Using Blackboard (VLE) to support teaching practice of academic staff in response to COVID-19.

This article outlines the applied development of a Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) module to support academic staff at Trinity College Dublin with their pedagogical practice in the new paradigm. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland, and its enforcing of an emergency ‘pivot’ to online delivery, has led to major and significant changes in teaching and learning practices at Trinity. Faculty engagement with the VLE prior to the pivot would likely have been described as moderate and firmly perceived as a remote digital content repository, rather than potentially adding value to the enhancement of teaching and learning (Farrelly, Raftery, & Harding, 2018; O'Rourke, Rooney, & Boylan, 2015). Practice changes in response to COVID-19 have impacted profoundly on both staff and students alike. This article describes an initiative by Trinity’s Academic Practice & eLearning[1] (AP) team to support faculty within this Blackboard module as they prepare for an ongoing ‘emergency pivot’ to continued online delivery.