Moodle in the Big (Open) Sky : Moodlearn
SUNY Delhi, May 2011
Keith Lynip, UMass Dartmouth | Robert Squires, The University of Montana Moodle in the Big (Open) Sky Image by hunter1828 deviant art
The University of Montana Campuses : The University of Montana Campuses
Slide 3 : ~1200 Students
Experience One – block scheduled 18-day courses.
Online courses thus primarily for an external audience.
Legacy WebCT
Limited resources for support
Slide 4 : Fast-growing, open access 2-year college in Helena with ~1500
Significant new focus in building out online programs, but very little infrastructure, had been reliant on Missoula
Blackboard 7.3, hosted and supported by Missoula
Slide 5 : Technical, engineering focused institution of ~2800 students. (Started as Montana State School of Mines)
History of self-sufficiency relative to the Missoula campus.
Self-hosting Bb 8.0.
(At the time)
LMS used pervasively
as platform and
resource for all
courses.
Slide 6 : 15,000 students
Robust online enrollment growth, largely from local students and summer semester
Focus on ubiquitous online for campus students + online program development for external students
Self-hosting Blackboard
Overtaxed infrastructure
Slide 7 : New state-wide K-12 online initiative
Co-located on the UM Missoula campus.
No legacy infrastructure for integration, but needed to be up and running fast.
Launched Fall 2010.
Catalysts for Change : Catalysts for Change Montana Annotated Code: 18-4-313. Contracts -- terms, extensions, and time limits. [...] a contract for hardware, software, or other information technology resources, which may be made for a period not to exceed 10 years.
Demands of growth on aging infrastructure (Missoula, Dillon)
WebCT legacy platform in Dillon
Potential Increases in Blackboard costs
Fertile Context for Review : Fertile Context for Review Academic IT Committee analysis and report encouraging a more comprehensive instructional technology strategy (Fall 2008).
New affordances, new practices, new expectations, new integrations in the uses of technologies and content and connections for instruction, research, and support.
Institutional strategic goals.
One example: “UM will have a comprehensive, seamless information
technology environment for all aspects of teaching, learning, and research.”
The Process : The Process Information gathering
Consensus building—intra and intercampus
Process design and development
Issue RFI
RFI Analysis and Recommendations:
Outsource hosting and support
Issue RFP for Moodle services
Can we ask for that?! : Can we ask for that?! RFI and RFP required respondents to address openness.:
“[Does your] solution facilitate and support a philosophy consistent with the academic mission of the institution and typified by open access to information or material resources, to contributions from a diverse, and even international, range of users/producers/contributors? [The] value statement that Educause uses provides adequate summary: It values sharing, collaboration, and open access to knowledge and resources, and thus supports the development and adoption of technologies, applications, and approaches that foster openness.”
RFP : RFP Six responses. Acceptable, but we’d hoped for more.
Moodlerooms’ response the strongest; unanimous recommendation of the 5-campus LMS steering committee.
And now the hard part...
Our own commitment to Openness.. : Our own commitment to Openness.. While no transition of this magnitude can be without risk and service disruption, a great many challenges can be anticipated...we recognize that in large part it is up to us, as an affiliation of educational institutions, to plan carefully, assess impediments caused by our own practices—some of which may not be optimal—and address these in a collaborative fashion.
-from the 5-campus LMS Steering Committee Recommendation
Slide 14 :
Slide 15 :
Slide 16 :
Slide 17 : Transition
Faculty liaisons
Communications
Feedback and ongoing support
Slide 18 : Faculty
Slide 19 : Students
Slide 20 : Students
Slide 21 : Vendors
Discussion : Discussion Institutional transformation through LMS transition?
Is the arduousness and length of time absolutely necessary?
The vista of openness in the Big Sky…