DSI

The International Baccalaureate’s Virtual Community is right on task! We are set to release version 0.3 on 14 December. Upon this release, our first external users will join the site, representing the following stakeholder groups: MYP students, DP students, Educators, Alumni, and PD providers.

Users will enter the site and create his or her personal profile page. From there, users will be able to add friends, update his or her status, create wikis and blogs, and participate in discussion forums. The site will also include school groups, IB managed groups, and user created groups. Our beta testers represent all of the IB regions, as our stakeholders will now be able to communicate with one another regardless of geographical distance.

Please see the presentation for further reference: ib-virtual-community-presentation. If you have any questions, please send an email to ibvc@ibo.org.

On June 25th it was announced  that the International Baccalaureate and ePals, Inc. would collaborate to create a customized online learning community for IB students, educators, alumni, volunteers and other stakeholders.

We are pleased to announce that on July 31st, the first release of the IB Virtual Community was launched.

Our testing community has already begun to evaluate features including:

o User group creation and membership management

o Friendship connection requests and management

o Profile and home page content (updates, messages, blogs, wikis and media gallery areas).

Release 0.2 is scheduled for September this year and will build upon the first release by incorporating enhanced features and capabilities that reflect the feedback received from our stakeholder testers.

The following screen shots of this first release will give you an overview of the site development (Adobe Reader required).

Download IB Virtual Community screenshots [PDF, 750KB]

We look forward to updating you as the project progresses. Please direct your IB Virtual Community related enquiries to dsi@ibo.org or comment through this blog.

Since we have announced the International Baccalaureate’s collaboration with ePals, Inc, we would like to share the results of our DSI prototype testing, held this past February. The feedback that we received will influence our future online learning community site.

For the first phase of our prototypes, we had volunteer testers from the following stakeholder groups: MYP students, DP students, Alumni, Volunteers and Educators.  With our collaborator, ePals, we built a sight to demonstrate the look and functionality that we will offer in the Stakeholder Gateway and Virtual Community. Testers each had their own user profile, with the ability to upload a photo and personalize his or her information. The site also offered messaging and search capabilities and various user groups to show testers what the level of community connectivity will be on the site.

We opened the site for three weeks and allowed testers to spend as much time as they liked on the site. After visiting the site, we asked our testers to complete a survey on their experience. Some of the questions we asked what they liked, what they did not like, their thoughts on the ease of usability, and what functions did they want but not yet have. We left many spaces for open comments on the survey, and we received very honest and helpful feedback. Additionally, we conducted phone interviews in order to take our feedback process one step further. It was great to be able to talk to our testers and get a more personalized perspective on their experience.

The feedback from our testers is invaluable to us, and will help us with the functionality and design of the Stakeholder Gateway and Virtual Community.  Here are some highlights from our tester feedback:

• Users are very excited about the project.
• Users widely agree that they will use the site, and in addition to their other social networking sites.
• Educators and Volunteers look forward to having only one login, with all of their IB information and resources in one place.
• MYP students like the social aspect of the site.
• Many testers like the clean, streamline design of the site.

Suggested resources for the site include:

• Students want to see:
  • More academic resources: examples of essays and sample tests
• Educators want to see:
  • All of their resources in one place
  • Best practices and idea sharing with other educators, globally
• Volunteers want to see:
  • IB news and community information
  • Wikis
• Alumni want to see:
  • Links to publication by IB faculty and alumni
  • Showcase of student projects
  • Ability to order past transcripts, diplomas, and test results
  • Regional event postings like conferences and seminars

The negative feedback we received from the surveys primarily pertains to navigational difficulties. We want everyone to know that we are working on the little kinks within the site and we look forward to building an efficient, user intuitive network. We have taken the results of the prototype testing and have created our next steps and must haves for the upcoming beta site. Here are our thoughts:

Feedback requirements that had already been documented for the Stakeholder Gateway:

• Access to Community Service projects
• Regional event postings
• IB news
• IB Community information
• Customisation of screens
• Notification of recently established groups in the Virtual Community
• Teacher and student subject guides
• Links to publications
• Notification of new IB documents
• Info on CAS
• Specific DP, MYP, PYP pages

Feedback requirements that had already been documented for the Virtual Community:

• Global networking
• Q&A with IB teachers
• Customisation of screens
• Access to potential job/internship opportunities

Feedback requirements that will be documented for the Virtual Community:

• Examples of extended essays
• Link to IB store for practice exams
• Ability to search on profile information such as interests
• Change theme (colour font etc) of page
• Literary tools/assistance

Feedback requirements that will be documented for the Stakeholder Gateway:

• IB world map showing all IB Schools
• World clock showing the time in other countries

Thank you to all of our prototype testers, your feedback is invaluable! We look forward to the next phase: DSI beta testing.

As of 25 June 2009, the International Baccalaureate and ePals, Inc. will collaborate to create a customized online learning community for IB students, educators, alumni, volunteers and other stakeholders. We chose a company with a 21^st century global understanding to align with our mission statement. ePals, Inc. has the reputation, mission, and technical infrastructure to fulfill the IB’s needs for the present and future. One of the most exciting components of this project is that we will now be able to connect IB World Schools regardless of geographic, linguistic, or cultural difference.

Together, we have developed a multi-phase three year plan. This includes the development of a virtual community: a safe and collaborative private online community that will have access to a larger global education based network. There will be one year of development work and pilot trials on the co-branded ePals/ IB hosted site. We plan to have this available to everyone starting in July 2010. The synergy with ePals to form our new online learning community will allow the IB to tell its story—one that is global, visual, and incredibly thought-provoking.

Click here to dowload the press release. To view our screencast on the project, click here.

We are very excited about this oppurtunity, and look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Short, 5-minute screencast tours of the sketches for the IB’s new Stakeholder Gateway and Virtual Community are ready for viewing online!

We are inviting members of the IB community – students, parents, educators, alumni, staff, volunteers, and all other community participants - to review the sketches and to then give us feedback about the proposed features and functionality.

To begin, please watch the screencast(s) of interest to you at the links listed below. Viewing the screencasts will take no longer than 5 minutes.

We then hope you’ll take a 5-10 minute survey to let us know your opinions about the designs. The survey can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=avrLKBQ5IbvWNH8vKWQUeA_3d_3d.

Links to the screencasts:

• Screencast of proposed Alumni experience
• Screencast of proposed Diploma Student experience
• Screencast of proposed Educator experience
• Screencast of proposed Middle Years Student experience
• Screencast of proposed  Volunteer experience

Remember to please take our short 5 minute survey after watching the screencast(s):
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=avrLKBQ5IbvWNH8vKWQUeA_3d_3d

Thank you for your time and for your feedback. The data being collected from IB community members has a real impact on the direction of development for the Stakeholder Gateway and Virtual Community!

Following the feedback from our recent stakeholder research activities (see previous blog entries), the Digital Space Initiative (DSI) is picking up pace as we move in to phase 3 of the programme (November 2008 – January 2009).

We will be launching a clickable test site at the end of January for a select (and globally dispersed) group of educators, students, volunteers, alumni and staff. We intend to use this site as a primary tool for users to help us finalize designs and features of our stakeholder gateway and virtual community.

A screen-based tour of the conceptual sketches for the gateway and virtual community (and a few related survey questions) will be uploaded in the next few weeks for your initial review. Stay tuned!

All feedback we receive will be instrumental as we finalize designs and features. We are committed to delivering a stakeholder gateway and IB virtual community that meets our community’s needs.

Once again, we would like to thank all those who have been involved so far for their continued support.

For more information, please contact Marla Gerein, the IB’s head of Virtual Communities.

We want to thank everyone for their continued support of the IB’s Digital Space Initiative (DSI) and its stakeholder research activities!

The input collected from our focus group activities and the general DSI survey in September has helped to inform our initial/proposed design, content and features for the IB’s new stakeholder gateway and virtual community.

As of today, over 3800 IB community members have participated in the survey effort and 29 IB World Schools have offered their classroom time for focus group sessions. We are excited about the positive response, and have put all your feedback to good use!

We are now ready to progress to “phase 2” of our stakeholder research activities. We would be grateful if you could visit the following link to access the DSI Card Sorting Activity (English only):

For Alumni: http://ibo.optimalsort.com/iba/

For Educators: http://ibo.optimalsort.com/ibe/

For Diploma Programme Students: http://ibo.optimalsort.com/ibdp/

For Middle Years Programme Students: http://ibo.optimalsort.com/ibmyp/

For Volunteers: http://ibo.optimalsort.com/ibv/

For IB Staff: http://ibo.optimalsort.com/ibs/ 
 

The activity will take about 10 minutes.

This “card sorting” activity will help us to prioritize and organize content and features on the new stakeholder gateway and in the new IB virtual community. It will also help us to identify the most effective ways to group and present online material for IB stakeholders, based on their unique roles (educators, students, alumni, volunteers, etc.).

Once again, we’d like to emphasize that your input will truly make a difference. The data we collect from this activity will further enhance and refine our stakeholder gateway and virtual community designs.

As of today, over 3,800 members of the IB community have taken the time to participate in the DSI general survey effort. We are extremely pleased with (and grateful for) the strong response!

Below is an overview of some of the current survey results. The data has made a real impact on the design work being done on the new IB stakeholder gateway and the new IB virtual community:

• Responses about the design and tone for the site are influencing our graphic and user interface work

• Responses about features, content and functionality have helped us strategically organize gateway and virtual community offerings

• Strong support for group interaction and an online, community-generated magazine have confirmed our design efforts for these components

The responses to the survey are also shaping our next stakeholder feedback activity: an online “card-sorting” exercise, where we’ll be asking you to help us further refine how we categorize, group and present the various elements of the gateway and virtual community. More information about this next step will be coming in a day or two. Stay tuned!

Selected current survey results (as of September 24, 2008):

Top 5 respondent age ranges:

1. 16-19 (51.3%)
2. 20-29 (34.1%)
3. 30-39 (4.8%)
4. 40-49 (4.2%)
5. 50-59 (3.5%)

Regional Representation:

1. North America (44.1%)
2. Africa, Europe, and the Middle East (23.8%)
3. Asia Pacific (22.9%)
4. Latin America (9.2%)

Top 5 respondent IB roles:

1. Students (58.5%)
2. Alumni (43.2%)
3. DP Teachers (4.7%)
4. PYP Teachers (4.1%)
5. Volunteers (3.9%)

Interest in a new IB online community:

Yes (83%)
No (17%)

Top 5 functions and tasks in social networking sites:

1. Finding New/ old friends (84.2%)
2. Sending emails/ messaging (80.7%)
3. Sharing photos (64.7%)
4. Seeing updates from friends (63.8%)
5. Sharing/ discussing topics with others (62.2%)

Top 5 features for the IB’s new online community:

1. Academic tools and applications (67.7%)
2. A place to collaborate on documents or files (61.9%)
3. News and events listings (59.9%)
4. Personal Profile (58.8%)
5. Private messaging (54.4%)

Top 5 content materials respondents would like to see on the IB’s new online community:

1. IB Resources (E.g., Academic/Programme Information and Guidelines, Lists of Exam Preparation Materials and Resources, Effective Writing or Project Creation Tips) (82.4%)
2. IB-specific advice, suggestions or “lessons learned” from others in the community (78.4%)
3. Latest news/feeds/events (64%)
4. Volunteer and service opportunities (58.4%)
5. Community highlights or featured content (E.g., featured student or educator of the week) (46.3%)

Top 5 academic applications respondents would like to see on the IB’s new online community:

1. Ask questions/Post comments (79%)
2. Example tests or quizzes (74.9%)
3. Knowledge test (57.9%)
4. Homework Helper (57.6%)
5. Mentoring options (55.7%)

Interest in joining academic or issue-related groups:

Yes (84.8%)
No (15.2%)

Interest in joining informal groups:

Yes (68.2%)
No (31.8%)

Interest in an online community-generated magazine:

Yes (73.1%)
No (26.9%)

Most appealing design style:

1. A very “clean,” minimal design (49.8%)
2. A “cutting edge” design (46.4%)
3. An “artistic,” fun or more informal design (37.8%)
4. A professional, more “business-like” or corporate design (31.5%)
5. A design with a lot of photos and/or graphics (15.1%)
6. A design that is mostly information or text focused, with fewer images (5.4%)

Most appropriate style of language or “tone”:

1. Moderate tone – between formal and casual (65.9%)
2. Casual tone (24.6%)
3. Formal tone or approach (8.2%)
4. Irreverent tone with heavy use of slang (1.2%)

The Digital Space Initiative (DSI) aims to better coordinate and align the IB’s current online offerings and to generally improve your experience with the IB online. As the IB works to create new web-based features and functionalities, we’d like to hear about your needs and preferences.

We are inviting members of the IB community – students, parents, educators, alumni, staff, volunteers, and all other community participants - to express their needs and interests through a set of surveys and possibly face-to-face or telephone brainstorming sessions over the course of the next two years.

As a starting point, we’re asking you to take our 5-10 minute survey  - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xSlfOFEYTe4ddC5yc21T5Q_3d_3d (English only) that will ask you a range of questions regarding your online preferences related to IB resources, sites and potential features.

The data collected from this and other upcoming stakeholder feedback activities will directly impact and help to shape our designs for the IB’s new virtual community and stakeholder “gateway.”

Take our 5-10 minute survey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xSlfOFEYTe4ddC5yc21T5Q_3d_3d

New Gateway and Virtual Community on the Horizon

The Digital Space Working Group – made up of IB staff from across the organization – has made significant progress on the DSI’s 10 projects. Developments of interest include:

Work on a stakeholder gateway – linked off of the IB homepage, the new gateway will allow IB stakeholders to access resources and tools related to their role(s) and interests from one location.

Work on a new IB virtual community – a platform that will allow IB stakeholders to interact, collaborate and communicate with one another in a safe, secure environment.

What this all means for you:

• Easier log in to IB resources
• A simple, more effective way to get the IB information you want/need
• The ability to connect with others in the IB community, around the world

Click to enlarge: DSI general user experience