Here's what Fall 2012 "Rollout" faculty are saying about the transition to Bb Learn

“My advice is to plan on extra time to rethink your class and the way you are doing things. It isn't a mere cut and paste from Vista to Learn; in a way, it is a shift in thinking on how you present material and the opportunities that Learn affords that Vista did not. If you merely make a copy of your Vista course in Learn, you will never take the time to go back - this is the time to think outside the box and have some fun breathing new life into your classes…it is less about the time to physically replace content, and more about the time to create.” - Amy Feest, APR, BA Program Coordinator & Marketing Instructor, Tunxis Community College “Like most people, I’m resistant to change. After mastering Blackboard Vista, I did not want to transition to a new educational platform. In spite of my reluctance to adopt the new technology, I found that Blackboard Learn is superior to Blackboard Vista in many ways. The only shortcomings I found were related to rubrics and the demo student mode; however, my understanding is that these features will be added soon. It has taken me approximately four to eight hours per course (some hybrids; others fully online) to transition my classes from Vista to Learn. I don’t think there is anything I would have done differently.” - Susan Chenard, Assistant Professor, Humanities, Gateway Community College “Pre-thinking and preparation may take more time than the technical design of the course. Consider where you want to end up, and design backwards. What are your (course/program/college) outcomes? How do you break that up to weekly or component outcomes? What are your learning activities, assessments and reinforcements of learning that you will include? Designing through learning modules facilitates efficient use of time for students…You can easily move and adapt content within a learning module.” - Lillian A. Rafeldt, MA,RN, CNE, Professor of Nursing, CT-CCNP, Three Rivers Community College “I found that I spent more time thinking about how I wanted to redesign my courses, and when I actually starting working on the technical aspects the time went by quickly. I didn't keep track of actual hours, but I feel like it is faster to build a course in Bb Learn than it was in Bb Vista.” - Kathleen H. Murphy, Professor/Faculty Coordinator of Distance Learning, Gateway Community College

• You can find and register for training sessions via our Course Cart online registration system.

I've used Bb Vista for years, so we attend Bb Learn training?

• The new Bb Learn system is significantly different from Bb Vista! If you do not attend training you risk making errors in your Bb Learn course and potentially causing significant hardships for your students.

• Also, during this Bb Learn upgrade, our system has a rare opportunity to acquaint ALL of our Blackboard users with fundamental best practices of online teaching through training that melds technology with pedagogy. For this reason, we feel it is crucial that faculty must attend at least one introductory session before their courses are migrated or a blank course shell is provided.  Creating a successful online learning environment for your students using a robust application like Blackboard is NOT just about "pushing the right buttons." Instructors who employ best practices of online course design and delivery—whether in classroom-based courses that use Blackboard, or in hybrid or fully online courses—consistently report far fewer questions and much less frustration on the part of students, as well as enhanced abilities to effectively and efficiently manage their online classrooms.

Will Bb Learn training be available right up until the Fall 2012 conversion date?

• Yes, Blackboard Learn training will continue all the way through our go-live date in Fall 2012! But remember: We have approximately 2200 faculty to retrain system-wide, and if everyone waits until June or July of next year, our staffing levels we will not accommodate everyone in summer training sessions. If you wait until the last minute, you run the risk not being able to get into the sessions you need.

How much training will I need to attend?

• The new "Get Started with Bb Learn" sessions typically run between 2-1/2 to 3-1/2 hours (it depends on where you take it).

• After attending either the "Transitioning" or "Getting Started" workshop, faculty are strongly encouraged to attend either a "Working with your Migrated Course" (if you had a course migrated from Bb Vista) or a Blackboard Learn Course Design workshop (if you're going to design your course fresh in a blank course shell). In BOTH of these sessions, individualized hands-on assistance will be provided to instructors as they work on designing their actual courses in Bb Learn.

• There are also many 2-3 hour hands-on workshops and webinars on specific tools and topics, such as discussions, tests, assignments, group work, etc., listed in the Course Cart.

What kind of training and training resources will be available?

• Training will be provided in hands-on sessions as well as in webinars and fully online courses. Scheduling and online resources will be announced as they become available. Faculty and staff will be able to register online for any training sessions, system-wide, via our Course Cart online registration system.

• All faculty will be enrolled into an online Blackboard Learn Faculty Orientation course, which contains self-paced learning modules on various Bb Learn tools.

• Online resources (such as videos, courses, documentation) will supplement classroom-based training.

Who should I contact if I have questions about the Blackboard Learn training that aren't answered on this website?

• If you have additional questions about this, please be sure to contact your college's local Distance Learning director.
• For other training questions, please contact Tobi Krutt, Manager of Technological Tools & Training at the System Office.