Questions raised

These were the six questions posed at the end of today's event; I've annotated them slightly in light of our discussion but there's much more to be said!

• Similarity or divergence?
• we recognised the value of some standardisation of layout/design, at least within departments/subjects or for particular parts of each module (e.g. a standardised term for the online submission button) to ensure some kind of consistent identity for students, and to help those staff who are just beginning to explore Minerva's functionality - but equally, we accepted that innovative uses of Minerva would often require a redesign
  
• Web 2.0: inside or outside of Minerva?
• Despite the obvious 'clunkiness' of Minerva and the fact it isn't always the most intuitive of systems, we felt that its difference from other non-institutional online spaces was probably, on balance, a good thing. However, the gap between Minerva and other more sophisticated online sites such as Facebook meant that there we might need to provide more support for students using some Minerva tools (especially the discussion board). We also debated the advantages and disadvantages of making sure we were always using the latest version of Blackboard.
  
• Value added or a distraction?
• No specific discussion of this, but always worth bearing in mind...
  
• What is holding us back?
• a wide-ranging discussion which touched on many of the same issues as the previous questions. One important point raised was that innovation on Minerva needed to be closely linked with a module's learning outcomes and assessments
  
• Where are the students?
• We felt that there was a greater need for more investigation of the 'student experience' of Minerva - even perhaps a whole PedR project...
  
• What next?
• to trial Campus Pack applications
  
• to consider upgrading soon to the latest version of Bb
• to hold a similar event (or even two!) in the next academic year
  

New blog for Blackboard at BSU

After the productive VLE training event today, I've set up this blog to support and promote the use of Minerva at Bath Spa University. Hopefully, it will be used by BSU staff who are members of the Blackboard support groups, or conducting VLE research projects, to keep BSU staff and students informed of new developments, hints and tips, as well as availability of training events, etc.

Please use!