Challenge
Continuing decades of championing accessible education
As the alma mater of first man on the moon Neil Armstrong, Purdue University knows that every giant leap starts with one small step. Established in 1869 as a land-grant university with a mission to promote education in agriculture, military arts, science and engineering, Purdue has become synonymous with innovation.
“The mission of the land-grant institution and a public university, I would say, is very unique,” explains Dr. Dimitrios Peroulis, senior vice president for partnerships and online at Purdue University. “We are founded and we are being supported by the public to serve the public. We feel the responsibility of impacting lives today. That happens in many different ways. It happens by connecting and teaching our students; it happens by thinking of how do we actually translate the results of our own research to areas where people can feel it. It’s all about serving the public in any way we can with research, teaching, engagement, service—within the walls of this university, but also outside.”
In recent years, Purdue has expanded its mission by embracing online learning and creating new courses and programs—a move that has helped the university reach new learners and bring its programs in line with advances in learning technology.
“Excellence at scale is our North Star,” explains Dr. Peroulis. “Five years ago, students didn’t have the option to study short courses in emerging technologies like AI [artificial intelligence] at their universities. But the world is changing fast, and people are finding that they need to develop new skills to grow and succeed in their careers. The question that we face as educators at Purdue is how can we provide excellent education for everyone?”
Like most educational institutions, Purdue significantly ramped up online learning during the global pandemic by creating a centralized learning environment, in Purdue’s case using D2L Brightspace. Jason Fish, executive director, teaching and learning technologies, adds: “After our rapid implementation of Brightspace during the pandemic, we now have the time to reflect on what online learning offers and explore new ways to expand it. We see our online courses as a way to help more people achieve their learning goals, whether that’s pursuing a PhD or taking a short-course qualification to level up at work.”
Solution
Building a strong foundation
In the four years since the initial implementation of Brightspace, the learning platform is now at the center of Purdue University’s on-campus, hybrid and digital courses—delivering not just captivating learning content for students, but also powerful administration tools for faculty.
“Every course that we offer is on Brightspace, and we even put additional resources on the platform for faculty to support their work,” shares Dr. Peroulis. “With Brightspace, we’ve been able to help students on campus and online seamlessly navigate through material, connect with their peers and reach out to instructors to ask questions. Most assignments are now submitted through Brightspace, and I even administer my exams through the platform. No matter what degree or credential students are pursuing, we use Brightspace as a tool to create an engaging and supportive environment.”
When Purdue first looked for a one-stop platform for online learning, ease of use, flexibility and partnership were at the top of its list, and Purdue determined that Brightspace could meet those needs. “Over the past five years we have worked with a range of D2L experts, and every single one has been phenomenal,” adds Fish. “They’re responsive, supportive and are truly engaged in helping us make sure that our students and faculty are successful. What’s more, the usability of the platform has proven to be outstanding. Students don’t have to search for content or resources; everything they need is easily accessible in one place.”
Taking flexible, online learning to the next level
With its core Brightspace environment delivering positive results for students and faculty, Purdue is looking ahead to the next chapter of online learning innovation.
“We’ve just renewed our license with D2L, and we’ve added Creator+ and D2L Lumi into the mix,” explains Fish. “With these tools we’re aiming make content creation easier and faster for faculty by augmenting their expertise with AI solutions while also exploring new ways to make content engaging, accessible and enriching. By creating even better courses, we hope to help more students at Purdue become lifelong learners.”
Result
Climbing high in national rankings
For two years in a row, Purdue has been ranked among the top 50 undergraduate colleges in America and is rated as the top public university in the state of Indiana.
“Purdue really exists to provide educational opportunities for as many people as possible,” reflects Jason Fish. “We’ve been scaling up the number of learners that we support through our partnership with D2L, and the rankings of our programs, schools and the entire university really speak for themselves.”
Purdue conducts a faculty survey every two years to review its instructional technologies, and Brightspace received a 75% faculty satisfaction rate. “Brightspace is our faculty’s highest-rated and most-used instructional technology,” shares Fish. “The time savings that we’ve seen from our faculty has allowed them to do what is most important, as opposed to spending their time in administrative tasks. It helps our professors spend more time working with their students and conducting research. I think what Brightspace has done with a learning management system (LMS) is move the focus from ‘management’ to the ‘learning.’ That’s made all the difference for faculty and students to enjoy their learning experience.”
Delivering excellence for all
D2L has been a key tool in Purdue bringing its history as an accessibility-focused land-grant university into the digital age by making it easier for nontraditional learners to access the latest innovations in science, technology, math and engineering (STEM).
“D2L has proven to be a strong partner in enabling us to reach more nontraditional learners,” reflects Jason Fish. “The growth of our online programs and the use of Brightspace to deliver those programs has helped us to move forward on our land-grant mission. This means that we can give more people the chance to achieve success by upskilling and retraining. The fact that you can’t go anywhere without meeting somebody that has a Purdue connection is one of the great successes of the university.”
Scaling its courses and launching new credentials has not come at the cost of quality. Dr. Peroulis concludes: “We’re a university that will try to serve as many students as we can from all walks of life, but at the same time, we will not compromise on excellence. We’ve been able to make it so there is no difference between attending online and attending on campus. Regardless of their learning background, students will experience the same assignments and assessments and get the chance earn the same degree. That has been the greatest success of our expansion of online and hybrid learning in recent years.”
INTERVIEWEES
- Jason Fish, executive director, teaching and learning technologies
- Dimitrios Peroulis, senior vice president for partnerships and online