Since the beginning of term, users of UBC’s Connect Learning Management System have experienced a number of periods during which the service has been unavailable to instructors and students, or during which response times have been slow. We know that these service interruptions have a direct impact on your ability to teach and the ability for students to access course materials and activities. We share your frustration and recognize that the academic year start-up has been challenging for those using Connect. UBC IT has a dedicated team that is working diligently with the software vendors to resolve the issues as quickly as possible.
While these technical issues are being resolved, the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) offers the following strategies which we hope will help minimize the impact on the teaching and learning experience during system outages and slow response times.
Messages to students
Minimize student stress by providing clear messaging around expectations for student activity and due dates on assignments and assessments. (How to Create Announcements)
Encourage students to download course content ahead of time to avoid last minute access issues.
Utilize support
Reach out to your Faculty’s Instructional Support Staff (ISS) for ideas on managing your course and providing ways to deliver content to your students at: http://elearning.ubc.ca/support/contacts
Contact CTLT’s professional staff at 604.827.4494 (your information will be taken and referred to the appropriate individual to handle your request) or email ctlt.support@ubc.ca.
Attend Connect Professional Development sessions in your Faculty or at CTLT. Information on upcoming CTLT sessions can be found here: http://events.ctlt.ubc.ca/series/view/179
Extend or relax timeframes for tests and materials
Tests – Where appropriate, extend the period of test availability and/or duration. Relax the due date restriction settings. (How-To Resource Here under the “Deploy Tests” tab).
Disable the auto-submit feature. Contact your ISS or CTLT’s PD Team if you need assistance with this.
Adaptive release – Where appropriate, consider relaxing time-release rules so that students have a longer period to access content. (How-To Resource Here)
Availability settings and due dates – Where appropriate, extend availability start and end dates/due dates for materials and activities. (How-To Resource Here)
Course design changes
Navigation – If possible, reduce the number of clicks students need to make to access content and activities. This could be achieved by adding links to course content and tools directly to the course menu and suggesting that students use the folder view for the menu. (How-To Resource For Creating Tool Link Here)
Video – Utilize the integrated Kaltura streaming media service rather than uploading video directly into Connect for students to access. (View resources on how to Upload a Video and Create Upload a Video from a Webcam here)
To stay up-to-date on the latest developments in the resolution of the Connect technical issues, please go to the UBC IT website at http://www.it.ubc.ca/services/teaching-learning-tools/connect/recent-connect-issues.
Outage information is available on UBC IT’s bulletins site, http://bulletins.it.ubc.ca or via Twitter @UBCIToutages.
Finally, if you have ideas or suggestions for improvements or enhancements to Connect you can submit them at http://suggest.connect.ubc.ca, email ctlt.support@ubc.ca, or contact your representative on the Connect Faculty Advisory Committee.