University officials have completed usability trials that will pave the way for an official recommendation to move away from Blackboard.com to an alternative online education service.
A university−wide learning management system (LMS) advisory team coordinated by University Information Technology (UIT) is planning to have a strategy recommendation ready in the coming weeks to be reviewed by an executive steering committee, as well as administrative and educational deans from all campuses, according to Director of Educational Technology Services Gina Siesing.
If the proposal is approved and passes budget clearances, UIT hopes to pilot the program in the spring of 2011 and fully implement it in the fall of 2011, according to Neal Hirsig, assistant director of Instructional Services at Information Technology Services (ITS).
Hirsig four years ago initiated the search for a replacement for Blackboard, a system that has been in use by the schools on the Medford/Somerville campus since 1999. The search was supported by the Student−Faculty IT Committee in the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering.
Siesing cited a number of reasons for the move away from Blackboard, including the challenges involved in integrating the system with other university technology and lack of support from the company in providing program updates.
"We really just want a learning management system that will give us more tools and better functionality," Hirsig said.
The project team began the process with four different systems, but has narrowed down the possible options to the systems Moodle and Sakai.
Siesing explained that both Moodle and Sakai are open−source systems, programs that are free to license because they are developed by and for the educational community.
Usability tests of the two systems involving both students and faculty concluded on Feb. 26.
"We put out an open invitation to all faculty and students, and a large number of people opted in," Siesing said.
She explained that participants in the usability tests had to perform a set of activities under observation and were also asked to give feedback.
"One of the systems was generally found to be easier to use, but it didn't have as much functionality as the other system," Hirsig said.
He explained that while usability was an important factor in the decision, it was not the only consideration for the committee.
"The final decision is not going to rest on usability alone," Hirsig said. "It's going to rest on a number of criteria that we have developed, like functionality, the tool set available, the system's plan for future development and how easy or hard it is to incorporate other tools into that system."
Usability tests were the third stage in an extensive process that began with an information−gathering movement. Project members spoke with members of the Tufts community in order to determine the qualities they should be looking for in an LMS.
"We did a whole series of interviews with students and faculty from all three campuses about what they would expect in a new system and what they would like to see," Hirsig said.
Following that, the team sent information requests to different vendors in order to learn more about the respective systems available, according to Siesing.
The project team members then reviewed the systems based on the feedback they received regarding the expectations of the Tufts community and their understanding of the educational technology industry.
Siesing noted that once the replacement system has been selected, a support model will be implemented in order to help equip faculty and students to use the new platform.
"We will need a lot of people to help faculty to get their courses and information online," Siesing said. "It is important to help faculty get familiar will the technology and make sure everyone is … ready to use the new tools."
Freshman Shawyoun Shaidani, a Tufts Community Union Senator on the university's Information Technology Committee, felt that transitioning to a new LMS would benefit the university.
"I think there is a general consensus among faculty and students that we do need to move on from Blackboard to a new and better system," Shaidani said.
