Charles Middleton
President, Roosevelt University
Private higher education institution with undergraduate and graduate programs.
Two full-service campuses, one in downtown Chicago and one in Schaumburg, Illinois
7400 students
220 full-time faculty members
Blackboard Learning System and ASP client since 2001 http://www.roosevelt.edu/ruonline
Roosevelt University is an independent, tuition-driven university with a highly diverse student body and a commitment to social justice.
In 2001, Roosevelt launched RUOnline, its distance education program, with the mission to “employ appropriate learning technologies to make high quality programmatic and other resources available at times and places responsive to constituent needs and demands.”
Roosevelt selected the Blackboard Learning
System ™ as the key enabling technology for
RUOnline, a program that has spurred pedagogical advances at Roosevelt, attracted a diverse group of new students and been highly profitable for the university.
In June 2000, Roosevelt received a twoyear grant from the McCormick Tribune
Foundation to create a fully online distance education program. RUOnline had two years to demonstrate programmatic and fiscal sustainability to the funder and to internal constituents. Roosevelt wanted to ensure that the academic quality was as good, if not better, in online courses than in faceto-face courses. In addition, the institution needed to attract enrollment among new student populations. “At the time, it seemed like an insurmountable task to get a distance education program off the ground in two years,” said Karen Gersten, Associate Dean and Director of Distance Learning. “We didn’t have experience or confidence in teaching online, our resources were limited, and we had a very short time-span to prove academic and economic value.”
The initial task was to select a Course Management System (CMS) platform. Initially, another leading vendor offered a grant. But the faculty, skeptical about distance education, focused on ease-of-use. After careful review of several platforms, the university’s Instructional Technology Policy Committee reviewed and approved the Blackboard Learning System based on not just Blackboard’s ease-of-use advantage, but also on the software’s proven ability to scale.
With only two staff members working on distance education, Roosevelt chose to leverage
Blackboard’s ASP Services. Roosevelt staff could thereby concentrate on the pedagogy of online learning rather than on the technical implementation.
“The Blackboard ® User Community was also a valuable resource for us as we got our distance education program up and running,” said Gersten. “The listservs, local regional user group
(SLATE), Blackboard User’s Conference and the
Behind the Blackboard web site all provided additional support in helping us learn from others’ challenges and successes.”
From the outset, Roosevelt University wanted to use Blackboard to spur a rethinking of teaching and learning and to continue a tradition of high quality pedagogy. Roosevelt adopted an aggressive training program to ensure that faculty members were comfortable with and well-trained in online instruction. In collaboration with RU-
Online staff, teachers reviewed the RUOnline
Course Development Check List and determined which pedagogical approach (Knowledge-based,
Application-based or Problem-based) would best work for their style, material and the nature of the online teaching environment.

Initial faculty concerns and resistance diminished as pioneer faculty conducted online classes through Blackboard software and started sharing best practices for online teaching and learning. Faculty soon discovered how the Blackboard Discussion Boards created 24/7 communication opportunities and increased the depth and breadth of interactions between faculty-to-students and also among students. They also realized students could review and reflect on course content and discussions any time during the semester. This helped to turn many skeptical faculty members into online teaching evangelists. “Teachers often work in silos,” said Gersten.
“With a new forum for teaching, faculty began sharing online resources, knowledge and activities as they developed online courses. They were finding new ways to convey information, identifying new course materials and building vibrant communities. Rethinking how to communicate ideas and course content was transformative for learning at Roosevelt. Many online faculty have said distance education teaching gave them new ideas for increasing the quality of their classroom teaching as well.”
The Blackboard Learning System has been an important means of getting faculty to consider what learning outcomes they want to achieve and how effective they are in doing so, according to Gersten. For example, faculty members use the Assessment capabilities in the Blackboard
Learning System to evaluate student’s progress at different junctures in the semester, giving them the ability to adjust their teaching throughout the semester so they can better meet student learning needs.
Students’ reactions to RUOnline are overwhelmingly positive. In recent course evaluations, students highlighted Blackboard’s convenience and ease of use. In addition, they mentioned high interaction with faculty and other students as a primary reason for taking online courses. According to one student, “I participated more in this online course than I ever have in a regular class.” highlighted further uses of Blackboard: “As we grow our partnership with Blackboard, we look to use Blackboard Building Blocks ® and the Blackboard Community System in the future to expand our online capabilities and programs,” said President Middleton “Distance education transformed teaching at Roosevelt, and we are looking to build on our initial success.”
Match instructional design with learning objectives
Decide on appropriate technology mix and how to keep it simple
Create instructional design most appropriate for an online format
Consider technological barriers
Estimate time needed to cover materials in an online environment
Focus on course interactivity and learnercentered instruction
Supply appropriate content
Consider technological sophistication of the audience and develop corresponding materials
Use appropriate assessment measures
Roosevelt’s success in recruitment for RUOnline was impressive, with an increase from 77 class enrollments in fall 2001 to 839 enrollments in the fall of 2004. Roosevelt was able to establish a course completion rate consistently over 90%, well above that of most distance education programs. RUOnline became profitable within two years and its financial success has continued to grow. From 2003 to 2004, the profit margin for RUOnline increased from 23% to 51%, according to Gersten.
Beyond the distance education program, Blackboard also helped enhance traditional classroom learning and increase instructor efficiency by allowing teachers to provide materials online, create additional class interaction and simplify administrative tasks. Roosevelt is now blending distance learning into various course formats that enable faculty to teach using the most appropriate methods for each course. Half of
Roosevelt’s faculty members teach using Blackboard.
As Gersten looks to the future at Roosevelt, she would like to see the
Blackboard Community System ™ adopted to better target information to different groups within the university. She also envisions a role for the Blackboard Content System ™, especially because of its e-Portfolio functionality. Roosevelt University President Charles Middleton also
Roosevelt University aspires to be a national leader in educating socially conscious citizens for active and dedicated lives as leaders in their professions and communities. Roosevelt is a four-year, private institution with undergraduate and graduate programs in arts and sciences, business, education and performing arts. In addition, the university has programs tailored for adult learners. Founded in 1945, the institution has a strong commitment to student success, academic quality, and social justice. RUOnline, Roosevelt’s distance learning program, has over 56 fully online courses. Its programs include a complete Masters in Training and Development, a time-shortened bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership and several certificates. Students living in 17 states and 3 foreign countries currently enroll in RUOnline courses.
Blackboard Inc. is a leading provider of enterprise software applications and related services to the education industry. The Company’s product line consists of the Blackboard Academic Suite ™ and the Blackboard
Commerce Suite ™. Blackboard’s clients include colleges, universities, schools and other education providers, as well as textbook publishers and student-focused merchants that serve education providers and their students. Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C.
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