LMS Review Committee Update

To date, we have had webinar/vendor presentations for:

Desire2Learn
See earlier post for the link to the archived webinar

WebStudy
Contact Aimee for the link to the webinar archive (available internally only)

Instructure Canvas

See earlier post for link to resources (webinar was not archived)

It's Learning

Learn more at http://www.itslearning.net/product 

Join us this Thursday for a webinar by Edvance360.  You may join us in B336, C124 or online.  Contact Aimee or Kathleen for webinar log in information.

Instructure Canvas Webinar

Yesterday we had a vendor webinar on the Instructure Canvas LMS, one of the products we are reviewing.  Unfortunately, the webinar was not recorded.  However, the following YouTube videos provide a nice overview and highlight some of what sets Instructure Canvas apart from other LMSs:

Overview of Instructure Canvas

Instructure Canvas Speed Grader

Assignments – Instructure Canvas Tutorial

You can access more tutorials on most of Instructure Canvas features on the Instructure Canvas YouTube Channel.

D2L Webinar

The Desire2Learn webinar is scheduled for today, April 7, 2011.

Access the webinar in the following manners:

1.       Join us in a group participation at Brockton Campus in Room B336 or Canton Campus in Room C124.

2.       Participate in the webinar using your own computer.

a.       Click on the following link to enter the site:  http://desire2learn.na5.acrobat.com/massasoit/

b.      For audio portion, use your phone and dial 1.877.735.2663.  Use code number 2188662 when indicated.

For additional information about Desire2Learn, check out their website at http://www.desire2learn.com/

4/6/11 Meeting

The LMS Review Committee met yesterday.  The committee continues to work in LMS sandboxes and evaluate them against a checklist created by the committee to ensure that our next LMS meets all of our teaching and learning needs.  Next steps include: requesting and examining course conversions in each LMS, creating a question list for LMS references and contacting references, securing pricing quotes and hosting vendor webinars for all faculty.

LMS Vendor Webinars

This Thursday kicks off our series of LMS Webinars.  All webinars will be held on Thursdays at 2 pm in B336, C124, or you can log in from your personal computer.  The schedule is as follows:

WebStudy                  March 31st
Desire2Learn             April 7th
Instructure Canvas     April 14th
It's Learning               April 21st*
Edvance360              April 28th
Sakai                         May 5th

Webinars are open to all members of the College community, but will focus on the instructional features of each LMS.

If you would like to participate by logging on from your personal computer, please contact Kathleen Berry at 508.588.9100 ext. 1650 or at onlinelearning@massasoit.mass.edu for webinar access information.


*Indicates a F2F visit by the vendor.

LMS Review Committee Reconvened

The LMS Review Committee originally convened in September 2010.  The committee was tasked with meeting biweekly throughout the Fall 2010 semester to review and evaluate LMSs.  Members spent hands-on time exploring Blackboard 9.1 and Moodle 1.9, completing evaluations of tools within each system.  The committee made a recommendation for the adoption of Blackboard 9.1 as the College endorsed Learning Management System for Fall 2011.  During the beginning of the Spring 2011, eleven faculty members began piloting Blackboard 9.1 in fully online, blended and face-2-face courses.   Given the limitations and bugs discovered through authentic use of the Blackboard 9.1 LMS, faculty involved in the pilot overwhelmingly agreed to disband the pilot.

The reconvened committee is tasked with beginning the LMS Review Process again.  The committee will meet regularly throughout the remainder of the Spring 2011 semester to review and evaluate LMSs.  Members will spend time exploring and evaluating LMS options.   Additionally, members will serve as liaisons to respective divisions, sharing the process and gathering input about the process.  The goal of the committee is to make a recommendation for an LMS to be piloted during the Fall 2011 semester, with the intent that the piloted LMS will become the College endorsed LMS beginning Summer 2012.

The committee  has begun a review of:

Desire2Learn

Edvance360

Instructure Canvas

It's Learning

Moodle 2

Sakai

WebStudy

Webinars featuring the teaching and learning tools of each LMS will be scheduled in the coming month and will be open to the College community.

Meeting 7: Recommendation

Data from the final Tool Evaluation Form (Grade Center) completed by committee members was distributed.  Please take a look at what committee members thought about Grade Book Tools in Moodle and Blackboard 9.1.

The Committee met today to finalize a recommendation for the next LMS at Massasoit Community College.  Members voted 15:1 to recommend Blackboard 9.1 as a manged hosting solution with Blackboard Inc.  The finalized recommendation will be posted here once all signatures have been acquired.

Members of the committee expressed an interest in continuing to meet through the spring semester as the pilot of Blackboard 9.1 gets under way.