Larry Levine, associate vice chancellor and chief information officer,Ìýand Mary Kraus, vice provost and associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education
In the fall, we let you know about a faculty- and student-driven initiative that seeks to evaluate the campus’ learning management system, Desire2Learn (D2L), and other learning management systems (LMS) to determine which LMS would best meet ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Boulder’s teaching, learning and administrative needs. We want to keep you informed of progress on the initiative since our last message, as well as next steps.
Since forming, the project team’s primary focus was engaging with faculty and students via a survey to learn what users like about the primary LMS they use, as well as areas for improvement. The survey was sent to all teaching faculty and graduate students, and the project team was pleased to receive 1,599 responses. A similar survey, sent to students, received 697 responses. When it is complete, a detailed report about the results of both surveys will be published on the and shared in a series of town halls. Additionally, there will be continued conversations with those survey respondents who expressed interest in discussing this initiative further.
In addition to the survey work, the project team has published a Request For Proposals (RFP). The RFP was developed by the faculty and IT working groups and was informed by the results of the faculty and student surveys. It outlines requirements for an LMS and serves as an invitation to vendors to propose how their product would meet ¶¶Òõ¶ÌÊÓƵ Boulder needs. The RFP will remain open for 45 days, after which, a review of vendor proposals will begin.
This process will continue to be collaborative, and faculty, staff and students will have many more opportunities to engage in the future. The project team is planning a series of demonstrations and hands-on experiences where faculty and staff will be able to hear about the LMSs being reviewed, try them out and provide feedback on their experience.
We thank you for the overwhelming survey response and encourage you to continue to engage with the project team in the coming months to help the campus reach an informed decision that best meets the needs of all of our faculty, students and staff.
Best regards,
Mary Kraus,
Vice Provost and Associate Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education
Larry Levine,
Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Information Officer
