Dr Geli Roushan reports on an Academic Leadership Tour that was hosted by the University of Groningen to learn more about how the University is using Blackboard (Bb), or as we refer to the application, myBU.
A number of UK universities were joined to hear Groningen’s experience of Bb where their IT and education departments have joined together to lead the TEL initiatives to form an integrated Student ‘Portal’ where students engage with their learning through a single sign-in portal for: enrolment, interactive learning, education apps ….
Noteworthy features of the Portal are information on career advice and events but more significantly, students are provided with an early warning system about their performance and potential together with targeted resources as part of intervention measures.
The university also demonstrated their growing ‘digital exams’ where academics are provided with a standardise form to register their intention on using online exams.
Groningen’s maturity in adoption of TEL is evident in the way the systems infrastructure of the university is tailored to the students’ journey at the university.
I would summarise Groningen’s experience in three broad areas:
- level of attention to alignment of all key systems and processes to create a personalised platform for each student from enrolment through to learning, assessment and employability.
- A technical mind-set that seemed focused on capitalising on education solutions.
- Students as trainers.
