Alongside the Community System the SWWHEP team have been working to develop a knowledge base system which potentially will become the prime support and dissemination channel for the eLearning Centre of Excellence.   The initial phase of this activity has focussed on developing a common  Help Centre for Blackboard and eLearning support where staff and students alike are able to search using common English or Welsh language. 

Where users are not able to find an answer quickly they are able to complete an on line support request which will be directed to the appropriate person in their own institution according to the nature of the question.  Prior to this two of the institutions had little in the way of on line support for Blackboard users and the other depended on static FAQ’s where it was difficult to locate what users needed.  For this reason it was decided that we would implement a beta version of the new Help Centre as soon as the June exam period was over. 

The knowledge base will be added to and enhanced from user feedback during the summer and it is planned to release a more customised final version to coincide the release of the Community System in September.

The help system was not planned for in the bid but has been a great example of how the three institutions can work together to cost effectively provide a more robust help facility.   In time other areas of the Knowledge Base will be developed focussing on examples of good practice identified by staff and students across, and shared by, the three centres.