Moving to a next generation platform, which is intuitive to use with a modern look and feel, has driven improved Student Engagement. The analytics tools are great in helping us measure engagement.
Nicky Bates, senior project manager, Brunel University
Challenge
To provide a centralised and consistent online experience to meet a diverse set of learning needs
Brunel University recognises the importance of a good digital learning experience. All students across the institution use the university’s learning platform but some had started to complain about the experience using Blackboard, which had become a little disjointed and clunky.
“Every course has a module on the learning platform,” says Caitlyn Merry, learning technology manager at the university. “We wanted to make it easier for teachers to provide a good experience and something that isn’t too complex for students to grasp.”
With a high international contingent, Brunel University’s student population is diverse. An important challenge the institution must meet is addressing the varying needs of these students and providing a consistent and straightforward user experience.
Added to this, Brunel must cater to a huge variety in the colleges themselves. Health Sciences, for example, has a particular need for practical assessments; academic courses may look for different functionality compared to more vocational courses.
“We have three different colleges,” explains Caitlyn. “And they’re very different in the way they operate and do things. It makes it difficult to standardise.”
The Digital Education Team (DET) at the university also wanted a cohesive online environment that would support the complete university experience. Each College has a Taught Programmes Office (TPO) that supports students with academic-related queries and guides them during their time at Brunel. Student feedback told the team it needed somewhere for TPOs to publish information on a range of topics.
Solution
Digital portfolios and online communities
Brunel University implemented Brightspace after D2L succeeded at a competitive tender. The team was particularly impressed by Brightspace Portfolio, a tool that empowers students to capture evidence of their learning, and the capability to streamline feedback from multiple sources for students to collate it in their digital portfolio and reflect on it.
To meet students’ and TPOs’ need for a centralised information hub, Caitlyn and team set up a template and launched a Communities page in the learning platform. A range of Communities now provide extensive information for students on a broad spectrum of topics, including inclusive learning and how to code in a particular programming language.
“Communities provide centralised information resources organised under different topics,” says Caitlyn. “And they are social collaborative spaces as well, for communication and announcements.”
Results
Time-saving targeted communication and collaborative communities of interest
The transition from Blackboard to Brightspace was received well by Brunel’s students and educators. Nicky Bates, senior project manager at the university, says: “Students who moved to Brightspace gave good feedback. They said there was a big improvement, as did many of the staff.”
The Communities have proven particularly popular with daily requests into the DET for additional ones: “Students go to the modules for their learning, but they spend a lot of time in these pages,” says Caitlyn. “And the TPOs say it makes their jobs easier because they know they have a space to put their announcement out where it will get to the student.”
Caitlyn describes how students are members of different communities at the same time – their year group, their course and a range of other identities that need information and a community connection. The Communities meet these needs and also save time for the TPOs who otherwise would have to get a spreadsheet of names and create messages to reach their communities of interest.
For students, they can get easy access to resources and information through the Communities, be kept informed, feel part of a group, and are empowered to create their own spaces to meet the needs of particular communities of interest.
It’s been a major success moving from Blackboard to Brightspace. We have regular meetings with D2L. I attended their events and am active in the D2L Community.
Caitlyn Merry, learning technology manager, Brunel University
Brunel University set out to provide a consistent, modern digital learning experience for its students and staff. After a comprehensive assessment of learning platforms on the market, the team partnered with D2L and implemented Brightspace for its diverse student population. The implementation has received positive feedback and enabled the university to develop communities of interest online. This has saved staff time sharing information and targeting communications to keep students informed. It has empowered students to create their own collaborative spaces and feel part of the groups they belong to.
Discover Brightspace for higher education, visit d2l.com/en-eu/solutions/higher-education.
INTERVIEWEES
- Caitlyn Merry, learning technology manager, Brunel University
- Nicky Bates, senior project manager, Brunel University
