HRM2201 - Individual Assignment

HRM2201 (Human Resource Issues and Strategies) 8IB1 2013
Herman Salim (I12001395)

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Table of Contents
1.0. Introduction .............................................................................. 2
2.0. Background Study ...................................................................... 3
3.0. Material Discussion ................................................................... 5
3.1. Components of Blackboard Covered in A Training Program ............. 5
3.2. Measure The Effectiveness of LMS Training Program ....................... 9
4.0. Conclusion ............................................................................... 10
Reference List .................................................................................. 11


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1.0. Introduction
In todays society, education is becoming the most important and essential thing to be
fulfilled by human. They are charged to get as high education as possible in order to get a better
profession. That is why there is not counted universities are built now. In a simple meaning, the
main purpose of the establishment of universities is to produce well-educated people by giving
learning contents to them. University is a high-level educational institution where students study
for their future. It is an interesting fact that the percentage of highly educated people in the
United States is 31.4 for the main reason why the unemployment rate in this country is high
today (Census, 2013).
Compared to the last time where there were only a few universities and the presence was
not much important yet than today, people tend to finish their studies until high school because
in order to go into a university, people have to pay a lot of money. In addition, the existence of
the university was also not a guarantee for them to get a better job because the qualification for
job requirements was not as that high. But, today, the presence of universities has become
something which is a need and highly demanded.
The rapid growth of technology also contributed in making a university can run properly.
Nowadays, almost the whole parts of a university have been taken over by the role of
technology. For example, in borrowing a book, students just need their IDs to be scanned, and
the system will know when is the due date and will automatically tell students from e-mail, while
last time they had to queue only for borrowing one book, and when it comes to the due date, they
had to check one by one. From the example above, it is clearly shown that a university has grown
significantly with the help of technology. It is no doubt that one of the factors that lead to the
success of a university is technological advanced.
By then, the existence of LMS (Leaning Management System) in universities has really
given benefits to the students. It can be seen that the development of the university has
dramatically increased for last two decades until now where technology is already implemented
inside, including a learning system that helps university students in their learning processes. In a
nutshell, the university itself will not be very useful if there is no cooperation between people
(Students, staffs, and etc.) inside. A university cannot be said as success unless it can produce
well-educated people by giving reasonable learning process and serve with good facilities to
students.

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2.0. Background study
Nowadays, as compared with baby boomers and generation X, this generation (Generation
Y) is most likely dealing with technology instead of emotions. Almost all of the countries overall
the world are using technological sophistication in order to support people handworks. It even
influences into the education system. Because of technological advanced brings a large number
of benefits to people, they are now also being implemented in the learning system for reducing
paperwork.
Over the past decade, the combination of a software that manage complex databases with
the digital frameworks that manage training equipments, curriculum, and evaluation equipments
have resulted a technology called LMS. As one of the information system types, it has brought
significant changes to todays schools; extension schools, and so on. What is actually LMS?
According to Rouse (2005), LMS or also known as Learning Management System is a software
or an application used for planning, implementing, and assessing learning processes. Ipangfu
(n.d.) stated that it is all begun when the computer applications were implemented in education
with the terms of Computer-based instruction (CBI), Computer-assisted learning (CAL), and
Computer-assisted instruction (CAI). By then, LMS was in another term, called Integrated
Learning System (ILS) that offers performance beyond learning content. The used of LMS was
actually to portray the Plato K-12 management system component.
When Learning Management System not only functions in the business sector, but also
converted to the education department, most of the universities and schools are now
implementing it such as Blackboard software. Beside Blackboard (The first LMS type), today,
there are several softwares that are dominating the market such as Moodle, Edmodo, Skillsoft,
SumTotal Systems, etc. It is believed that by implementing those LMS, it will definitely increase
the effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity of students learning skills. Smith (2011) proved
above statement by highlighting that todays students like to do something online compared than
have to write down on a paper which is the time consumed and the results got are not much more
and better.
Back to the previous time, where students had to do everything manually, the existence of
the LMS has given quite a number of advantages such as centralized learning among students,
enhance students performances, simplify the learning processes, and increase the learning
evaluation as the system does, not human (TLTTeam, 2011). By using LMS systems, students

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can now do tests online, check results from the internet, prepare notes by just downloading from
the system instead of noting down what the lecturer is teaching on a notebook, and many others.
Below is the table that shows top 10 most popular LMS (The latest figure) based on total
customers, active users, and overall online presence in 2013 as stated by Ferriman (2013):

As from the table above, it is shown and proved that the needs of learning management
systems for education are becoming more and more significant due to the high demands and
technological enforcement in todays life. The bigger the organization, the better LMSs software
can be adopted as the cost of implementing Learning Management Systems is not cheap enough.
In addition, Malaysia as a developing country, the average software that universities in this
country use is Blackboard as a software for learning processes, including the Inti International
University itself.
From those quiet a number of LMS software, I will only prioritize to Blackboard, and more
specific is Inti Blackboard. This report is written with the aim of showing what components of
Blackboard can be covered by an external consultant in the LMS training program, together with
measuring how effective the LMS training program is for people in Inti International University,
especially students and staff.

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3.0. Material Discussion (BlackBoard)
3.1. Components of Blackboard Covered in A Training Program
As we know, Blackboard as one of the Learning Management System softwares has
been being implemented for more than one year in Inti. For Inti students, Blackboard
Learning System is not a strange thing because it is a place where students most visit to get
the learning sources such as lecture notes, tutorial questions, videos, and so on. Other than
that, Blackboard also can be used for discussion forum between students and a lecturer for
one particular subject. While Intionline (One of the Learning Management Systems) was
closed down a few months ago, the function of Blackboard itself is becoming more
essential as all the things inside Intionline have been taken over by this Blackboard.
What is Blackboard Learning System? First of all, generally, Blackboard is the first
type of Learning Management System came out. Gilfuseducationgroup (n.d.) stated that
Blackboard was founded by Michael Chasen and Matthew Pittinsky on June 1997. Later on
in 1998, Blackboard Inc was formed. It has been dedicated to improve aspects of the
learners education experiences. It is an e-learning system or a software used for managing
courses, authoring content, testing, and grading as well (PCMag, n.d.). According to
Blackboard (n.d.), the benefits of Blackboard Learning System are improve efficiency
(Less time consumed), quality (Improve curriculum), and collaboration (Improve sharing
within an institution).
In fact, Inti is cooperating with Blackboard Inc in order to get services for them, that
is why Inti has to pay for services obtained. Inti is not the one who creates a Blackboard
system, same thing with other universities; they cannot create any learning system. Hence,
they have to cooperate with the company that they want to get the learning system from.
The Inti International University adopts this kind of learning system in order to enhance
teaching and learning experiences.
It is no doubt that every Inti student and staff must have a Blackboard account for
them to access into the learning system. Yet, for new students (Or possible new staff), they
surely do not know what Blackboard is, so that is why it is a need for Inti International
University represented by the Human Resource department to find an external consultant to
conduct training on how to use Blackboard. The consultant will explicate what components

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that Blackboard has and together with the function, so students or staff will know how to
use it properly.
In general, according to Blackboard (2013), the online training series package for
Blackboard that can be given to people inside a university are these following: a) Getting
Started, b) Building courses, c) Enhancing communication, D) Assessing learners, E)
Monitoring student performance, F) Building online communities, and G) Designing
engaging content.
First of all, we need to know that Inti Blackboard is divided into two; student and
staff. The consultant may have to give training two times since the stuff inside is different
and the functions are different as well. For instance, students can only download files from
Blackboard; they cannot upload files like what staff does.
The first thing that the external consultant will do is he will give a guideline book on
how to use Inti Blackboard, so that if they have any difficulty in getting the consultant
explication, they can refer to the guideline book. Starting from the first thing that the
consultant will explain is how to login Blackboard. The consultant must let them know the
website for this system which is www.elearning.newinti.edu.my and continue with making
sure that they are Inti students and staff, because in order to login to the Inti Bloackboard,
they need a matriculation ID for the username and IC for local students and passport
numbers for international students for the password. The default username (Before
changed) is myi1.I12001395. Those last 8 digits are ID number. For the default password
is iuu089304. It is followed by passport or the IC. All above is for students only,. For
staff, the consultant will explain differently.
The next thing that the external consultant dies after login is explaining the
components of Inti Blackboard. There are a lot of components inside the Blackboard that
can be used by both students and staff. The first page of Blackboard that students will see is
like the picture below:


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There is an Inti Logo the left side on top in order for students to know that they are
entering website correctly. It can be seen that there are a lot of features can be used. First,
there will be your full name stated there in order for you to know that this is exactly your
account not others. Beside your name, there is my places. This is used for for students to
edit the information, courses, and setting for the Blackboard itself. Next, the important
thing that a consultant will always explain is the help button where if any difficulty found
by student in using this system will be solved. And last but not least is logout (To leave the
Blackboard account).
In the below Inti Logo, there are 3 categories are made; my institution, courses, and
community. In my institution (Just like what the picture above shown), it is where anything
regardless with our courses such as tasks, my calendar, and so on. Moreover, it is an option
given to students to add modules to the my institute ion and notification dashboard like
students can add a dictionary, calculator, and etc, to their walls and the every single module
can be moved up to the students desires. There is a notification dashboard besides my
institution. If students click that, it will automatically move to the new page. The purpose
of this notification board is to let the students aware with all the notification regarding with
the courses taken. The module for the notification are like to do, whats new, alert, needs
attention, and many others which can be added easily.
In the course category, there is only a display of all of the subjects (Course list) taken
by the students for a specific semester or we can also just search from course search. Every
single subject can be clicked and a particular subject will be displayed. For example, when

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a student clicks HRM2201, there will be words homepage, information, content, discussion
board, group, tools, and help. The important thing that an external consultant looks at is
how to let students know to download their lecture notes, videos, and others. The students
must go to the content and it will be displayed week by week. In order to know which note
will be for todays lecturer, the students must aware of which week they are in now.
Homepage is where all the announcements for HRM2201 are put. Under the tools, they are
many things can be found. Students will be told that they can have a chit chat among them,
yet first of all, they have to install the latest Java version in order to open the chat dialog
box. And the last but not least, if a lecturer gives discussion online whether it is group or
individual, the students can go to the discussion board and start to do the thing.
Lastly, it is community. What is the purpose of this? This is where a student can
actually search for an organization catalog. In order to make it easier, the search dialog box
will be displayed. For example, the student can look for an organization by just write down
its name or leader in the category box.
There is another function that students will not miss up is personalize page. This
option can be found on the first page right side on top. This is not useful unless students
want to change their themes for their pages. But then, the changes will not success if the
students do not press submit. Beside the personalize page, there are two arrows (Up and
down). The function is to rearrange the modules added accordingly (Column by column)
up to the students desires.
Instead of looking for their features (Components) one by one, in general, the
Blackboard is usually used by students in order to download their notes, assignment files,
and even sometimes, the test will be given by a lecturer on Blackboard. There may also
discussion given to the students.
However, Blackboard for students and staff are similarly different. What is it so? It is
because for staff, they can upload, edit, and delete things inside Blackboard such as files
while students can only download the files without can do any editing. Besides that, they
can also put any announcement regarding with the course, their default username and
password are also different with students, and many others. Yet, the view of the
Blackboard will be similarly the same with students.


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3.2. Measure The Effectiveness of LMS Training Program
We know that every single training given must be measured its effectiveness. As like
Blackboard training program given by an external consultant, the training must also be
measured in order to know how effective is the training held. According to Blackboard
(2013), the LMS training program can be considered as effective if consist of three aspects;
A completed ready-to-teach online courses, a supplementary practice course, and
customizable content and format. A training can only be said as effective if the benefits
received by people.
The measurement of Blackboard training program given by an external consultant can
be done by providing feedback or questionnaire system. All kinds of comments made by
students including advice, praise, and evaluation after the training are very useful in order
to measure the effectiveness of training (Wiggins, 2012). So, for the LMS training program,
Inti can actually use this kind of method. If there are a lot of complaints received on how to
use the Blackboard, it means the training given is not good enough, and it is good if more
positive feedbacks are given. Inti actually has been doing this thing from the first time
implemented the Blackboard. From the login page, we can see that there is a link
(Elearning.helpdesk@newinti.edu.my). The use of this website is to accommodate the
students recommendations and suggestions. Instead than that, it is also used as a help if
students have any difficulty to login the Blackboard. By using this, Inti can indirectly
measure the effectiveness of the training.
Another way of measuring the effectiveness is informal comments from the students.
After the training end, the consultant can ask if any of the students do not get what he or
she was trying to say. The training will not be effective unless the comments are less.
Moreover, the measurement can also be done by looking the students reaction, learning,
behavior, and results after the training.
So, it is important for Inti to make sure that the training held is successful. They can
not only measure the effectiveness of the training by looking the students perspective, but
also they can see the cost be taken out to the external consultant. In a nutshell, it can be said
as effective if the training objectives are achieved well without any or less problems.


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4.0. Conclusion
As todays universities are becoming more and more modern, the technological
enforcement has really made the use of system is really essential in helping the human works. It
is important for a university to implement LMS as the Learning Management System has
brought a lot of benefits to the university. Learning Management System itself has become high
demands overall the world. It is no doubt that the existence of Learning Management System
such as Blackboard is really significant today in order to compete with others. The bigger the
organization, the better software can be implemented. By implementing one of the Learning
Management Systems, a university is actually gaining a competitive advantage as there are still
less universities do so. It is also a must for a university to choose smartly which LMS they want
to choose. The smart here means it must be effective (Easy to be used by people inside) and
efficient (Less cost with good quality). By then, in a LMS training program is needed in making
people inside a university know and aware on how to use the system properly.
A university represented by Human Resource Manager can actually hire an external
consultant to give a training program, so that the students learning process will have no
difficulty as the use of Learning Management System is explained by an expert. After the
training is given, a measurement on how effective is the training must be provided. One of the
ways is by using feedback where all suggestions and recommendations are put, so that we can
know how well the LMS training program given. And there are many other ways in measuring
the effectiveness of Learning Management System training program.
In a nutshell, Inti as one of the top universities in Malaysia has already started
implementing Blackboard (One of the Learning Management Systems) since last year. The
purpose is to make the students learning process become easier as compared to the last 2 decade
where Inti had to do everything manually. It is believed that the Blackboard has really brought a
lot of benefits to their students. In implementing this Blackboard, Inti is actually looking for the
future prospects. That is why Inti every year Inti always gives a workshop for new students to get
to know what Blackboard is. Just then, the Elearning.helpdesk@newinti.edu.my is put in order
accommodate students complaints. Inti use this website as a feedback system as well, so that
they can measure how effective is the training program given to students or even staff.


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Reference List
Blackboard, 2013. Blackboard Learn for Course Delivery Online Training Series Materials
Package. [online] Available at:
<http://www.blackboard.com/CMSPages/GetFile.aspx?guid=927e76a5-2b1c-4f40-90ba-
6952fc31eaf7> [Accessed 23 September 2013]
Blackboard, n.d. Efficiency, Quality and Collaboration. [online] Available at: <
http://www.blackboard.com/platforms/learn/products/blackboard-learn/teaching-and-
learning/new-to-learn/content-management.aspx> [Accessed 25 September 2013]
Census, 2013. Census Bureau Reports Fast Growth Ph.D.s and Masters Degree Holders.
[online] Available at::
<http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/education/cb13-13.html>
[Accessed 20 September 2013]
Ferriman, J., 2013. 20 Most Popular Learning Management System (INFOGRAPHIC). [online]
Available at: <http://www.learndash.com/20-most-popular-learning-management-
systems-infographic/> [Accessed 20 September 2013]
Gilfuseducationgroup, n.d. Networked Learning Environment The BLACKBOARD LEARNING
SYSTEM and Blackboard History. [online] Available at:
<http://www.gilfuseducationgroup.com/networked-learning-environment-the-blackboard-
learning-system-and-blackboard-history> [Accessed 21 September 2013]
Ipangfu, n.d. History and Definition of Learning Management System. [online] Available at: <
http://www.ipangfu.net/EPS415/phase1/history-and-definition-learning-management-
system> [Accessed 22 September 2013]
Mindflash, n.d. What is an LMS?. [online] Available at: <http://www.mindflash.com/learning-
management-systems/what-is-lms> [Accessed 23 September 2013]
PCMag, n.d. Blackboard Learning System. [online] Available at:
<http://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia_term/0,,t=&i=58444,00.asp> [Accessed 22
September 2013]

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Rouse, M., 2005. Learning Management System (LMS. [online] Available at:
<http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/learning-management-system> [Accessed 21
September 2013]
TLTTeam, 2011. 5 Advantages of Using the Learning Management System (LMS). [online]
Available at: <http://www.timelesslearntech.com/blog/5-advantages-of-using-the-
learning-management-system-lms/> [Accessed 22 September 2013]
Wiggins, G., 2012. Seven Keys to Effective Feedback. [online] Available at:
<http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept12/vol70/num01/Seven-
Keys-to-Effective-Feedback.aspx> [Accessed 25 September 2013]

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HRM2201 (Human Resource Issues and Strategies) 8IB1 2013

Herman Salim (I12001395)

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