On Feb 9, the LMS Task Force worked with consultant Phil Hill of Delta Initiative for a one day on surveying the LMS landscape in Higher Education, especially peer university systems of comparative size. Drivers for changing LMS, processes various institutions employ to evaluate systems, LMS related issues and future trends were discussed. Phil also gave a presentation to the Learn@UW and CIO groups via web conference. Phil’s information validated many of the findings the task force has researched independently and added new perspectives to looking at the LMS market. A follow-up session to wrap up additional questions took place today, March 3. Recommendations drawn from the consultation sessions will be shared through the final report to the Learn@UW Exec Committee.
The faculty group met at the start of January to discuss the questions from our group to provide for the Delta Initiatives meeting in February. We came up with a list of 6 questions, which were refined later and presented to the Task Force. In the meantime we are working on organizing the questions and answers that we currently have trying to see what information we still need to obtain.
Student Needs Assessment Group Status Update - Nov. 24, 2010
One of four subgroups to the Learning Management System Exploratory Task Force, the “Student Needs Assessment” group is tasked with assessing and reporting on the needs of students with regard to an LMS.
Several sources of information about students are available, and will be considered by the group, including:
- The recent ECAR study, which provides both national and UW data
- Survey data that UW campuses are willing to make available to us
- Publications such as the Educause Review Sept/Oct issue related to students and engagement
The group is drafting questions that will help us determine what we need to know from and about our students. The final list of questions will be used to compare to available data and determine if we need to gather even more information to assist in answering the original question… What do students need/desire to have, related to learning, that a Learning Management System can facilitate?
Other questions being considered:
- How has instructor use of technology influenced student learning?
- Do students feel they receive adequate support in using the current LMS?
- What instructional technologies support today’s student learning experience?
- Should the LMS integrate with social media and web 2.0 technologies as part of the interface?
- Is it desirable for the LMS interface to navigate and “respond” like Facebook or other popular sites?
The group is developing a work plan which will include a setting a deadline for gathering data and determining how we will review it. Updates will be posted as work progresses.
Respectfully ubmitted by Sharon McCarragher 11/29/2010
The group convened and created a list of questions, to which the answers will provide additional insight into the use of an LMS by faculty and academic programs.
- What do faculty like about an LMS and what else might be needed to improve the experience?
- What types of training and support is most effective and what might be offered to improve the experience?
- What are the reasons that faculty choose to not use an LMS?
- What would encourage faculty to extend their use of an LMS?
- Where do faculty commonly experience issues or “get stuck.”
The report of the “2010 Faculty Survey on Online Teaching, Learning and Support” survey was identified as a resource that will help answer these questions. More information about the survey is available on the Learn@UW Executive Committee web site. Group members will review the results, including the significant volume of open-ended comments supplied by the respondents.
The group discussed other opportunities to learn about faculty needs, e.g. focus groups, and will continue to explore viable options. Additional updates will be posted to the blog as developments continue.
Posted by Peter Mann (11/29/10)
This is an update from the Scan Current LMS Environment group, one of the four groups in the LMS Exploratory Task Force.
We met and created a list of basic questions to help focus our efforts.
- Who are the major vendors in the LMS field?
- Who are the emerging companies?
- What open source options exist?
- Are other LMS-like models viable options?
- Are there interesting collaboration or business models to examine?
- What is the status of our peer institutions’ RFP?
- What are the unmet needs of our peer institutions?
We agreed that our focus should be on those LMSs that can be centrally hosted at a UW System level using our Utility model. We recognize that individual campuses and/or departments might opt to implement something locally, but that would be a local decision and is beyond the scope of our investigation.
We discussed the role and assistance an outside consultant can provide. In an effort to prepare for a potential engagement we began creating a list of specific questions and points that we would want covered.
Additional updates will be posted as developments develop. – Andy Speth
Reports from the four subcommittees on their kick-off meetings. Three groups have met and some multiple times. Each group has devised their own way of communciation and a rough approach. The Students Needs Assessment group is yet to meet because of schedule conflicts.
A high level timeline was established on the project charter after discussion on the timelines of the big group activities vs the subcommittee work.
At the next meeting, each subcommittee will present their work plan to accomplish their charge.
The group continued to draft the project charter, review the resources collected on the D2L course site, and worked on the work plan and deliverables.
Four sub-committees were formed. Since the task force is small, there were extensive overlaps. Members will have to work very hard to move all four fronts forward. The four sub-committees are:
1. Faculty Needs Assessment Group – to look at current LMS status, faculty and academic program view
Members: Peter, Jane, Jim*, Barbara*, Sharon, Lorna
2. Students Needs Assessment Group – to look at current LMS status, student view
Members: Jane, Barbara, Sharon*, Lorna, Jeff
3. Emerging Technologies Group – to scan emerging learning and technology trends
Members: Andy, Rovy, Dan, Sharon, Lorna, Jeff*, Jim
4. Environment Scanning Group – Scan current LMS environment
Members: Dan*, Lorna, Peter, Rovy, Andy*, Sharon, Jeff
The four sub-committees will meet separately before the next meeting and devise their own work plan.
The first kick-off meeting of the task force was held in Madison on Sept 9, 2010. UWS System CIO formally gave the charge to the task force and answered questions regarding timeline, charges, resources etc. The task force elected Lorna Wong to be chair, and started developing a Charter to guide the work of the group during the year. The group scheduled a meeting in two weeks to continue the work plan and finalize the charter.
Introduction
Task force members are the authors of the content on this site. We plan to provide periodic updates on the status of this work group. Our meetings are scheduled at varying intervals, so it is likely that updates to this site will be similarly irregular. We invite you to contact any of the task force members with your questions or comments.
Background
In the summer of 2010, the Learn@UW Executive Committee formed this task force to report on the current state of the learning management system.
Charge to the Task Force
•Study the status of the current LMS (D2L) at UW campuses from the faculty, students, and programs perspectives. Gather the unmet needs and requirements on D2L as an effective e-learning environment
•Scan the current LMS environment, the upcoming e-learning trends, and ascertain how D2L positions itself compared to others
•Determine areas that should be addressed by the LMS or via other strategies to meet the need of online learning in the next five years or beyond
•Make recommendations to the Learn@UW EC and the UW System CIO on the next steps in the LMS direction.
Deliverables and Timeline
The Task Force will deliver a written report on the findings and recommendations to the Learn@UW Executive Committee and the UW System CIO by July 1, 2011.
Members
Task force members are faculty and staff from across UW System and were nominated by the Learn@UW Executive Committee.
Lorna Wong (Chair) – Director, Learning Technology Development, UW System Administration
Barbara Barnet – Professor, Statistics, UW-Platteville
Jeff Bohrer – Sr. Learning Technology Consultant, DoIT Academic Technology, UW-Madison
Rovy Branon – Executive Director, eCampus, UW-Extension
Jane Henderson – Director, Learning Technology Services, UW-Stout
Peter Mann – Service Manager, Learn@UW
Sharon McCarragher – eLearning Consultant, Learning Technology Center, UW-Milwaukee
Andy Speth – Manger, Learning Technology Center, UW-Green Bay
Dan Voeks – Application Manager, Learn@UW
Jim Winship – Professor/Chair, Social Work, UW-Whitewater
Executive Sponsors:
Ed Meachen, Associate Vice President, CIO, UW System Administration
Al Hartman, Professor, Business, UW-Oshkosh; Chair, Learn@UW Executive Committee