Iowa State’s Learning Management System (LMS) review committee expects to make a final recommendation in the coming weeks. After hosting demonstrations by two vendors in April, committee members have completed reviewing the input they received from campus stakeholders.
The vendors, Instructure (Canvas) and Desire2Learn (Brightspace) delivered a series of presentations to instructional designers, faculty, staff and students last month. The presentations covered typical LMS uses for the various groups and allowed the companies to highlight the capabilities of their products. As part of the process, the LMS review committee also held a webinar with the current LMS, Blackboard Learn, to get an update and overview of that product.
Prior to their campus visits, the two new vendors were required to migrate 10 Iowa State courses to their products and allow the LMS review team access to those accounts.
Ann Marie VanDerZanden, director of the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT), said both products received high ratings for major functionalities, such as gradebook, calendar, group tools, communication features, integration with third-party tools/apps and embedded video feedback options.
Once the decision on a vendor is made, CELT and information technology will provide a series of next steps for faculty -- particularly early adopters who want to migrate their courses to the new system for fall 2017.
More information on the LMS review, process and timeline is online.
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