In March, we published the "Launching UMBC’s Sonography Program Application" article, recognizing some of the hard work that went into integrating UMBC’s Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program (DMSP) and building a functioning application for prospective students. These efforts were invaluable and gave many professional teams a chance to shine. Additionally, the application and its relevant technical work were only one side of the coin. Efforts towards bringing the DMSP home stretched much deeper and encompassed more groups than could fit into a single highlight. One of these groups was Instructional Technology and their work and support of Sonography instructors during the course migration from Moodle to Blackboard.
Prior to the move, UMBC’s Sonography Program had utilized Moodle as its learning management system (LMS) to support in-person courses with an online component. However, the Moodle contract was set to expire in November of 2024, creating a problem in need of immediate addressing. The solution was clear: migrate the program's courses to Blackboard Ultra, UMBC’s own learning management system. However, only one of the instructors ad previous experience teaching with Blackboard, which meant this was an entirely new experience for the majority of instructors. As such, this process was not a simple technology migration, but an ongoing effort of training and supporting instructors on the part of Instructional Technology.
The initiative began in February 2024, when LaMar Davis, Senior Director of the Institute of eXtended Learning (Often shortened and referred to as IXL), reached out to the Instructional Technology team to explain the situation. While ties with Moodle would not be cut until November, the 13.5-month-long Sonography program actually starts in July, making mid-summer an optimal early deadline, if possible. This proactivity on the part of LaMar aimed to avoid having pressure on instructors when the time to switch from Moodle came. The core task would be to help them learn how to use Blackboard in the same way they designed and taught in Moodle. This training includes all functions, such as course content uploads, grading, assignments, announcements, and engagement. The instructors were very much students themselves in this situation, relying on training sessions and one-on-one support to ensure they were ready and confident to use Blackboard effectively.
The core figures from Instructional Technology involved in the effort were Dr. Mariann Hawken, Dr. Susan Biro, Dr. Ben Amudzi, and Dr. Josh Abrams, each offering vital contributions to planning, technical administration, and Blackboard training. The process included breaking down Bb training into small, comprehensible pieces for the instructors as the teams were getting an idea of the course content transfer process from Moodle to Blackboard. Ben and Josh led early reviews of syllabi and key topics as the structure for the training took shape. As the process unfolded, Ben also took initiative in organizing Blackboard resources and providing ongoing follow-up and support. The training was delivered through a series of workshops, where knowledge was gradually built up for the instructors. Items such as third-party tools, core Blackboard functionality, and creatable components were addressed throughout. ‘Sandbox’ courses were used as instructors acclimated to Blackboard and practiced different skills, offering a clean environment to do so. Ensuring that the instructors were comfortable and not overwhelmed by the flow of information was at the forefront of the team’s priorities, especially when it came time to build courses in Blackboard, with the same going for establishing ongoing support..
A difficult portion of the project pertained to the course creation and enrollment process for non-credit courses, which the Sonography program’s 13.5-month certificate falls under. As support for instructors' transition continued, there was a misalignment in back-end processes due to these factors. The unique course situation with non-credit courses does not align with UMBC’s automated systems for traditional credit 15-week, two-semester academic calendar. This resulted in critical collaboration among Instructional Technology, the Sonography Program coordinator, and other technical teams in DoIT to manually create processes to support Sonography course creation and student enrollments. In particular, this collaboration established a special term code for the timeframe of the Sonography project, which is unique at the institution.
The work, support, and new challenges continue, but these efforts have helped the Sonography Program find itself in an excellent spot. All of this work currently involves many of the technical efforts highlighted in the previous article, with the move of the DMSP truly being an all-encompassing effort. As was the case before, much of the success in this continuous initiative would not have been possible without the work of the talented professionals in Instructional Technology.