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 Servicesmsmith@swin.edu.au