Christopher Wills

ITEC77436 – Distance Education

LMS Selection: Benefits, Drawbacks, and

Implementation Considerations

Background

Learning Management Systems – LMSs

•Defined as “an information system that administers instructor-led and e-learning courses and keeps track of student progress”•Two types in the marketplace•Proprietary systems – Blackboard, Desire2Learn•Open source systems – Moodle, Sakai, Dokeos•Common core of features: tools for…•Communication•Productivity•Student involvement•Course and program administration•Content development•Course delivery

LMS Market Penetration – Part I

LMS Market Penetration – Part II

Benefits

•One of the oldest and most stable LMSs allows for a polished look and feel to application, as well as scalability•Professional expertise for implementation and ongoing support•Not dependent upon IT staff for development•Instructors have significant freedom to customize courses•Opportunities to share and build upon implementation strategies with prior adopters

Drawbacks

•High licensing/maintenance fees, typically with long-term contracts•Java runtime components = high user bandwidth demands•Some may be turned off by monopolistic corporate behavior (patent lawsuits, acquisitions of competitors)•Materials must be downloaded to be viewed (portal-type system)

Benefits

•Strong focus on group work, with support for group “drop ins”•SCORM compliant, and can share resources across courses

Drawbacks

•Usability is difficult and not intuitive•Not as widely known as Blackboard – succumbs to name recognitions pressures as a later entrant into the LMS market

Benefits

•Active online presence – user and developer forums, more than 630 plugins and modules available•Numerous third party developer resources available to assist with implementations and customizations (include Moodle.com)•Major institutions are implementing Moodle•Rapid course authoring and development tools built into application

Drawbacks•No easy way to manage groups of students; Moodle focuses on the course level rather than the site level•Minimal reporting functionality (learner perspective) – must enter each course to learn grades rather than see them on a dashboard•Not an entirely open system – most Moodle instances require user registration to access course material

Benefits

•Designed and built by academia for academia•Billed as a “collaboration and learning environment,” with intentional emphasis on collaboration – very constructivist•Robust 30-month “roadmap” of planned development•Java-based environment lends itself well to scalability

Drawbacks•File size limitations, gradebook not customizable•Significant development cost (Java developers are expensive)•“What do they want to be when they grow up?”

Benefits

•Includes LMS, rapid learning authoring suite, and videoconferencing•Tightly integrated with Microsoft Office•Written in PHP and MySQL – widely available developer resources

Drawbacks•Customer base primarily consists of corporate customers (ArcelorMittal, Securitas), government agencies (France, Belgium), and medical companies (Alcon Labs, Medtronic)•Euro-centric developer base•Each course has its own database – no reusability of content between courses

Implementation Considerations

Best case scenario is to meet all users’ needs with a single system, but is that realistic?

After ranking LMS candidates on features the institution considers important, two big factors are:•Cost•User Experience

Cost Considerations

Proprietary systems

•Significant investments in licensing, maintenance, and infrastructure•High barriers to entry, but also high barriers to exit•“Locked in” to a single vendor; requested enhancements might never materialize, requiring external development and integration

Open source systems

•“Open source is free like a puppy is free, not like a beer”•Can often have higher end-user support requirements, especially as new users enter the system•Requires dedicated developer resources for implementations, customizations, and participation in the open source community•Long-term costs can be more accurately predicted, but depend upon the LMS continuing to meet the institution’s requirements

User Experience Considerations

State University of New York (SUNY) system study:

•64 campuses, with 76% using proprietary software•$5MM annual cost for licensing/maintenance and hosting•Licensing agreement up for renewal

Continuity of user experience was intentionally considered, not a byproduct or an afterthought

•Reviewed LMS usage by surveying state’s 38 boards and 12 regional centers•K-12: 56% using Moodle – only 26% using Blackboard•SUNY campuses – 76% Blackboard users

Ultimate recommendation was to implement Moodle across the SUNY system, reducing $5MM annual spend to less than $450,000