While it’s not the same as attending in person, if you enjoy watching UMBC basketball or Commencement live online, soon you might also be able to watch other major campus events in the same way. In addition, like many of UMBC’s ESPN+ broadcasts now, most of the production crews will likely be staffed by UMBC students and young alums. 

Through a competitive procurement process facilitated by UMBC Procurement & Strategic Sourcing over the summer, the University recently selected VPC, Inc. of Reisterstown, Maryland, to provide high definition (HD), live stream broadcast capabilities across campus. Over the past three years, the firm had partnered with UMBC Athletics, DoIT and Media & Communications Studies (MCS) to provide video production services, primarily for the broadcast of basketball games on ESPN+. UMBC Athletics and DoIT collaborated to solicit a partner with a shared strategic vision to expand live streaming beyond athletics, and continue the strong participation of UMBC students and young alums as production crew staff. The initial contract term with VPC, Inc. --  to be coordinated through DoIT’s New Media Studio -- is for three years, with optional renewals for up to an additional five years.

“VPC has been a strong campus partner for many years, having produced numerous commencements, alumni awards, anniversary celebrations and athletics events,” says Jack Suess, Vice President of IT and Chief Information Officer (CIO). “We’re especially pleased to work with a partner so committed to higher education and training our students to work alongside industry professionals in live stream broadcasting.”

In addition to producing UMBC’s ESPN3 broadcasts, VPC, Inc. has provided production services for marquee events such as the AFL Arena Bowl, the Olympics, and the Kentucky Derby. VPC provides scoreboard production and engineering services for the United States Naval Academy and 3 NFL teams including the Ravens. In recent years, the firm has also “crossed over” into college and university commencements, capital campaign launches and alumni awards including involvement for the UMBC50 Celebration. Today, the firm routinely produces more than 250 events a year, with over 100 of them in live sports production. The University’s new contractual agreement with VPC also complements DoIT’s 2017 upgrade of the New Media Studio  to HD.

“We couldn’t be happier to continue the campus partnership with UMBC,” says Eli Eisenberg, CEO of VPC, and a 1986 UMBC alum. “We’ve enjoyed working with Athletics and look forward to continue doing so under the relationship with DoIT for other major campus events. Regardless of the event or venue, our professional staff really enjoys working with students, and helping them grow their skillsets." 

The Division of Information Technology (DoIT) is pleased to announce that Dustin Roddy has been named manager of its New Media Studio (NMS). A 2014 graduate of the Media & Communications Studies (MCS) & American Studies programs, Roddy brings a rare combination of technical expertise as a video producer as well as excellent people and customer service skills.

In addition to daily responsibilities managing the Studio, Dustin played a key role in the successful partnership between DoIT, Athletics and Media Communication Studies to lead UMBC's live streaming of men's and women's basketball on ESPN3 that was featured in UMBC Magazine. He also worked with VPC Communications, owned by '86 Alum Eli Eisenberg, to oversee the Studio's upgrade to high definition (HD) broadcast quality production facilities, which supports numerous MCS student interns hired by Athletics to air 30+ ESPN3 broadcasts each year.

Dustin’s good working relationships were invaluable during and after UMBC's historic upset of #1 seed UVA in the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Late that evening and all during the next two days, as the spotlight shone brightly on UMBC, Dustin helped educate the CBS "futures" producer who was only assigned the next day. She literally knew nothing about UMBC, so Dustin was feeding her information, web links and video archive footage with little more than a moment's notice. Eventually, Dustin’s in-game and behind-the-scenes footage was also on display in the CBS Sports retrospective, “Four Sides of the Story,” that aired this past fall.  

Earlier this year, Blackboard released a “course archetype” system administrator’s tool that allows institutions to see how the company’s Learning Management System (LMS) software is being used across campus. The “course archetype” tool was informed by Blackboard’s 2016 research on clients it hosts, including UMBC (since 2014). The primary reason DoIT was interested in the “course archetype” tool was to get a better understanding of the depth and complexity of our current Bb usage, as we gauge the work to be done to move to our Ultra migration in Fall 2019 (see umbc.edu/go/ultra).

A few observations are worth noting:

1. Blackboard’s course archetype research initially focused on more than 3M students, in 70k courses from 927 institutions hosted by Blackboard in Spring 2016. After extensive filtering for courses between 10 and 500 students, at least average student use of 60 minutes, and faculty use of the grade book, the resulting data set for analysis “included 601,544 learners (16.25%) in 18,810 (26.87%) courses” (p.2 of the study). When DoIT ran the course archetype tool on our 1,469 active FA18 Bb courses, only 464 (31%) did not meet the same enrollment size and usage criteria compared with 51,190 (73%) of the 70k courses hosted by Blackboard, but also filtered off for the study.
2. Blackboard found the vast majority of courses it studied were "supplemental" (content-heavy, low interaction) or "complementary" (1-way, instructor-led, minimal communication) courses, or 53% and 24%, respectively (77% total). By contrast, DoIT found nearly 40% of UMBC’s remaining 991 FA18 courses are characterized at the top end of Blackboard's course design archetype: "evaluative" (heavy use of assessments) and "holistic" (high LMS activity with balanced use of assessments, content and discussion), or 21% and 18%, respectively (or 39% total).
3. Except for students checking grades, Blackboard found that other high student LMS activity wasn't necessarily associated with better student outcomes. We've not looked at how our UMBC students' activity is associated with outcomes (yet), because the term isn't over, but we'll do so after Fall 2018 grades are submitted in early January. 

Special thanks to Mariann Hawken, DoIT’s Coordinator of eLearning and certified Blackboard MVP, and Tom Penniston, our Analytics Specialist in Instructional Technology, for this analysis.

DoIT needs to explore our own data further, but UMBC's Blackboard courses appear to represent a significantly different profile compared to most Bb client institutions hosted by the company. We’ve always had high adoption -- typically 95% of all students, 87% of all instructors and 82% of all PeopleSoft sections use Bb during any given term. But when we first started our own learning analytics research in 2007, just over 40% of all our Bb courses used the grade book, even though the annual "Undergraduates and IT" Educause national study has frequently found that students value checking grades more than any other LMS function. Typically, about 73% of all active UMBC Blackboard courses now use the grade book, a characteristic common to many of our most active Bb courses.

“DoIT has always wanted to use analytics to help inform and grow the depth and sophistication of our Bb LMS usage,” says John Fritz, Assoc. Vice President for Instructional Technology, who profiled UMBC's course design experience in a 2017 Educause article that also referenced Bb's course archetype research. “Our institutional Blackboard usage suggests UMBC may be helping higher ed better understand how good LMS course design could be one of the most scalable student success interventions any institution can pursue.”

By Eleanor Lewis

Damian Doyle ‘99, B.S. Computer Science, ‘16 M.S Information Systems, says building trust and relationships are essential to his work every day at UMBC.

Doyle, assistant vice president of enterprise infrastructure in the Division of Information Technology (DoIT), is being recognized with Educause’s prestigious Rising Star award, “For demonstrating exemplary leadership in the implementation and deployment of information technology in support of the educational mission; for strong mentorship and promotion of diversity for those aspiring to the IT profession; for modeling collaborative partnerships within his institution and in the greater higher education community.”He’ll receive the award at the annual Educause Conference this week.

Like a number of DoIT staff, Doyle began his career as a student worker, and was hired full time after graduation (51 of DoIT’s 75 FT staff are UMBC alumni). Over time, he began taking on leadership roles in network service and security, technology to support classroom learning, and cloud services. Doyle’s collaborative, positive, and thoughtful approach extends beyond DoIT to his work across campus and beyond.

Doyle is a member of UMBC’s Center for Women in Information Technology (CWIT) internal board, and works closely with CWIT Scholars. He has developed an internship program for the scholars to receive hands-on experience in DoIT’s cybersecurity, UNIX infrastructure, and advanced networking teams. Doyle is also committed to working in shared governance and is currently president of the university’s Professional Staff Senate (PSS) and active with its University Steering Committee (USC). He is chair of the planning committee for Maryland’s First Lego League (FLL) and is one of the state head referees. He also coaches his son’s school FLL team.

“Damian has been a partner with the Center for Women in Technology (CWIT) as an advocate for women and underrepresented students, educator, supervisor to CWIT students, and ally within the University of Maryland, Baltimore County,” says Erica D’Eramo, assistant director of CWIT. “He has promoted the opportunities for employment and technical experience in DoIT, and he participates in professional development exercises with new CWIT students and multiple networking opportunities throughout the year for all class years. We greatly appreciate his support of CWIT's mission and thoughtful collaborations for the past several years.”

DoIT Vice President and CIO Jack Suess, B.S. ‘81 mathematics, and M.S. ‘94, information systems operations analysis, says, “I am thrilled that the EDUCAUSE Awards Committee agreed that Damian's body of work was exceptional and that he was awarded the Rising Star Award. Damian’s technical and managerial leadership has not only advanced IT at UMBC; he’s taken that leadership and talent to work across campus and in the community, and he is seen as a national leader in the field, especially in the use of cloud technology.”

“I love building bridges,” Doyle explains. “I’m able to work with people on campus and learn what they are doing, then find and match technology to that, in order to help make their work better.

“IT staff see themselves as partners with the university community and so we’re committed to intentional customer service. It’s important to take time with people, to hear their viewpoints and understand their needs. If we’re going to change how we do something, it has to be because it’s of benefit, not just because it’s cool technology.

We’re at a point where you can’t teach and learn without technology, so we have to implement it in a way that serves the community.”

Doyle has also helped DoIT create a culture that is inclusive and welcoming too. Beyond his work with CWIT, Doyle says it’s been important for DoIT keep in mind the wide range of ways people from all backgrounds bring different perspectives on problems and solutions to their work. “I feel we have good values around this, but we want to make sure students understand and have that in an intentional way.” He says DoIT will continue to work on developing this area, and they are planning to launch some new initiatives this spring.

When he’s not at UMBC, Doyle takes time away from IT, playing ultimate frisbee and tennis, running, and biking. But he also loves science fiction and video games, which he often plays with his son, Leo, who shares his love of technology. Doyle, whose parents were part of UMBC’s first graduating class, now enjoys this time with Leo much like he did as a child when he and his father built computers together. He says he explains to his son that using technology and understanding how it works are two different things. That understanding has not only helped Doyle in his career, but has become part of a philosophy that has made a difference to the UMBC community as well.

In an interview with Educause Review, Doyle shared what keeps him inspired. “The people within higher education and their stories, passions, and dreams have a huge impact every day on my thinking and motivation. I’m continually impressed by the challenges many students have overcome to get where they are, and by the faculty, staff, and colleagues who are changing lives through their work, their research, and their commitment to education. The more people I talk with, learn from, and connect with, the more inspired I am to help them succeed and achieve their goals.”