office of Information and Instructional
Technology (OIIT) to share information and ideas.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Click the numbers above to see who is participating.

1

Transforming Ideas into Action

Learn more about this year's theme

2

GeorgiaVIEW Weekly Web Conference

USG GeorgiaVIEW institutional administrators

3

Letter from Beverly Norwood

Executive Director, Integration & Deployment Services

and Application Services

4

Darton College

A leader in online learning

5

Gordon College

Vista as the instructor's file cabinet

7

Georgia ONmyLINE

Extending the Reach of USG Education

8

Fort Valley State University

Offering a fully online criminal justice degree

9

Albany State University

GeorgiaVIEW and Wimba integration - creating a virtual classroom

10

Middle Georgia RESA

Striving for high performance in K - 12 schools

11

Bainbridge College

Meeting local educational needs with GeorgiaVIEW

12

College of Coastal Georgia

Using GeorgiaVIEW to achieve their new mission

13

Macon State College

Leveraging the Vista 8 migration to develop best practices

15

The Vista 8 Migration

Leadership and collaboration equal success

16

GeorgiaVIEW 2009 Accomplishments

Significant accomplishments of the GeorgiaVIEW program

17

Message from Doug Hyche

GeorgiaVIEW Program Director

GeorgiaVIEWPOINTS 2009 - Georgia's Virtual Classroom

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Page 2 of 17

Letter from Beverly Norwood
Executive Director, Integration and Deployment Services and Application Services

In 2009, the University System of Georgia (USG) faced a unique challenge due to the economic issues in Georgia. We drastically reduced resources while serving an ever-growing number of students.

administrators who coordinated their local

This trend shows no signs of reversing and our future success

"I want to personally thank all of the many participants at our
USG institutions and internal

migration efforts with their institutional leaders and trained faculty members to teach in the new environment. Their efforts resulted in a smooth transition to

depends upon our ability to conceive and deliver costeffective methods to extend the USG's quality higher education offerings to more students. With this in mind, I am pleased to introduce the faculty and staff featured in the following pages. You will discover how they use GeorgiaVIEW at Darton College, Albany State University, Bainbridge College, the College of Coastal Georgia, Gordon College, and Macon State College. You also will learn about Georgia ONmyLINE, an online catalog and portal through which students can learn about and register for online courses at institutions across the USG. And of course, in order to create a more educated Georgia, our kindergarten through twelfth grade (K 12) students must be prepared for higher education. So this year we also feature Middle Georgia RESA (Regional Educational Service Agency), whose faculty members use GeorgiaVIEW to provide professional development to K 12 teachers.

GeorgiaVIEW support staff who
worked so diligently to make the
migration a resounding success."
In this issue, we also feature the migration to Blackboard Learning System Vista 8. In 2009, all GeorgiaVIEW institutions made the complex migration from Vista 3 to Vista 8. I want to personally thank all of the many participants at our USG institutions and internal GeorgiaView support staff who worked so diligently to make the migration a resounding success. Your many hours of unselfish dedication to this huge effort was crucial to that success and I am truly honored, and humbled, to have the opportunity to work with such an amazing group of dedicated individuals. In the following pages, you will read about how our talented faculty members use new features in Vista 8 to improve their students' learning experiences. But the unsung heroes of the Vista 8 migration are the GeorgiaVIEW institutional

Vista 8, allowing faculty to concentrate on teaching and learning. As we grapple with the current economic challenges, we must all strive to preserve the USG's reputation for quality education. GeorgiaVIEW's mission has always been to provide faculty and staff with tools to enhance teaching and learning. Today, that mission is more critical than ever. We must use the tools we have to preserve and enhance the quality of USG education and to expand access to current and future students in spite of reduced resources. Read on to learn how the USG's innovative faculty and staff are transforming ideas
into action.
Members of the GeorgiaVIEW team

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Page 3 of 17

Darton College A Leader in Online Learning

He uses Vista for fully online classes and to supplement face-to-face classes. "My whole philosophy in teaching online courses is to make the experience interactive and engaging." Yates uses slide presentations in his face-to-face classes and reproduces these presentations with audio online. Even in his face-to-face classes he posts his slides in Vista. He prefers to have students refer back to the slides online than to take notes while he lectures. "If they are so busy copying what's on the screen, they don't hear what I'm saying."

As an economics instructor, Yates finds that "... using games in economic courses is important. Most people learn best through hands-on

Darton College is a two-year institution that serves the local educational needs of southwest Georgia.

According to Dr. Janice Hilyard, Dean of the Division of Online Learning, the GeorgiaVIEW service is critical to Darton's mission. Darton College offers 39 degree programs and 13 certificate programs fully online. Darton has approximately 1,400 full time online students. In addition, they have another 3,800 students who take online courses along with other delivery modes primarily traditional lecture courses. The total unduplicated headcount for students taking online courses last semester was more than 5,200. About 20% of credit hours earned in the fall and spring of 2009 were earned online. Last summer, 30% of credit hours were earned online. They also use Vista to orient new students and to train adjunct faculty. According to Hilyard, Darton College is a leader in distance education and faculty members find innovative ways to use the tools and features offered by Vista through the GeorgiaVIEW service.
Using Vista to Teach Economic Concepts
Jim Yates, an assistant professor of economics, has been teaching online for about two years.
GeorgiaVIEWPOINTS 2009 - Georgia's Virtual Classroom

interaction." He invented an unemployment game for his face-to-face class to teach the concept of frictional unemployment. The game involves giving students a series of choices over time. He has replicated this game for his online students using the Assessment tool, which allows him to release slides with job offers at certain dates and time.
Teaching Speech and Communications Online
Shani Clark is an assistant professor of communications. Many faculty members in communications use Vista to teach and to keep online office hours using the Discussion and Chat tools, and Wimba Classroom, a synchronous web conference tool that integrates with Vista and is accessible directly from the Vista interface.
"Vista is a great way to incorporate active participation
in discussions."
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In her classes, Clark teaches students about communications and speech concepts. She finds the integration with Wimba Classroom particularly helpful since she requires her students to conduct presentations and speeches and receive feedback from her and the class. She also uses the Discussion tool and finds this useful in both online and face-to-face classes because it encourages conversations between students. "It's a great way to incorporate active participation in discussions." Vista offers students many different ways to communicate with their instructors. It also helps them keep track of their assignments and communications with instructors. She says, "It's really great to work for a progressive school that provides this kind of technology. It's particularly helpful in communications. Students really respond to all the different ways we can
connect with them."
Dr. Janice Hilyard Dean, Division of Online Learning
Jim Yates Assistant Professor of Economics
Shani Clark Assistant Professor of Communications
Page 4 of 17

Gordon College Vista as the Instructor's File Cabinet

their writing. Knighton also administers exams through Vista. He has created a bank of test questions so that each student receives a different set of questions. The tests are timed so students do not have the opportunity to look up all the answers. This method discourages cheating and encourages students to learn the course material in more depth.

Knighton creates a sense of community through one-on-one interaction with students as well as discussions among students.

G ordon College is a two-year gateway institution that provides learning support and freshman/sophomore college-level courses to prepare students to transfer to four-year institutions.

In addition, Gordon has developed baccalaureate majors in education, nursing, biology, and mathematics to serve human resource needs in central Georgia. Many faculty members use Vista 8, provided through the GeorgiaVIEW service, to meet the needs of their students.
Creating Community in Online Courses
Dr. Jeff Knighton, an assistant professor of psychology, took advantage of online classes when he was a student at Georgia Southern University and draws on that experience as he plans his own online courses. One of his goals was to create a sense of community online. He encourages active participation in online discussions of course topics and uses the Assignment and Learning Module tools in Vista 8 to engage students.
For instance, in his Human Development class, Knighton has students submit weekly reflection papers through the Assignment tool. Students write about personal experiences that refer back to course content. Knighton uses the tool to provide quick feedback to help students understand the course concepts and improve
GeorgiaVIEWPOINTS 2009 - Georgia's Virtual Classroom

Knighton also uses the Learning Module tool to post the different parts of his lectures from his face-to-face classes. In addition to lecture notes, Vista enables him to post Internet links to supplemental material and information. Knighton states that the learning modules help students understand and focus on the most important aspects of the course material. Students can also refer back to the material as often as needed. This approach has been so successful that he is also using it in his face-to-face classes. In the future, he wants to enhance the learning modules with videos of himself delivering mini-lectures.
Through these online tools, Knighton creates a sense of community through one-on-one interaction with students as well as discussions among students. Knighton states, "When you are teaching online you must be constantly involved with your students. They are doing their work after midnight and on weekends so I'm always logging in, responding to e-mails, and getting involved in the discussions. It's a different way of viewing what a classroom is."
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Dr. Jeff Knighton Assistant Professor of Psychology
Dr. Brenda Johnson, Assistant Professor of Business
Continued on next page
Page 5 of 17

Gordon College Continued

"With Vista, students own

their knowledge instead

of waiting to have it

spoon-fed to them."

Additional Vista tools Johnson finds

useful are Discussion, Chat, and the

Grade Book. She encourages active

participation in online discussions.

Her students tell her they like the

Chat feature because it gives them

immediate access to her. "If I'm

online, and I usually am, they can

Vista as the Instructor's File Cabinet ask me questions in real time and get responses in real time. Students

Dr. Brenda Johnson, an assistant professor of business, teaches both fully online and face-to-face classes. She uses Vista in all of her classes and refers to it as `the instructor's file cabinet.' Within Vista are the tools with which she not only shares her knowledge with her students, but teaches them to do their own research and become better students.

tell me they find this helpful." With the Grade Book, she keeps electronic records of all student activity and performance during the course, sees grades from past semesters, and downloads them to a spreadsheet. She can also create graphs of test or assignment scores to see how the class is performing. "For me, it's so convenient. I don't have to keep up with a grade book or wait until I'm in my office to

For online and face-to-face classes, Johnson

post grades." Johnson thinks that both faculty

uses Vista to post her lecture notes and study

members and students benefit by using Vista.

guides, and provide additional material for

"I really see it as convenient for faculty and

assignments. For instance, she posts links to

stimulating for students."

online surveys and assessments that students

use in specific assignments. She also uses Vista

Using Vista to Teach Students How to

to teach students the correct way to use the

Study

Internet for research. With Vista, "students

Dr. Susan Glenn, an associate professor of

are responsible for their own learning. The

computer science, teaches four courses and

material and resources are always available to

provides online versions of three of them. Since

them." Through the tracking capabilities in Vista,

discovering Vista, she has helped students

Johnson can see how often students log in and

learn complex topics such as converting binary

what pages they visit. The students who use

numbers to decimals, the behavior of circuitry

the tools most are learning more and making

and transistors, machine language, and various

better grades, or as Johnson says, they "...own

computer-programming languages. She says

their knowledge instead of waiting to have it

that Vista is not only an efficient way to deliver

spoon-fed to them."

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instruction, but helps her teach students how to study in a field in which they will need to continuously learn new concepts. Glenn creates animated, narrated slide shows to illustrate course content and concepts and posts them in Vista. In the classroom setting, teachers sometimes forget things and have to backtrack. But Glenn puts the slide shows together without the distractions of the classroom. Students get the best possible content and they can refer back to it as often as they need to grasp the concepts. This functionality also encourages students to take responsibility for their own learning. Glenn likes to reinforce good study habits using the tools in Vista 8. She administers homework tasks and tests online. Students have only one chance to take a quiz, but they can re-take self-tests as many times as they want to correct wrong answers. They can review course content or contact Glenn with questions, all within Vista. This encourages students to keep trying until they get the right answer. Glenn uses the Vista tools to teach
her students how to be good scholars.
Glenn uses the Vista tools to teach her students how to be
good scholars.
Dr. Susan Glenn Associate Professor of Computer Science
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Extending the Reach of USG Education

Georgia ONmyLine was created to provide information about the online education opportunities available through the University System of Georgia.

The Georgia ONmyLINE web site (http:// www.georgiaonmyline.org/) aggregates fully online courses from all 35 institutions in the USG. Current and prospective students can search the site to find courses from different institutions to meet their academic or career needs.
Through Georgia ONmyLINE students can also find certificate and degree programs offered by various USG institutions. Faculty members from different institutions have worked together to offer the courses necessary for students to earn certain degrees fully online. The degree programs combine expertise and resources from different institutions to provide students the quality of a USG degree with the convenience of online courses.
"Through Georgia ONmyLINE, we are enrolling students we wouldn't
ordinarily see."

Valdosta State University Educating Georgia's Educators
Dr. Anthony Pellegrino, an assistant professor of education at Valdosta State University, teaches online classes for Georgia ONmyLINE's Master of Education in Accomplished Teaching degree and Education Specialist Program in Exemplary Teaching. Most of the students who pursue these degrees are experienced teachers who work full-time in the kindergarten through twelfth grade (K 12) arenas.
Pellegrino thinks the most important thing about the online degree program is access. He states "...students from all over are able to access the program here in Valdosta. Through Georgia ONmyLINE, we are enrolling students we wouldn't ordinarily see." He says that students are happy to get a degree from a reputable institution that would be inaccessible to them if they had to attend classes on site.

Program participants come from all counties and school systems in Georgia, with many from the Atlanta and South Georgia areas.
Pelligrino and his colleagues try to bring the personal connections of face-to-face classes to the online environment through Vista's Discussion Board and Chat tool. He states, "I've heard just wonderful things about it from students who are happy that we are establishing a sense of community here." He uses these tools each week to interact with his students and foster discussions between students.
Through Georgia ONmyLINE, Pellegrino and his colleagues are able to share their program with a wider population of students. The program also furthers Valdosta State University's goal to provide greater access to their institution and it's offerings. Through innovative use of Vista's tools and capabilities, Pellegrino and his colleagues are educating Georgia's educators while fostering connections among teachers
all across the state.

Students earn online degrees any time, anywhere...

Tabitha Jenkins
"I am a middle school teacher, cheerleading coach, and mother of a 2 1/2 year old. If it wasn't for Georgia ONmyLINE, I would be unable to earn my master's degree."

Wallace Landrum
"I am from a rural part of Georgia and the closest college in Georgia is 70 miles away."

Pamela Schmiedeberg
"I can study all weekend and late in the evenings without interrupting my job or my family's schedule."

Paula Hunt
"I returned to school in order to get a Masters in Media and Library Science."

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Page 7 of 17

Fort Valley State University

Julius Trimble Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice

"When building courses, you must keep the student perspective in
mind. If the course is put together well it's a good experience for the
students."

Georgia ONmyLINE offers fully online associate, bachelor, and master degrees in criminal justice.

Fort Valley State University is the sole provider of a fully online Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice in Georgia. Students who complete the degree enter the field in entry-level and advanced positions. The degree also prepares students to pursue graduate work in criminal justice. Fort Valley has offered the degree fully online through Georgia ONmyLINE for a little over a year. It is a popular degree that continues to grow.

obtain higher, better-paying positions need a degree. Many of Qualls students already work in the field and want to advance their careers. Online classes allows working students to manage their own time and do course work when they are best able to concentrate. Trimble states that a fully online program is also critical for students who live and work in areas that do not have criminal justice programs.

Michael Qualls, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Fort Valley, receives inquiries about the online program from all over Georgia and other states. "Georgia ONmyLINE has helped grow the program. In the past we relied on recruiting trips we made ourselves through the campus recruiting office." Qualls and Julius Trimble, also an assistant professor of criminal justice, believe the fully online program is growing so quickly because it fulfills a professional need in the field. Entry-level jobs in law enforcement often require only a high school education. People who want to

"Georgia ONmyLINE has helped grow the program."
Qualls and Trimble find that the tools and features in Vista enable them to convey course information and concepts to their online students as well as they do with their face-to-face students. Trimble assigns course work with the Assignment tool and finds that, unlike assignments given on paper, students do not lose them and can refer back to the online assignment as often as

necessary. With the Assessment tool, he can create a pool of exam questions and quickly assemble exams with different questions every semester. Exams are automatically graded through Vista but Trimble can decide when the grades are released. Trimble and Qualls also use Vista to post book titles, links to articles in GALILEO (learn more about GALILEO below), and links to web sites such as the Federal Bureau of Prisons for research.
Trimble finds that online courses can encourage people to be better students. It "requires students to do more reading than they would normally." He uses the Discussion tool to encourage active participation in course discussions. He requires students to interact with him and their fellow students and he feels this enhances the learning process. Trimble took online courses as a doctoral student and uses that experience when he creates online courses for his students. "When building courses, you must keep the student perspective in mind. If the course is put together well it's a good
experience for the students."
GALILEO (GeorgiA LIbrary LEarning Online), provides participating institutions access to periodicals, scholarly journals, encyclopedias, business directories and more. www.galileo.usg.edu

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Page 8 of 17

Albany State University GeorgiaVIEW & Wimba
Integration - Creating a Virtual Classroom

Dr. Ganiyu T. Oladunjoye Professor of Educational Administration and Supervision

Dr. Allen Delaney Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Counseling

Dr. Judith Rosenbaum Assistant Professor of in the Department of English, Modern Lanquages, and Mass Communications

Albany State University is a four-year institution serving the needs and development of southwest Georgia.

Many of Albany State's faculty members take advantage of the features in Vista to enhance their classes. Dr. Ganiyu T. Oladunjoye, professor of Educational Administration and Supervision, and Dr. Allen Delaney, an assistant professor in the graduate school of counseling, have found that by using Wimba and Vista together, they can create a virtual classroom that is accessible to their graduate students in any location.
The GeorgiaVIEW service provides institutions with integration points (PowerLinks) between Vista and other teaching tools. Click here to go to page 16 to learn more about PowerLinks. The GeorgiaVIEW Wimba PowerLink provides integration with Wimba products including Wimba Classroom (web conferencing), Wimba Voice (voice messaging board), and Wimba Pronto (institutional and class instant messaging). After institutions have licensed these Wimba services, faculty and students can use the service directly inside the course section.
Oladunjoye and Delaney both use Wimba through Vista to post course content and lectures. Students can hear the lecture and interact with the instructor and other students by speaking through a microphone or using the

chat feature that all participants can see and use. Oladunjoye uses Wimba Classroom for hybrid courses about education administration. Delaney uses it for both hybrid and fully online courses about counseling theories and methods.
"This is the future of education. All of these things will help us capture more students, particularly at the graduate
level."
Oladunjoye and Delaney find that Vista and Wimba Classroom are particularly helpful for graduate students who need flexibility in their course work. Wimba Classroom is particularly helpful for providing weekend classes. Delaney uses Wimba Classroom to conduct weekend online classes for his Group Counseling course. In addition, students meet in class to discuss case studies which Delaney then posts to Vista for review and student critique. He also posts related links and video files to reinforce the subject matter. Delaney says the combination of face-to-face instruction and online resources help students to "...connect the dots and learn concepts in depth."

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Dr. Judith Rosenbaum, assistant professor of Mass Communications, teaches undergraduates and finds that her students respond positively to many features in Vista, especially the Wimba Chat tool. Rosenbaum provides students with course materials, lecture notes, and slides with audio for her Survey Media and Society and Mass Communications Research Methods classes. One of her course topics is online communications. Vista allows students to experience the technology as they learn about it. Delaney also says that most of his students will go on to become school counselors. Vista helps them learn about online technology. "Using Vista helps make them more technologically savvy and that will be important to their future work."
Using Vista, both graduate and undergraduate instructors are able to provide their students with more robust and flexible options for learning while also helping them learn about online technology. Dr. Rosenbaum states, "What's great about GeorgiaVIEW and the online format in general is that you can invite interaction that you don't necessarily get in the classroom." She hopes that Albany State will continue to develop online course alternatives. Oladunjoye states, "This is the future of education. All of these things will help us capture more students,
particularly at the graduate level."
Page 9 of 17

Middle Georgia RESA (Regional Educational Service Agency)
Striving for High Performance in K 12 Schools

Patricia Swartz Georgia Learning Resources System (GLRS) instructor

Nancy Howell NWH & Associates, LLC

"We are, as a RESA, going more and more into technology. This is one way to help
teachers become more comfortable using technology in the classroom."

RESA was developed to support and train K 12

teachers to standardize and enhance the performance

of Georgia's schools.
Middle Georgia RESA is one of the most active chapters, serving Bibb, Crawford, Houston, Jones, Monroe, Peach, and Twiggs counties. The Middle Georgia RESA office is in the Macon State College education department and they provide an array of services and courses for teacher development and certification, including Georgia Learning Resources System (GLRS), Leadership Development, the Georgia Teacher Academy for Preparation & Pedagogy (TAPP) program, and programs for Teacher Support Specialist (TSS), English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), and reading and gifted endorsements.
"Teachers have full-time jobs and attend after-school functions
and have families. It's difficult for them to find time to attend
face-to-face classes."

In the past, teachers had to travel to Macon to take advantage of RESA's services, or the RESA instructors would travel to different school districts. GLRS instructor Patricia Swartz states, "Teachers have full-time jobs and attend afterschool functions and have families. It's difficult for them to find time to attend face-to-face classes." GeorgiaVIEW extended its service to Middle Georgia RESA through its partnership with Macon State College. Many of the Middle Georgia RESA instructors were unfamiliar with online courses, so in 2007 they contacted Nancy Howell, NWH & Associates, LLC, to help them develop online courses and train the RESA instructors.
Howell wanted to make sure the teachers could learn successfully in an online environment, so she developed a hybrid model in which participants attend face-to-face classes the first and final days of class. The rest of the course takes place online. During that first face-to-face class, participants receive an online learning tutorial. They test their credentials to ensure they can log in to Vista and practice using the features and tools they will use throughout the course.

Ina Chanin, school improvement reading specialist, states that some of the teachers she works with are unfamiliar with many of the features used in Vista, such as online discussions and chat. "Some of them are hesitant at first about the chat sessions, but after being introduced to the process they really enjoy it. By using the chat and discussion features, they get to share successful reading strategies they have used in the classroom. Teachers always have the ability to reread any of the chat or discussion areas if they need to review what was posted."
Howell also created graphic banners and logos for each RESA program. She believes that this visual cue helps orient students who are new to online learning. She says, "I like to provide an image that lets participants know they are in the right place."
Howell also developed a Vista training course to teach the Middle Georgia RESA instructors how to build their own online courses. According to Howell, "As they are taking the training, they are learning to design an online course in their own online area. By the end of the training their online course is designed and nearing completion." Dr. Sarah West, Middle Georgia RESA School Improvement and Professional Learning Specialist, says most of the instructors were unfamiliar with online courses a few years ago, but today "We are, as a RESA, going more and more into technology. This is one way to help teachers become more comfortable using
technology in the classroom."

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Page 10 of 17

Bainbridge College
Meeting Local Educational Needs with GeorgiaVIEW

adjunct faculty members. "It's always a challenge to train adjunct faculty because they are not on campus fulltime and often have other jobs." Pollock is currently developing a course in Vista for adjunct faculty that will, "... not only help them learn how to use Vista but how to use the tools to teach effectively online." The training has been successful. Increasingly, faculty members use Vista and enjoy many of the new tools and features in Vista 8.
B ainbridge College is a two-year institution that serves the local area through technical programs, professional
development courses that focus on local businesses and
industries, and degrees that prepare students to transfer
to four-year programs.

Miley also likes to post links to video content for students, such as hardware/software storage tutorials. She states that some content is more accessible to students if they can watch explanatory videos. Miley states, "Vista is a life saver, especially in this economy. It saves paper, saves time, and everything online is
easy to edit and repost."
"Vista is a life saver, especially in this economy. It saves paper,
saves time, and everything online is easy to edit and repost."
Dr. David Pollock Instructional Technology Specialist

D r. David Pollock, Instructional Technology Specialist, is Bainbridge's GeorgiaVIEW institutional administrator. He used the Vista 8 migration project to encourage greater use of Vista at Bainbridge. With the help of David Lloyd, GeorgiaVIEW training lead, Pollock developed training materials to teach faculty members the new features in Vista 8 and to encourage those who were unfamiliar with Vista to learn more about it. He also held workshops specifically to teach novices about Vista. More and more of them are using Vista to enhance their face-to-face courses. In addition, Pollock also trained many

One Bainbridge instructor who is very familiar with Vista is Dr. Jenna Miley, an associate professor of computer science. She uses Vista for all her classes in some way. She teaches four fully online courses and uses Vista to supplement her face-to-face classes as well. She puts all course work online where students can access it any time. For her fully online classes, she likes to use the Discussion tool, particularly at the beginning of the class when she has students introduce themselves, and at the middle and end of courses when they discuss and reflect on what they have learned.

Dr. Jenna Miley Associate Professor of Computer Science

GeorgiaVIEWPOINTS 2009 - Georgia's Virtual Classroom

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Page 11 of 17

College of Coastal Georgia
Using GeorgiaVIEW to Achieve Their New Mission

Coastal Georgia has nearly doubled in size since it changed its
mission and became a four-year institution. Faculty members must meet the needs of more students
during a time of budget cuts.

For decades, the College of Coastal Georgia served southeast Georgia as a junior college.

In 2009, it became Georgia's newest fouryear state college, expanding its programs to better serve the growing needs of the area. In addition to its associate degree programs and transfer credit options, Coastal now offers degrees in business, nursing, and education. As Coastal Georgia expands its mission to serve the growing needs of the area, some faculty members are taking advantage of the GeorgiaVIEW service to reach out to current and new students.
Fell has students assess each other's work with the Discussion tool and finds that this approach
gets students more engaged in class assignments.

Coastal Georgia has nearly doubled in size since it changed its mission and became a four-year institution. Faculty members must meet the needs of more students during a time of budget cuts. English instructor Meribeth Fell says "We have to reach more students in a more efficient manner." She and many of her fellow English teachers use Vista to accommodate the growing number of students.
Fell uses Vista for fully online and hybrid classes and uses it to supplement face-to-face classes. She has students assess each other's work with the Discussion tool and finds that this approach gets students more engaged in class assignments. She states the Assessment feature is a good learning tool and uses it to provide feedback on grammar reviews. The Rubric tool also allows her to provide feedback quickly and objectively, allowing students to

know how they are doing and what they need to work on. She particularly likes the Journal feature. She requires her students to log their research steps each week, list their resources, and provide summaries of articles. "I can pull up the research log at any step along the way and see their progress." Fell also uses the new tracking feature in Vista 8 to see exactly what her students are doing in Vista, how long they are logged in, and what pages they have visited. This allows her to see what information a student may be missing. Vista allows her to see how her students are doing on each assignment and provide feedback; this teaches students to be better learners.
"If we don't make accessibility
part of our mission, we aren't
giving our students what they
need to graduate."
Geri Culbreath of technical services and Coastal Georgia's GeorgiaVIEW institutional administrator states that instructors in science and nursing are also heavy users of Vista. Even the physical education department has used Vista to post information and organize class events. Culbreath and Fell believe that Vista will be critical to Coastal Georgia as it strives to meet its new mission and grow. As Fell says, "If we don't make accessibility part of our mission, we aren't giving our students
what they need to graduate."

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Macon State College

Leveraging the Vista 8 Migration to Develop Best Practices

In order to ensure that faculty members were ready to begin teaching in Vista 8, Smith provided several training options. He scheduled a series of open sessions in which any faculty member could participate. Marilyn Halaska, semi-retired nursing instructor; Mary Wolfe, an assistant professor of mathematics; Harold Powers, GeorgiaVIEW training lead; and Danny Martin of Martin Consulting
When the Vista 8 Migration Project began, the Vice President of Academic Affairs at Macon State College decided to create a task force to develop best practices for online courses and to aid in the Vista migration.

They gathered one person from each school in the institution
to represent their department in what became known as the Distance Learning Task Force
(DLTF).
Charles K Smith Assistant Director of Academic Systems

C harles Smith, the GeorgiaVIEW institutional administrator and Assistant Director of Academic Systems, and Alex Koohang, Dean of the IT school, gathered one person from each school in the institution to represent their department in what became known as the Distance Learning Task Force (DLTF). Smith and Koohang acted as cochairs for the task force, and they worked with the departmental representatives to develop the standards and best practices that were most helpful for their department. In addition, Smith and Koohang created an institutional Vista 8 playground as part of Macon State's area of the GeorgiaVIEW service, which allowed their faculty members to become familiar with the new features before the migration. Smith says "The playground made a big difference for faculty members who were new to Vista."

Services and former GeorgiaVIEW institutional administrator for Savannah State University, helped with these sessions. In addition, Smith made himself available by individual appointment to faculty members and departments. The training approach worked well and they trained a large number of people before migration.
Each department took its own approach to Vista best practices. Alex Koohang chose to take a very structured approach for the IT school. They created icons for the three types of Vista courses face-to-face, hybrid, and fully online. The icons help to orient students. As soon as they log in to a new course they see what type of course it is and they know what is expected of them. For instance, a student who logs into a hybrid course sees immediately that he will report to class at certain times and do the rest of his work online. In addition, they created templates for the three types of courses.

Alex Koohang Dean of the IT school
Valerie Beaman-Hackle Associate Professor of Mathematics

Continued on next page

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Macon State College Continued

teachers something to start with but more advanced users have plenty of flexibility. Halaska says, "Students are much happier because they know where things are and how they work. Faculty are also able to find what they need and they know how to use the tools." The nursing department also used Vista to automate their clinical orientation tests. Prior to students having clinical experiences in area health care facilities, they must complete mandatory facility orientation and testing. The nursing department administers these tests through Vista

and sends them to each facility for their records.
Involving the departments in developing their own best practices has returned many benefits. Smith says the faculty members in each department are more self-sufficient now. "We've discovered on our campus that faculty have a tendency to listen to each other. They are more likely to walk down the hall and ask someone in the department if they have questions." Smith encouraged experienced faculty members to share their knowledge with others in
their departments.

Valerie Beaman-Hackle, an associate professor of mathematics, says the Vista playground and training provided by DLTF helped equalize faculty member's skills using Vista.

S mith worked with the department to arrange training for all faculty members in Vista as well as MyMathLab, an integration point (PowerLink) with Vista. After they had the training, the department built standard templates for their faculty to use to build their courses. As a result, more faculty members are using Vista. Beaman-Hackle states, "Since we got over that initial hump of starting up things have gone smoothly."
Marilyn Halaska, semi-retired nursing instructor and GeorgiaVIEW expert in the nursing department, states that her department used the Vista 8 migration as an opportunity to design course templates that provide a consistent look and feel for easier use by faculty and students. The 25 nursing faculty team teach with teams changing from semester to semester. Students may interact with as many as 6 10 faculty members in a semester. Templates provide novice
GeorgiaVIEWPOINTS 2009 - Georgia's Virtual Classroom

Involving the departments in developing their
own best practices has returned many benefits.
What is a Powerlink? The GeorgiaVIEW service offers integration points within Vista to a variety of third-party services.
Click here to go to page 16 for
more information.
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The Vista 8 Migration Leadership and Collaboration

Members of the Vista 8 SMART team Barry Robinson, Doug Hyche, Jim Wolfgang, Ezra Freelove, Jay Lancaster, Amy Edwards, and Mazhar Malik (George Hernandez - not pictured)

I n order to improve the GeorgiaVIEW service and keep pace with additional demand for features and functionality, Vista was migrated

to the newest version - Blackboard Learning System Vista 8.

T h e migration required extensive collaboration because there was no direct transition path between Vista 3 and Vista 8. Each institution organized local migration teams with faculty and staff representatives from the Administrative Committee on Information Technology (ACIT), academic departments, information technology, the registrar's office, and the library. These teams worked closely with the GeorgiaVIEW team at OIIT to make the Vista 8 migration project a success. In addition, many of these migration teams took advantage of the migration to develop online learning standards and best practices at their institutions.
A SMART Innovation
This effort also required each institution to either migrate or rebuild all course content into the new system in a short period of time. The Vista 8 Migration Project team wanted to provide the institutions an alternative to rebuilding courses, which can be time consuming. They collaborated with the Digital Innovation
Group at Georgia College & State University (GC&SU) to develop a software application and underlying architecture that streamlined the course migration process. The result was SMART (Section Migration

Archive and Restore Tool). SMART was a critical component in the success of the Vista 8 migration project. As of January 2010, nearly 13,000 sections (courses) were successfully migrated with SMART. The collaboration between USG institutions, the Digital Innovation Group (GC&SU), and OIIT was critical to the success of the project.
Leadership and Collaboration
The success of the Vista 8 project required individuals from institutions and programs across the USG to work together over many months. Administrative, academic, and technological leaders emerged to share information and ideas to ensure the successful migration at every participating institution. Melinda Spencer, Chief of Staff, Academic Affairs, stated in a memo to institutional presidents that "The leadership of your GeorgiaVIEW administrator, your ACIT representative, your Vista 8 migration team, and your faculty made this project a success." Thanks to their efforts and that of the GeorgiaVIEW team and the OIIT Vista 8 migration project team, faculty have access to a more robust service with new and enhanced features. Vista 8 provides features such as enhanced grading rubrics, reports and tracking functionality, student blogs, peer review discussion capabilities, and features that allow instructors to
align courses with goals.

Teaching live in Vista 8 in January 2009:
Georgia College & State University Georgia Gwinnett College
Georgia Southern University Savannah State University University of West Georgia eCore
Teaching live in Vista 8 in May 2009:
Augusta State University
Teaching live in Vista 8 in Summer 2009:
Medical College of Georgia
Teaching live in Vista 8 in August 2009:
Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College Albany State University
Atlanta Metropolitan College Armstrong Atlantic State University
Bainbridge College Clayton State University College of Coastal Georgia Columbus State University
Dalton State College Darton College
East Georgia College Fort Valley State University
Gainesville State College Georgia Highlands College Georgia Perimeter College
Georgia State University Georgia Southwestern State University
Gordon College Kennesaw State University
Macon State College Middle Georgia College North Georgia College & State University Regional Educational Service Agency (RESA) Southern Polytechnic State University South Georgia College Southern Regional Educational Board (SREB) USG Alternative Media Access Center
USG Outreach USG Training Initiatives
Waycross College

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GeorgiaVIEW's 2009 Accomplishments

Significant Accomplishments

Active Users by Type of Institution in 2009

Vista 8 Migration
All participating GeorgiaVIEW institutions migrated to Blackboard Learning System Vista 8 during 2009. Thanks to the hard work of participants at the USG institutions and internal GeorgiaView support staff, the migration was a great success. Click here to go to page 15 for more information about the Vista 8 migration.

1,000 1,001 - 10,000

GeorgiaVIEWiki
The GeorgiaVIEWiki has transformed from experimental support and communication for the Vista 8 migration to an integral part of the GeorgiaVIEW program. The GeorgiaVIEWiki currently has 121 members, 117 pages, 201 files.

10,001 - 20,000 20,001

2009 GeorgiaVIEW Institutional Administrator Retreat
The GeorgiaVIEW institutional administrators manage the day-to-day operation of Vista at their campuses. The retreat was held on May 28, 2009 over Wimba Classroom with a total of 66 participants. The keynote speaker was Dr. Bonita Bray, Lead, E-Learning Professional Development, University of Alberta, Canada. Dr. Bray presented on New Tools in Vista 8.
GeorgiaVIEW Functional Advisory Committee (GFAC) Elections
GFAC evolved from an ad hoc functional subteam to a permanent, more formalized program advisement and working committee, representing an ongoing partnership between GeorgiaVIEW and the GeorgiaVIEW institutional administrators representing various USG sectors.

Research Universities Regional Universities State Universities State Colleges

Virtual Rock Eagle 2009
The 38th Annual Computing Conference (Rock Eagle) was held online on November 12, 2009. Rock Eagle is a conference for technical faculty and staff of the University System of Georgia colleges and universities. All sessions from November 12, 2009 are now available via podcasts at this link: https://deimos.apple.com/WebObjects/Core.woa/BrowsePrivately/ usg.edu.2880226839.02880226841

Two-Year Colleges Research Unit
Overall Active Users and Sections: 2008 - 2009

GeorgiaVIEW PowerLinks
The GeorgiaVIEW service provides institutions with integration points (PowerLinks) between Vista and third-party teaching and learning tools, such as Wimba and MyMathLab. Through these integration points, these tools can be used directly through a Vista course. The GeorgiaVIEW team is currently working with partner USG institutions to pilot test new PowerLinks. These include Respondus Lockdown Browser, Wimba Pronto, and Blackboard's SafeAssign.

Active Sections Active Users

Spring 2008
15,322 188,473

Summer 2008
8,234 124,759

Fall 2008
18,151 218,885

Spring 2009
18,391 216,645

Summer 2009
10,435 149,572

Fall 2009
22,499 242,154

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Message from Doug Hyche

GeorgiaVIEW Program Director

In the 2010 State of the System address to the Board of Regents, Chancellor Errol Davis observed

that the USG must "create an environment where our institutions are both empowered and encouraged to experiment with new ways of accomplishing our mission." * In the midst of changing economic conditions, significant increases in enrollment, and growing expectations from our current and future customers, the GeorgiaVIEW service continues to provide a flexible framework to afford new ways of accomplishing our mission - to create a more educated Georgia. In these pages, you have read a few inspiring stories of USG faculty and staff using the GeorgiaVIEW service to transform ideas into action.
Since its inception, the GeorgiaVIEW service has always served as a conduit for innovative faculty members to actively explore new ideas to enhance teaching and learning. Over time, the service has evolved from a technology to enhance existing methods of teaching and learning to a mission-critical service that supports fully online, hybrid, supplemental courses, and other strategic endeavors. This transformation is a result of a number of factors including changes in technology, faculty and student expectations, new standards for quality online experiences, and the immediacy of economic conditions and significant increases in enrollment This past year GeorgiaVIEW has realized several significant changes, including the successful migration from Vista 3 to Vista 8. Vista 8 provides improved performance

and a more robust and stable architecture for the GeorgiaVIEW service. It also provides new and enhanced functionality for teaching and learning as well as a greater potential for integrating with third-party teaching and learning tools.
In light of the recent economic challenges and significant enrollment growth, the USG must find new avenues to meet increasing demands and expectations. The GeorgiaVIEW community is uniquely positioned to serve as one element of a response to these challenges, transforming new ideas into action and exploring diverse solutions to these challenges. And the goal of the GeorgiaVIEW service is to continue to evolve, providing the technology and tools to support USG faculty and staff in the core mission of teaching and learning.
As we look to the future, we will examine additional ways to further extend the service providing more features and functionality through integration with third party tools. Also, we will examine new collaborations with institutions and opportunities for engagement at all levels regarding the future of the service. And we will continue to ensure that we have a stable and robust platform that will grow with the demands of the users. Through our collaborative efforts, we will continue to build a responsive framework through the GeorgiaVIEW Service to provide more opportunities to transform ideas into action and support new ways of accomplishing our mission.

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GeorgiaVIEW Team (pictured above)

Doug Hyche Liz Johnson Jeanne Ann Davidson

Harold Powers Ezra Freelove Rann Rudisill

George Hernandez Amy Edwards Ryan Ross

Vista 8 Migration Team

Doug Ahern Peter Anderson Kris Biesinger Robin Blanchard Michael Bracewell John Broz Buz Dale David Disney Ginger Durham Amy Edwards Brian Finnegan

Greg Fischer Ezra Freelove George Hernandez Jill Hyche Jay Lancaster Glenn Leavell David Lloyd Mazhar Malik Lisa Metcalf Linda Noble Beverly Norwood

Penny Overcash Stan Peachey Mark Plaksin Barry Robinson Ryan Ross Sam Rowe John Scoville Steve Spencer Dale Wechsler Charles Weeks Andrea Williams

Editorial Acknowledgements Penny Overcash, Jen Williams, JoE Silva, Kathy Whitfield

*Chancellor's State of the System Address:
Read the entire address here: http://www.usg.edu/chancellor/speeches/chancellors_ state_of_the_system_address_2010/
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