Josh Baron

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Josh Baron
Riding the Community-Source Innovation Wave

• Director, Academic Technology eLearning

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MARIST COLLEGE

• We are NOT a large research university!
• Founded 1929 small complex liberal arts
  college
• Located in Poughkeepsie, New York
• Approximately 5700 FTE student population
• 200 full-time faculty, 500 part-time
• Strategic plan calls for growth in distance
  learning

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My Secret Plan

• The Plan Learn about Sakai and prepare a
  transition plan.
• The Secret Plan Learn about Sakai, identify all
  of the reasons why it was crazy, present to
  Cabinet, get approval for proprietary system.
• Results My Secret Plan Failed Miserably!!!
• WHY?
• 1. Community Source Innovation
• 2. Myth vs. Reality

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Community Source Innovation

• Small education marketplace drives consolidation
  and one size fits all solutions limits
  innovation
• Bottom line is not a profit-margin built by
  educators, for educators (How?) Little guy has
  some say finally!
• Decoupling of code services drives quality
  in support and services
• Crowd-sourcing factor 10,000 idiots can come
  up with at least one killer app
• Open standards (service oriented architecture)
  supports customization - Example Discussion tools

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Community Source Myth vs. Reality

• Its free, right?
• NO! Costs are similar to commercial solutions
• ROI investing in human capital vs. licensing fees
• A bunch of volunteer community developers cant
  build a robust bug free system, right?
• What about Linux? Apache?
• Sakai is in production with 100,000 of students
• This is just a fad that wont be around for long
• All core Sakai institutions have no plan B
• What myths have you heard?

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iLearn Sakai _at_ Marist College
Innovative Learning Environment and Resource
Network

• Phased Implementation Model

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Phase I Testing the Waters

• Goal Gain real world experience without big risk
• Began in to prepare six-months in advance (6/05)
• Became a Sakai Education Partner
• Attended Sakai Conference
• Engaged in rigorous system testing
• Production Pilot began in March 2006
• Implemented in fully online program (IDCP)
• First cohort had 25 students and two instructors

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Phase II Expanded Production

• Added high school online program on gaming in
  Summer 2006
• Expanded IDPC production pilot in Fall 2006 to
  include
• Two additional cohorts (75 students)
• New System z mainframe program (25 students)
• 6 additional instructors
• Upgraded to new version (2.2.2) and migrated
  content (great learning experience!)

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Initial Outcomes Faculty Concerns

• It was hard to learn how to use new tools and
  interface
• Assessment Training program and related support
  materials are needed
• System bugs and technical problems interfered
  with limited portions of the courses
• Assessment Expected with early versions of the
  system stability is improving with each new
  release and should become mature by January
  2008
• System is missing key tools or functionality
  that limited how courses could be taught
• Assessment New tools are now available that will
  address these limitations

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Phase III and Beyond

• Going into the Spring 2007 Semester, we have
• Added a new IDCP Cohort (Total 100 students)
• Launched Communication Strategy with faculty
• Sakai eLearning Luncheons
• Deans Council briefings
• Cabinet presentations
• Developed decision criteria
• Partnering with rSmart on support will free
  limited resources for innovation

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Decision Criteria (DC)

• DC 1 Functionality Requirements
• DC 2 Available Support
• DC 3 Health of the Sakai Community
• DC 4 Innovation Factors
• DC 5 Reliability Stability

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DC 1 Functionality Requirements

• Gap analysis will compare functionality of
  current CMS to Sakai at a fine grain level
• Functionality filters
• Critical Cannot deploy without it
• Essential Can deploy but will need ASAP
• Desirable Can deploy, may limit innovation
• Critical functionality available reliable
• Essential functionality timely solutions

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DC 2 Support Resources

• What are the staffing requirements for user
  support and are they available?
• What are the staffing requirements for backend
  support and are they available?
• rSmart Partnership Way of freeing up our limited
  staffing resources to work on innovation and
  community development.

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DC 3 Health of the Sakai Community

• Is the community growing or shrinking?
• Are community set deadlines and goals being met?
• Is the governance structure working?
• Are commercial affiliates coming onboard?
• Disruptive forces (e.g. legal issues)

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DC 4 Innovation Factors

• Will innovation factors be realized?
• Bottom-line is not a profit margin
• Built by educators, for educators
• Service Orientation Architecture (SOA)
• Customization at low cost
• The crowd-sourcing factor
• 10,000 idiots can come up with one good idea

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DC 5 Reliability Scalability

• Performance testing protocols have and will be
  deployed with each release
• Reliability Is critical/essential functionality
  perceived to be reliable by users?
• This is a User Experience issue
• Perception factors Bugs, design flaws, UI issues
• If not, can we implement solutions to address
  issues?
• Is there a enterprise solution that will support
  long-term growth projections?

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Josh Baron
Next Big Wave? Have you heard about Kuali?

• Director, Academic Technology eLearning
  Josh.Baron_at_marist.edu