LMS - Selecting the Right Tool

1. LMS: Selecting the Right Tool
Kevin Corcoran
Assoc. Executive Director
CT Distance Learning Consortium
George F. Claffey Jr.
Chief Information Officer
CTDLC & Charter Oak State College

2. CTDLC: Who We Are
• Consortium, 50+ Members
• 10 Years Experience providing eLearning
Experience in Northeast
• Non-Profit, State Agency, Higher-Ed Space

3. CTDLC: What We Do
• Provide eLearning services
• Implementation, project management, and
best practices consulting
• Instructional Design
• Tech Support (Helpdesk)
• SIS Integration
• Remote Management / Hosted Services
• Custom Development

4. Who We Support
• Higher Education
– 2-Year & 4-Year
– Public & Private
• K-12 and Adult Ed Program
• Non-Profits
• State Agencies
• Corporate (training)

5. What Do We Support
• Learning Management Systems
– Angel
– Moodle
– Blackboard Vista
– Blackboard Enterprise Edition
• Ancillary Products
– Adobe Connect
– Elluminate
– iTunes U
– Misc. Web 2.0 (Wikis, Blogs, etc.)

6. What We’ve Developed
• ePortfolio
– Multi-use portfolio focusing on the student
• eTutoring
– Collaborative online tutoring platform
• Virtual Learning Center
– CT State Virtual High School

7. Why Are Institutions Using LMS?
-Supporting an Online Program
-Hybrid Learning
-Augment On-Ground Courses
-Informational Portal
-Prospective Students: Technological Competitiveness
-Continuing Ed / Adult Learners
-Multi-Institution Partnership Programs

8. Catalysts for Change
• Cost / Cost Avoidance
• Vendor Experience / Roadmap
• Product Features
• Support / Supportability / Resources
• SIS Integration

9. Considerations
• Required Core Functionality
• Product Learning Curve
• Interoperability with existing systems
• Integration
• Scalability
• Migration
• Resources required

10. Required Core Functionality
• What are “Must Have’s”
– Multi-institutional
– Portal
– Branding
– Portability (offline, pda, smartphone/iphone)
– Adaptive Learning / Assessment
– Suite of Complimentary Products

11. Product Learning Curve
• Faculty Adoption
– Easy to use for beginners
– Rich feature set for sophisticated users
• Student Adoption
– Easy to Use
– Community features

12. Interoperability
• Third-Party Tools (Respondus, SoftChalk,
Lectora, Turn-It-In)
• Publisher Content
• Co-Production
• SCORM and IMS Compliant
– IMS (Instructional Management Systems)- specs and
standards that allow system/data integration
– SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model)-
specs and standards allowing portable course content

13. Integration
• Single Sign-on
– Directory Services
– Public Cookie
• SIS Integration
– Real-Time (message broker vs. direct connection)
– Batch
– Business Rules
• Data Stream Security

14. Scalability
How many users are we going to connect at the same time???
Shared
• Multiple Institutions on same infrastructure
• Economies of Scale create significant cost savings
• May Create Limits (branding, customization, etc.)
Dedicated
• Single Server (serves as both app and DB)
• Dedicated App and Database
• Clustered (Load-Balanced)
• High-Availability (Redundant)

15. Migration
• IMS Compliant Import / Export
– Batch vs. Individual
– Clean-up
– Rebuild

16. Resources Required
• In-House
– Number of FTE to support
– 24/7/365 vs Office Hours Support
– OS / Server Support
– Network / Security / Storage Support
– Application Tier / Database Tier Support
– End-User Support
– Project Management
– Training (Faculty & Student)

17. Resources Required
• ASP Support
– Additional Budget
– Local Project Management
– Local End-User Support Manager
– Training (Faculty & Student)
– Who is supporting integration?
– Number of FTE to support
– 24/7/365 vs Office Hour Support
– OS / Server Support
– Network / Security / Storage Support
– Application Tier / Database Tier Support
– End-User Support
– Project Management
– Training (Faculty & Student)

18. Decision Committee
• Create an Inclusive decision committee
– Can’t solely be an Academics or IT decision
– Diverse group can create campus-wide buy-in
– Survey all your potential users
• Document your research
– Share the findings with the stakeholders
– Let them understand the ‘whys’: benefits, risks,
etc.
– Create a Scoring Rubric

19. Resources
• EduTools -
http://www.edutools.info
EduTools provides a great
side by side comparison of
the major LMS platforms
available.