BCcampus helps institutions with their educational applications for teaching and learning by bringing multiple institutions together to pool requirements, and then finding solutions for acquiring, hosting, and supporting the needed applications. The greater the number of institutions participating in educational application shared services, the lower the cost for all.

Our current Shared Services:

Adobe Connect is a web conferencing system licensed by BCcampus on behalf of all BC colleges and universities. The Adobe Connect system is installed on a BCcampus server at Simon Fraser University. 24/6 server support is provided by SFU and maintenance of the server and installation of upgrades are done by SFU IT employees. Participating institutions get a free foundational level of Adobe Connect access and can expand use at discounted rates. Institutions can use the Adobe Connect shared service for any purpose within the scope of the institutional mandate including 100% online courses, hybrid or blended courses, meetings and tutoring.

The Adobe Connect Resources Centre now includes communications, learning resources, user support and user resources in a community of practice site. Please use this community of practice site for resources and support you need or wish to contribute.

Desire2Learn (D2L) is a learning management system licensed by BCcampus on behalf of the entire post-secondary system. The D2L system is hosted by Desire2Learn on a server in Ontario. Desire2Learn maintains the server and installs scheduled upgrades. The D2L support desk is available 24/7 for designated institutional administrators. Each participating institution manages and controls their own courses and users in D2L. Initial training for both administrators and instructors has been provided and supported by BCcampus staff.

BCcampus currently provides D2L as a system-wide shared service for free to all collaborative programs including Applied Business Technology and Northern Collaborative Information Technology. At the institutional level BCcampus provides D2L for up to 3,000 enrollments for free. Institutions needing additional capacity pay a fee for each additional enrollment.

Moodle is an open source software learning management system. As an open source software application it can be freely downloaded and used by anyone without paying licensing fees. BCcampus provides a free Moodle shared service with Moodle installed on a BCcampus server at Simon Fraser University (SFU) on the BCNET backbone. SFU provides 24/6 server support and maintenance. Moodle installation and upgrades are provided by Lambda Solutions, a Vancouver based e-learning company with extensive Moodle expertise. Each of the Moodle shared service participating institutions has its own instance of Moodle allowing for independence and flexibility with regard to upgrades. The shared service Moodle application can be used for testing, development, and full production.

Blackboard Collaborate (formerly Elluminate) is a web conferencing system provided as a BCcampus shared service based on an Open Access License model. This license differs from traditional enrollment or seat based licenses in that it allows for unlimited use by everyone at participating institutions. An Open Access license enables all departments to use Blackboard Collaborate for any purpose including fully online courses, blended or hybrid classroom/online courses, meetings, tutoring, advising, etc. Blackboard Collaborate is hosted by the vendor on servers in Calgary. Server maintenance and support along with upgrades is done by Blackboard Collaborate. Licensing fees are based on the combined FTE’s of all institutions participating in the shared service. As with other shared services BCcampus provides a level of base funding that decreases the costs to participating institutions. This shared service includes a full set of training and professional development services provided by Blackboard Collaborate.

AskAway is an online library reference. BCcampus provides the IT architecture underlying this service.

How it works:

BCcampus utilizes a business model approach to educational shared services. We are currently updating business processes and introducing business models for shared services with a balance between incentives for participation and contributions from participating institutions for ongoing operations. The updated shared service business process was piloted on Moodle shared service migrations in 2011.

New shared services are constantly being evaluated and offered (for instance, please see our Summary Media Servers Research Report, found on our Reports page.

Shared services typically reduce software licensing, provisioning, and support costs by pooling system-wide demand and negotiating system-wide licenses and services. For most shared services, BCcampus underwrites a portion of the costs associated with its provision, leaving institutions to contribute to costs associated with their own use above and beyond the BCcampus-supported base.

To find out which institutions are participating in these educational application shared services, see the most recent BCcampus Shared Services Report on the Reports page.

To participate in discussions around Shared Services and the models we use to implement and manage them, please see our Shared Services Forum page.

If you would like to explore use of more shared services at your institution please call:

Lawrence Parisotto

Director, Collaborative Programs and Shared Services
604-412-7715
lparisotto@bccampus.ca

OR:

Ian MacKinnon

Client Services Manager, Shared Services
250-405-4015
mackinnon@bccampus.ca

If you want to explore emerging technologies through a trial sandbox access please contact:

Scott Leslie

Client Service Manager, Open Education
250-415-3490
leslie@bccampus.ca