PH.D.
Educator and e-Learning Consultant

Title
e-Learning Implementation Experiences Using TopClass and Blackboard
at State University of New York (SUNY) & Cape Cod Community College (4Cs)

Abstract
e-Learning can be viewed from several perspectives that need to be
defined; namely, Technology, Pedagogy and Business. The e-learning implementation

process will always be a work in progress. The ADAM teaching-learning life cycle is about access to people and learning resources. The prospect for delivering individualized learning in a just enough and just in time manner is of paramount importance. Consequently, the TopClass LMS was selected for its ease of use, content creation, performance, scalability, learning object architecture and open standards. This session will present some of the technical, pedagogical and business issues encountered and solutions to the e-learning implementation process using TopClass from my experiences at a large university system (SUNY) and a small community college (4Cs) and why TopClass was selected over other LMS such as Blackboard, IntraLearn, Prometheus, WebCT, etc

Presentation Resources: http://leonardo.capecod.mass.edu/

Role
As an educator, senior consultant and Teaching & Learning Technology
Coordinator, I use my project management skills, Learning Management System
(LMS) product knowledge, and system skills to ensure the successful
implementation of enterprise teaching/training management solutions. This
includes more than 25 years of research and teaching experience, executing a
range of project management pre-sales, and post-sales consulting activities
such as e-Learning implementation planning and launch, project coordination,
and system design.

Responsibilities

• Developed courses, programs, research projects, and publications in the areas of biology and distributed learning.
• Developed implementation plans to ensure the successful implementation of learning management solutions (LMS). This included gathering business requirements, developing project plans, assessing the technical infrastructure and system integration requirements.
• Coordinated enterprise implementation projects. This included managing project schedules, managing WBT and third-party resources, providing a single-point-of-contact for implementation issues, and conducting regular review meetings with the customer.
• Executed hands-on implementation activities, such as:
  • Assisting customers with application design, including the definition of class structure, access rights, and permissions directory structure.
  • Assisting customers with system design, including server architecture and configuration.
  • Gathering requirements and wrote functional specifications for loading data into LMS from external sources such as human resources, ERP or training management systems.
  • Delivering instructor-led and online training classes in LMS authoring and adminstration.

Skills

• Accomplished educator and trainer, in both academic and corporate environments.
• Familiarity with heterogeneous UNIX and PC client server computing environments.
• Familiarity with RDBMS products (ORACLE, MS ACCESS) and network administration (UNIX and Windows NT).
• Familiarity with web technologies such as Perl scripting, HTML, and JavaScript.
• Outstanding communication, teamwork and customer management skills.
• Demonstrated understanding and commitment to customer satisfaction.
• High level of independence, initiative, and drive.

Experience

• 25 years as full professor in the State University of New York (SUNY) system and 5 years hands-on consulting experience implementing enterprise systems for K-12 and higher education institutions as well as Global 2000 companies.
• 25 years of project management experience. This includes a proven track record of success in understanding grantsmanship, business requirements, implementation planning, and delivering quality projects on time and on budget.