Florida International University
LocationMiami, FL |
Classification4-year Public University |
StudentsFull-time: 26,248 | Part-time: 15,949 |
FacultyFull-time: 891 | Part-time: 679 |
Why Concourse
The syllabus creation, audit, and tracking processes were inefficient and burdensome for the Florida International University (FIU) Online department. Access and consistency were also becoming a concern across the online division. Concourse directly addressed each of these concerns by providing FIU Online an easy way to create, share, audit, and distribute syllabi from a single location online.
The Backstory
Florida International University brings together over 44,000 students and over 1,600 faculty members in an expansive, research-based curriculum designed to prepare the next generation of leaders. As one of the 25 largest universities in America, FIU is long renowned for their culture of educational innovation. Helping FIU lead the way is a dedicated systems administration team who are always on the lookout for new technology that will seamlessly integrate workflow, saving the school time and money, while enriching the student experience. The university currently utilizes a host of tools system wide to meet their curricular needs and the needs of a growing online community.
Current Method
FIU developed a process that included handing over approved syllabi to systems administrators that would be translated into HTML and made searchable through the FIU syllabus website. Syllabi presented in the current learning management environment are not formatted for printing and do not possess links or drilldown capability from the syllabus. Additionally, the permissions for evaluating syllabi and the CSS code needed to maintain syllabi is burdensome and has proven to be a drain on programmer resources.
The Meeting
After discovering Concourse at E-learn in October 2010, an eLearning Consultant from FIU instantly realized the potential in a centralized syllabus management platform. The eLearning Consultant brought it to the attention of FIU’s Online Learning Management Systems Administrators. The team then zeroed in on three Concourse features which included syllabus creation, access, and editing. The focus on these features would lead them to considering long-term LMS integration, syllabus auditing, and tracking. Concourse was well positioned to meet each element of the evaluation criteria and therefore enough evidence for the systems administrators to launch a Concourse pilot.
Evaluation criteria
- Should not rely heavily on a programmer
- Should be flexible (customizable)
- Make it easier to construct syllabi
- Allow programs to meet unique department standards
- Increase standardization
- Provide external linking
- FIU Online branding capability
- Mobile Capability
The Pilot
FIU Online has a well established system in place for evaluating new technology; they are experts when it comes to structuring and managing a pilot. The systems administrators team decided to run a single semester, small scale pilot relying on the feedback from one eLearning consultant and one instructor. Concourse was deployed within learning management environment that FIU was working on migrating to and started with designing two templates which would grow into four syllabi for the Spring 2011 semester.
Early Results
At the end of the pilot, Concourse was able to standardize syllabi, provide greater access, streamline the auditing process, and create one central location to manage all syllabi within the online division. Rather than duplicating existing features in their LMS structure, Concourse supplements them by focusing on the syllabus. FIU did not move beyond the pilot as the focus at FIU shifted to implementing a new learning management system. It was decided by the Director of Online Learning that LMS migration would need to be completed before FIU Online considered integrating new technologies.
About Florida International University
With a student body of more than 44,000, we’re one of the 25 largest universities in the nation. More than 100,000 FIU alumni live and work in South Florida. Our colleges and schools offer more than 200 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations and law. As one of South Florida’s anchor institutions, FIU has been locally and globally engaged for more than four decades finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. The opening of the Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine in August 2009 has enhanced the university’s ability to create lasting change through its research initiatives.