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LMS Evaluation Committee Report is now available |
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Written by LMS Evaluation Committee
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Tuesday, 17 June 2008 |
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The Report of the Learning Management System Evaluation Committee dated June 2, 2008 is now available! Please take a few minutes to read through the report and take part in the dialogue on the committees findings and recommendations.
- The report is available HERE
- You are encouraged to participate in the dialogue about it HERE
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
As the UNC Tomorrow initiative explores the future of our university
system statewide, projections of rapid enrollment growth at UNC
Charlotte and other campuses are emerging. It is clear that in meeting
our particular instructional mission, hybrid plus online courses will
play an increasingly important role. That role demands a learning
management system that is easy to learn, easy to use, reliable, and
able to accommodate our changing needs. This leads to a reconsideration
of the appropriateness of our current learning management system,
Blackboard Vista, in comparison with viable alternatives.
The
inherent choice is not one of remaining with Blackboard Vista as
opposed to changing to a different system: Blackboard Vista itself is
slated for replacement. Furthermore, learning management systems are
continuously evolving, and the rapid progression of this technology
means that we will be making significant changes perhaps every three to
four years. Directing and managing this change will become a constant
challenge for the Center for Teaching and Learning.
The
Learning Management System Evaluation Committee engaged in a number of
investigative and exploratory tasks this semester. Its deliberations
concluded that an open-source system, namely Moodle, potentially offers
several advantages over Blackboard Vista, advantages recognized by
faculty, students, and staff. These potential advantages include ease
of use and mastery, minimal support, collaboration with the open source
community, flexibility, and adaptability to the needs of faculty and
students. Given that the University of North Carolina Teaching and
Learning with Technology Collaborative is providing resources for
exploring open-source systems, it is recommended that a trial
evaluation of the Moodle system involving UNC Charlotte faculty and
courses be carried out during the 2008-2009 academic year and that our
Center for Teaching and Learning immediately begin planning the details
of the trial.
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Welcome to the LMS Evaluation Committee Website |
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Written by Commitee Co-Chairs
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Thursday, 24 January 2008 |
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As the University progresses toward strategic goals of access, quality, and affordability, our learning management system (LMS) becomes mission critical. The existing LMS must be carefully reviewed to determine its long term viability, affordability and effectiveness in serving the needs of our students and faculty.
Therefore, FCTeL is working collaboratively with the Provost and selected faculty/staff to review our Blackboard Vista experience and recommend LMS strategies for the immediate future. To this end the LMS Evaluation Committee has the charge to:
- Review and compare the Campus LMS with alternative learning management systems.
- Recommend a standard Campus-wide LMS strategy with a general implementation timeline and description of needed resources
This website is an effort to involve the wider UNC Charlotte campus in the dialogue. We will work to post our ideas and deliberations and we welcome your feedback, critiques and recommendations. With such a wide array of options selecting the right combination of strategies will be key.
Example Learning Management Systems include:
  
  
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LMS Evaluation Committee Report