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What is going on?
In fulfilling recommendation 7.01 of the Flagship IT Strategy – which calls for a single CMS to be deployed at LSU – the campus will be migrating from the current environment featuring Blackboard and Semester Book to a single CMS deployed universally. That CMS is an open source course management system (CMS) called Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment). Moodle is designed to provide educators and students with an easily accessible online course tool. It promotes a social constructionist pedagogy (which includes collaboration, activity-based learning, critical reflection, etc.).
When will this change happen?
The official announcement of this change occurred on Wednesday October 31, 2007 via ITWire with significant supporting information about the change and about Moodle provided, as well. The goal is to ready “early adopters” (volunteers and invitees) to use Moodle for Spring 2008. The current plan is to have no use of Blackboard after June 30, 2008; Semester Book termination has not yet been set, but may likely be no later than December 2008.
Who chose Moodle and who decided we would use it?
Moodle was the tool recommended by a committee of faculty, students, and staff led by Joe Hutchinson of CELT, which was formed by the Flagship IT Strategy Teaching & Learning Task Force chaired by Ray Ferrell, Alumni Professor of Geology. That group has been working diligently over the past year in examining the requirements and the available products, and only reached their conclusion and submitted their final report at the end of September 2007. The full report is available on the Web (http://www.lsu.edu/cms). The decision to implement this recommendation was made by LSU Chief Information Officer Brian Voss in early October.
Why are we doing this?
From the FITS, recommendation 7.01: “ … the presence of more than a single course management system imposes an undue complication and hardship upon LSU’s students.” As well, there has been an escalation of costs over the past four years featuring ~30% annual increases in the cost for Blackboard. If the University is to ever achieve the goal of near-100% use of these enabling IT tools in instruction, a more cost-effective (while fully functional) alternative than a vended solution, or one totally written and maintained by LSU personnel must be implemented. LSU has had two CMS deployed because neither Blackboard nor Semester Book was meeting the needs of all LSU faculty. It is felt that Moodle will provide the single platform to satisfy all needs. Finally, the open source model gives us the benefits of a broad-based vended solution with the flexibility to adapt it for LSU needs.
How will this happen?
Information Technology Services (ITS) and the Centers for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CELT) are developing a roll-out plan that will feature significant personal assistance for faculty making conversions to Moodle. Technology will enable transfer of materials from the old systems to Moodle, and details of this will emerge in the weeks ahead. Faculty will be able to choose from a plethora of migration strategies – from self-guided (using instructions that will be found in LSU’s online support database ‘GROK’), to participating in discipline-specific ‘migration classes,’ to getting hands-on one-on-one help at ITS, CELT, and in the soon-to-open faculty support center in the Information Commons at Middleton Library. Details of all this will emerge, but faculty should be assured that significant information and personal assistance will be made available to ease and speed their transition to Moodle. Tremendous effort will go into making the transition easy and quick, and there will be a heretofore unseen level of personal support and information dissemination (from ITS and CELT) for a move of this kind.
Who is impacted?
Any faculty who currently use either Blackboard or Semester Book (as well, of course, as all students using these systems) will be impacted. Currently, about half of the faculty use one tool or the other (or both), and use them in about one-fourth of all course sections taught. All faculty who use either of these tools must change to Moodle; Blackboard services will be terminated with the company before July 2008, and Semester Book hardware will go offline shortly thereafter. Quantitatively, there are 740 Blackboard using faculty and 724 Semester Book using faculty (some subset use both); roughly one-quarter of all course sections employ a CMS. Nearly 90% of students at LSU use CMS in those faculty member’s courses.
What other universities are using Moodle?
Moodle has a worldwide deployment at thousands of sites. Nearby, the UL-Lafayette campus converted last year. On a national flagship level, Moodle is either currently in use or being deployed at the University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the University of New Mexico.
Where/When can faculty learn more?
Training on Moodle will be available to LSU instructors beginning January 28, 2008. Interested faculty are also invited to go directly to Moodle’s site on the Web to get more details and see demonstrations until such “examples” are made available here at LSU. In general, in the weeks ahead, a great number of details will emerge. More information will be made available on the Web via an FAQ and other documents. This information, along with the history of the project is posted at: http://www.lsu.edu/cms and on GROK. The full subcommittee report is posted on the CMS site which will be kept updated through the completion of the project next year. GROK entries will be dynamic in nature.
What type of support will be available following the full implementation of Moodle?
Over the course of the Spring 2008 semester, a wide variety of support mechanisms will be developed and deployed to enable faculty and students to become familiar with the new course management system, Moodle. GROK will serve as the central distribution area for general and specific information about Moodle and its implementation on the LSU campus. Other means of support will include face-to-face training sessions, online tutorials, and field-based support for faculty provided by Information Technology Services (ITS) and the Centers for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT), and in the soon-to-open faculty support center in the Information Commons at Middleton Library.
Get Started Now:
Access the GROK Moodle documentation category for additional and growing Moodle content.
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10/22/2009 12:52:25 PM
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