Faculty Volunteer Opportunities for Winter & Spring Pilots

Dear Colleagues,

As you know, the campus is in the process of selecting a new learning management system.  Our current version of Blackboard has been in place for several years, and the market now offers newer alternatives that we can consider, including a different version of Blackboard.

The process began last spring with focused interviews with faculty.   We also invited different vendors to campus for open presentations on their products.  This fall, we issued a formal “Request for Proposals,”  and the review committee is now in the process of evaluating those.  We hope to limit the selection down to a 2-3 finalists.  Those products will be testing in classroom settings winter and spring terms.

The final selection will happen at the end of spring term.  We will take a full year for implementation and training.   Our current Blackboard license has been extended to cover us through the entire process.

It is important to have this process be faculty-driven.   Several faculty are on the review committee.  If you are interested in testing out one of the finalists in a course, please sign up for the pilot. Your participation is greatly appreciated.  If you would like a member of the committee to attend a departmental meeting to discuss the process and get your feedback we would be happy to do that as well.

Deb Carver,
Review Task Force Chair