Statewide Collective Action:Shared eLearning Services in

Ohio

Cable T. GreenDirector of TechnologyOhio Learning Network

CLE Hosting

The Ohio Digital Commons for Education (ODCE) will provide Ohio institutions with reasonably priced access to hosted, enterprise level collaboration and learning environments (CLE) including faculty and admin training, an integrated institutional & learning object repository within which students and faculty may archive and access digital content, and single sign-on to these services for all Ohio faculty, staff, and students.

Shared Services Vision v.1

Shared Services: The Big Picture

The ODCE asks “What are the mission critical eLearning services most Ohio institutions are running or plan to run in the next 2-3 years?”

Those services become candidates for shared services hosting.

Current list includes: CLEs (WebCT & Bb), institutional & learning object repositories, ePortfolios, and Shibboleth (for SSO).Exploring new solutions in OLN’s Open Source Pilot

Ohio Digital Commons for Education Technology Initiatives Grant Project

Enterprise CLE Hosting The ODCE has partnered with Kent State University to provide WebCT

Vista (v.3.x) hosting and with the University of Cincinnati to host Blackboard Learning System (v.6.x). = Ohio Learning Network

Digital Resource Commons (DRC) A digital content repository will extend OhioLINK's existing content

distribution capabilities by providing tight integration with the hosted CLE environments.

= OhioLINK

Federated Authentication (Shibboleth) OSC is experimenting with Shibboleth to provide a federated authentication

service between CLE hosting, OhioLINK's DRC services, and existing

authentication systems in use on Ohio campuses. = Ohio Supercomputer Center

Over 110 institutions of higher education in Ohio with over 585,000 students.

Nearly all of these campuses require CLE hosting and associated system administration, faculty training, digital content repositories, and authentication to online resources.

CLE Hosting Project Overview:Statement of the Problem

Why Collaborate?

Many institutions choose not to develop (or lack) the resources and staff expertise to deliver robust collaboration and learning environments (CLE) and content repository services as a 24x7 enterprise, with sufficient server capacity and disaster recovery capabilities to maintain these resource intensive services. But all require CLE services – with associated system

administration, faculty training and support, digital content repositories and so on.

Left to the independent efforts of each Ohio higher education institution, it is not likely that a robust shared infrastructure across institutions will develop, but rather basic, duplicative services will be created with limited State funds.

Timing is Right for Shared Services

Decreasing State budgets have prompted calls for increased inter-institutional collaboration (e.g., Ohio Governor’s Commission on Higher Education and the Economy): www.chee.ohio.gov Calls for “shared services”

Educational technology has become mission criticalCLE is growing in complexity, cost, and importanceOutsourcing has become less alien to higher

education

Timing is Right for Shared Services

CLE is a better candidate for shared services than legacy administrative systems

Third Frontier Network: 1,600 miles of fiber backbone to connect higher education institutions and P-12 schools

Ohio Commons, OBR, Kent State, and UC eager to LEAD in this new K-20 eLearning space

CLE Hosting Project Phases

Phase 1: Pilot Two & Four Year Public & Private Institutions of Higher Education

Phase 2: Add Additional Institutions in:FY07 (August 2006) & FY08 (August 2007)

Phase 3: K-20: Add K-12?Example = UC and Catholic Archdiocese

CLE Hosting Goals

LogisticalEnable institutions to move into enterprise level

CLE hosting and services.

IntellectualFacilitate collaboration, sharing, and community

building around content and services.Leverage existing CLE infrastructure and services

in Ohio.

CLE Hosting Goals

Financial Save MoneyLicense Savings (Bb = X%; WebCT = X%)

Hosting and Support SavingsReduced costs by leveraging shared infrastructure

OLN $$$ to reduce overall costs

Services Surrounding CLE Hosting

License negotiation (OLN)

Hardware, Software , Backup, Updates (Hosts)

Migration & Implementation Services (Vendors)

Faculty and System Administration Training (Hosts)

Bb and WebCT Councils Share best practices & training materials Meet monthly online

Project Status?Phase 1: Pilot Running Now

Edison Community College = Enterprise Bb launched in August ’04. Started with 22 courses / 541 students, now 244 courses, over 4640 students FULL Datatel integration.

Marion Technical College = Enterprise Bb launched in September ’04. Started with 70 courses / 1300 students, now 615 courses, over 3550 students

Capital University = Enterprise Bb launched in June ’05

In Bb hosting discussions with one small & two large Community Colleges

Rio Grande Community College = WebCT Vista launched in August ‘04 Started with 232 courses / 1842 users, now 989 course sections, over 4300

users Completely off WebCT CE by Spring / Summer ‘06

Youngstown State University = WebCT Vista piloted since October ’04 Now 117 course sections, over 950 students Completely off WebCT CE by Spring / Summer ‘06

Lessons Learned

The climate is ripe and right for collaboration It’s about institutions sharing services and expertise, leveraging

for a greater common good Drawing on others’ expertise to focus on their core

competencies and mission CLE is a relatively new system/service – why ramp up for it? A better service/product – ensuring the latest releases,

features, etc. Invite everyone to the party

CLE consolidation is a leadership opportunity Emphasizing long-term project commitment Keep the focus on the project goals

Lessons Learned

Partnership – not a business relationship, but run like a business Vendors are willing to partner with good partners Compromise, flexibility, patience, and shared decision making Transparency with successes and issues

It can work, on time, with excellent client satisfaction.

Higher Education will spend money for long term savings and improved services But there are issues – trust, ownership -- some institutions will

not come even if it’s FREE.

Why Some Institutions did NOT Join

Perceived Loss of ControlClients retain FULL Control

Branding (URL, colors, logos, etc.)System administration over virtual installationAuthentication and SIS integration

“We can do it better, cheaper in-house.”Run a TCO of local vs. hosted technical capabilities,

support, auxiliary services, and costs.Then compare the two.

“I’ll loose my job”Or might skilled staff be re-tasked to work on other

high priority IT projects?What are the opportunity costs of not moving to

shared services?

Wrong Combination of Folks at the TableGet the right people on the team

Open-minded, experienced, looking toward the futureProject leaders involved in ALL negotiations

Similar “levels” of players in all discussions

Why Some Institutions did NOT Join

How much does it Cost?(Many Factors: Some Info Pending)

License Costs MiCTA RFP results Dec ‘05

OLN will renegotiate with vendors in WI ‘06 Current license fees used to ball-park for planning purposes

Hosting Costs & Service Level Agreements Details in presentations Oracle costs (in negotiations) – possible move to MS SQL

Integration Costs (optional) WebCT & Bb services teams UC & KSU will discuss basic integration services included with

hosting

OLN’s Roles Banker, Negotiator (drive down costs), Project Manger, &

Mediator

Cost Model

+ Hosting Fees+ License+ Integration Costs (optional)------------------Sub-Total- OLN Support------------------Total CLE Hosting Costs

Timeline for Joining CLE Hosting

Fall ‘05Informal discussions with OLN, Host, VendorPresentations at your institutions

Winter ‘06All Costs (Licenses and Oracle) known

MiCTA RFP results• OLN renegotiates contracts with vendors

New clients make decision to move to CLE HostingSign license agreements and SLA

Spring / Summer ’06Testing, migrate courses, and faculty & admin training

Fall ’06Full production in Hosted CLE

Questions?

Cable GreenDirector of TechnologyOhio Learning Network

cgreen@oln.org / 614-995-3240

For more information contact: