With John Brindle @johnbrindletel Stuart Feltham @stupot42 and Scott Farrow @scottfarrow88

At Edge Hill University (EHU) we’re coming to the end of a four plus year Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) review and implementation project, which has seen us migrate all our online course provision from Blackboard Original Course View to Anthology’s latest incarnation of Blackboard, Ultra Course View. This latest version of the VLE has a range of improvements, informed by extensive research from Anthology with institutions across the globe, including simplification, usability and accessibility developments which collectively greatly improve the student experience. 

The Learning Technology Development (LTD) team at EHU have been able to use this project to drive the continuous improvement of accessibility and the student experience for both staff and students at the institution.  

Bolton and Hubble (2021) identified an increasing number of students presenting at universities with a declared disability, year-on-year, and our own University statistics reflect this. The trend puts an increasing significance on the accessibility and inclusivity of our provision for students (supported by the Ally tool), but it must also follow that there is a corresponding increase in the number of graduates (and non-graduates) entering employment with a disability or accessibility requirement. It’s therefore just as important that our support for academic colleagues, support staff, external examiners etc is also accessible and that equal importance is put on these areas of provision. 

In the process of our VLE project we have implemented several strategies to improve our support for both students and staff and improve accessibility along the way. Some of the highlights include: 

Blackboard Ultra Training for all staff
We have developed a bespoke, hands-on training session which is available for all staff working on Ultra and includes technical training, accessibility, creating aesthetic experiences and incorporating best practice, elements of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) (CAST 2021), and practices borrowed from Carpe Diem (Salmon n.d.). Sessions are targeted at departmental groups so that colleagues can collaborate and feel able to have more open and frank discussions than they may in interdisciplinary groups. The sessions have been very successful, tend to be tailored to the needs of the attendees, and continue to develop as we learn what works best. We also found that gatecrashing departmental team meetings is one of the best ways to promote the move to Ultra and the support we have on offer. 

A Blackboard Ultra Familiarisation Course
In addition to (and supporting) the Ultra training that we offer, we have created a Blackboard Ultra Course which takes staff through the process of building a course in Blackboard Ultra and covers all the native and third-party tools available.

Whilst it could be completed as a standalone course, we use it more as a one-stop-shop where staff can search for guidance and instruction for a particular task. This has again been very successful, with positive user feedback, and it allows us to demonstrate good practice and the potential of Ultra as well as keeping everyone up to date with the latest updates that Anthology release on a monthly basis. All of this content is accessible and utilising the Ally tool can be adapted to the users needs which helps us to support users and demonstrate good accessibility practices. 

Digital Student Internship
Our remote internship returned for the third consecutive year this summer with an emphasis on supporting staff and departments to migrate their content from Blackboard Original to Ultra. Twenty EHU students joined the LTD team for a ten-week paid internship designed to be mutually beneficial for all involved. The interns started with an intensive training week with the LTD team where they learn all of the skills necessary to assess course areas, make resources accessible, and move them to Ultra. Most interns were placed with a department that was not the same discipline as their area of study and were encouraged to share their student experiences, ideas, and feedback with the academics they were working with to help incorporate their student voice and facilitate cross pollination of ideas and practice between departments. Our interns were encouraged to develop skills that would be useful in their studies and future careers and reflected regularly on their development against the University Graduate Attributes, giving them valuable evidence to reference in future. 

These are just a few of our initiatives to support staff and students and improve the overall student experience. Join us for the #LTHEchat on the 13^th September to share how you support staff and the student experience.    

References:
 
Bolton, P. and Hubble, S. (2021). Support for disabled students in higher education in England. commonslibrary.parliament.uk. [online] Available at: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8716/. 

CAST (2021). About Universal Design for Learning. [online] http://www.cast.org. Available at: https://www.cast.org/impact/universal-design-for-learning-udl. 

Salmon, G. (n.d.). Carpe Diem – A team based approach to learning design. [online] Gillysalmon.com. Available at: https://www.gillysalmon.com/carpe-diem.html. 

Meet the team

John Brindle @johnbrindletel

John Brindle is Learning Design Manager at Edge Hill University. He has worked for 7 years in the fields of Learning Technology, Educational Development and Learning Design in both the HE and private sectors, previously he worked in FE for 10 years as a course leader for Music and Music Technology. John is a PhD student at Lancaster University where he is researching Inclusive Practice and the experiences of third space professionals. He is a fellow of Advance HE and a CMALT holder. 

Stuart Feltham @stupot42

Stuart Feltham is Senior Learning Technology Officer, leading the team of Learning Technologists at Edge Hill University to support academic colleagues on their digital journeys and cheerleading for the effective use of technology in Learning and Teaching. Stuart has spent over 15 years in HE supporting digital technologies and content development working as a Learning Technologist, Software Engineer, Web Developer and Head of Digital Resources. He has also worked as Software Development Manager for the Civil Service, where he was able to champion accessibility and inclusivity in Government Digital Services, and Digital Learning Officer at Chester Zoo, where he pursued his passions for sustainability, conservation, and biodiversity education. Stuart is an Associate Fellow of Advance HE.

Scott Farrow @scottfarrow88

Scott Farrow is head of digital learning at Edge Hill University where he provides strategic leadership on digital learning technologies for learning and teaching. He has worked in digital education for 14 years and in higher education for over 10. During this time, he has worked as a learning technologist and educational developer supporting a variety of course level and modalities. He is driven by a commitment to enhancing students’ learning experiences, widening access and enabling access and inclusivity. Scott is a senior fellow of Advance HE and also committee member for association for learning technology (ALT) North West England members group.