Dear Matt,

We are using CourseGenie with / without Blackboard. Just starting to roll it out through sections on the Medical School, including demos and training.

The general feedback with respect to Blackboard is it is very easy to upload - simply take the zip file. There is an option about exporting as Bbd Material, however, unlike WebCT there is no attempt at integrating with the VLE tool set. Therefore, when the CourseGenie course is generated you can simply upload the associated zip file. Through the use of includes you can integrate in the use of discussion boards without leaving the tutorial ;-). There does seem to be a role for some Dreamweaver editing at the end to improve screen layout when using matching questions etc., given that the content part of the screen is small in Blackboard - people don't toggle the navigation off!

The general feedback from the material creators is that it's easy to use.

In terms of easing workflow, and ease of converting from word. It depends whether the author uses Micorosft word correctly. If not then errors occur within the generation. The outcome is that the author needs to spend alot of time dealing with the errors. This can be a very time consuming process and may result in the author deciding to simply upload the word document. Therefore, you might need to advice on the use of authoring strategies, i.e., chunk the document and then combine at the end. Alternatively, supply some simple tips on using Microsoft Word with respect to CourseGenie. Other aspects of workflow have included using the Metadata to include the version number, and the description tag to include comments.

Hope that helps ;-)

Andy




--On 19 May 2004 13:34 -0400 Matt Justice <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I wonder if I may take a quick snap shot of opinion of those of you
> using Course Genie with Blackboard. Is there anyone out there?
>
> Here at Ryerson University we are currently looking at it as a possible
> part solution for our increasing needs to simplify the workflow for
> faculty wishing to distribute extensive amounts of content on Bb. Much
> of this is existing content, and much of that is in the form of MS
> Office type documents. (No surprises so far).
>
> Any advice you can offer would be much appreciated.
>
> For those curious to know why I am emailing this list from a Canadian
> institution, I recently moved from Oxford Brookes but was keen not to
> sever all ties. Besides, in this case Course Genie is first and foremost
> a UK product so exposure to it, and experience with it, is greater in
> the UK HE community. Oxford Brookes uses CG with WebCT, but I have
> little knowledge of potential pitfalls, problems and limitations with
> using this particular third party application with Bb.
>
> As I say, any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
>
> --
> Matt Justice
> Digital Media Projects Office
> Ryerson University
> Toronto, CANADA
>
> 416.979.5000 x7272
> http://www.ryerson.ca/dmp
>
>



----------------------
Andy Ramsden,
Learning Technology Adviser,
LTSS
University of Bristol

e-mail: [log in to unmask]
tel: 0117 928 7152 (direct)
web: http://www.ltss.bris.ac.uk/