As you are aware, our current Blackboard contract expires at the end of this fiscal year.  Much has changed in the learning management system landscape since FHSU first adopted Blackboard.  So, before committing to another potential long-term contract with Blackboard, the decision was made to explore the current state of the LMS marketplace. We constituted a 24 member committee consisting of faculty, staff and students in September 2018.  The LMS committee completed their work in March 2019. Preliminary follow-up was completed April 30th. (Updated May 6, 2019)

What Did We Learn? (Updated April 2019)

• A majority of faculty and students are more satisfied than not with Bb.
• Faculty regularly use a very limited number of Bb features and need additional training on various aspects of online teaching and learning in order to maximize student experiences and learning in any LMS platform.
• A relatively small number of faculty and other stakeholders availed themselves of the opportunity to attend the campus visits or watch the videos. Those who did were vocal and strong in their recommendations.
• The Demo attendance was much lower than anticipated as was the viewing of the videos in the weeks subsequent to the live demonstrations. Sandbox participation was also low.
• Among those participating in the March demo survey Canvas received 44% of the # 1 votes and 22% of the # 3 votes. Blackboard received 29% of the #1 votes and 41% of the #3 votes.
• Due to the low response rate of March demo survey (n=61) we could not interpret these rankings as indicative of a mandate; however, the open-ended comments were helpful and nuanced and more closely matched the committee members’ perceptions of faculty sentiment through departmental and committee discussions.
• The overwhelming response provided to the committee members from many of the academic departments was a sense of ongoing and future “major change fatigue” (Workday, new Gen Eds, Strategic Plan, etc), so absent major and numerous compelling reasons, we should stick with Bb.
• Bb’s planned rollout of the new “Bb Ultra” means change is coming one way or another, but the ability of faculty to have some control over the pace of that change was seen as more viable than a wholesale migration to a new platform.
• Server hosting and technical issues for China programs was a major concern for all departments with a major presence in China; Ability of D2L or Canvas ability to accommodate this need were questionable and concerning. It is our System Administrators’ opinion that preference should be given to an LMS that has physical server infrastructure inside the Great Firewall of China.  Only Blackboard meets this requirement.

Committee Recommendations (TBA)

Next Steps (TBA)

Campus Visit Summary (Updated March 2019)

• Blackboard (Feb. 5),(visit completed-If you wish to explore Blackboard’s new Ultra Experience follow this link https://new.coursesites.com/index.html additionally here is a playlist with 32 1-2 minute videos that showcase the features in their new ‘Ultra Experience’)
• D2L (Feb. 12),(visit completed- Here is a 33 minute a highlight video produced by D2L after their visit. At about 6 minutes in you will see one of our Blackboard courses as it looks converted to D2L Brightspace.   If you wish to explore a Brightspace demo environment please email tigerlearn@fhsu.edu and we will provide a login.)
• Canvas (Feb. 19)(visit completed- if you wish to see the two converted courses or create a course from scratch visit https://fhsu.instructure.com/login/canvas. Once you have created an account email tigerlearn@fhsu.edu and we’ll populate the demo courses into your account.

The review period began Monday Feb. 25th; after all vendors had completed their campus demonstrations. We provided a VidGrid folder with videos from the 9:00, 1:30, and 4:00 sessions from Canvas, D2L, and Blackboard LMS. These videos have been password protected at a vendor’s request. If you have not done so already, please watch the video links provided here, about FHSU’s exploration of LMS platforms. Each video captures an on-campus presentation by one of the LMS vendors that the LMS committee chose to explore. You are also welcome to request a sandbox shell in either D2L or Canvas, to experiment with, for a full idea of the instructor experience in these platforms.

Questionnaires were sent to all session participants.  This feedback period entended to March 8^th to allow time for those wishing to explore the LMS Demo environments.

Process Rationale and Summary (Posted January 2019)

It is important to understand that this is a preliminary process. In other words, your input at this point will help the LMS committee determine if they should open an RFP (Request for Purchase) process for FHSU’s future LMS contract. The RFP process is essentially a bidding process, and it is required for the spending of state funds at certain levels. If the feedback indicates that FHSU faculty are interested in considering Canvas and/or D2L Brightspace as our LMS, then an RFP would be appropriate. If faculty indicate that they would prefer to move to Blackboard Ultra, then an RFP would not be necessary, as we currently have a contract with Blackboard for the Bb Learn LMS platform. It is always prudent, when a contract is expiring, to revisit our options and make a comprehensive, well-informed decision about what product or service to use going forward. The LMS committee is seeking to do just that, and values your input as they make these decisions.

• Gain an understanding of how Blackboard is currently being utilized at FHSU
• Identify faculty level of satisfaction with Blackboard features they are currently using.
• Identify features faculty aren’t using and why.
• Gain a better understanding of faculty sentiment regarding any potential changes regarding Blackboard.
  • NOTE:  On October 4, 2018 we administered a survey, from which we received over 300 responses, to assess the first 4 bullet points. Survey results are available here.
• Be aware of the available choices in the LMS competitive marketplace. (Post on recent market data)
• Decide whether or not to initiate an RFP from potential vendors prior to the Bb contract end date. Details of the RFP process can be found here.
• Develop a strategy for involving all potential stakeholders in this exploratory process.
• All plans must be made with the recognition that the current window of opportunity is short based on the August 2019 expiration of our current Blackboard contract.

What are our Options?

Ultimately our goal is to align our LMS with the needs of our faculty and students to ensure we are best positioned to meet all constituents’ needs while also balancing a compressed timeline, cost concerns, training and implementation realities, and an absolute need for maintaining continuity.  There is no mandate for changing to a new LMS, only a responsibility to make an informed decision.  “Change for change sake” is not a viable option. The committee recognizes that any alternative to Blackboard must provide significant improvement to the instructor and student experience to even be considered.

The committee concluded that a necessary step would be to invite 3 top contenders (including Blackboard) to campus so all constituents could develop a clearer picture of the options. We plan to schedule day-long visits to campus by Blackboard, Canvas, and D2L this coming February. We will also ask these vendors to provide faculty with access to sandbox environments so they can experience them first hand. You can view our current and projected timeline here.

After these demonstrations are concluded and we have received feedback from those who participate, we will proceed with one of the following 2 options:

1. 1. Option 1- Renew our contract with Blackboard on one of three potential paths:
      1. 1. remain on Blackboard’s legacy ‘Learn’ platform;
         2. transition to Blackboard’s ‘Ultra Experience’ platform (check this post to explore this platform now);
         3. temporarily remain on the ‘Learn’ platform and transition to “Ultra Experience” at a later date.(Want to see what that would look like click here).
   2. Option 2- Based on information provided by Blackboard, Canvas, and D2L, decide there might be a compelling reason to consider another LMS and initiate the RFP process.
      1. 1.  The RFP process involved the committee creating a list of features that we believe are “must haves” in an LMS we would consider.
         2.  While we can specify features that we discovered while exploring Canvas and D2L, any vendor who believes their product matches our specified features can respond to the RFP.  Among essential features would be the ability to perform on our China campuses and the ability to seamlessly migrate existing Blackboard courses.
            1.  This could certainly include Blackboard as well as other LMS providers that we haven’t yet considered. At this link you can find the beginning of a feature list (mostly basic categories at this point) that we might require.

             

         3. In the event that we move toward changing LMSs, the plan would need to include a phased rollout process not a sudden migration.

   Your input will continue to be crucial as we work toward the next steps in this process, and we encourage you to participate in this process and make your voices heard.