The new university-wide learning management system (LMS) set to replace Blackboard in the fall will be named "trunk," University Information Technology (UIT) announced Wednesday at an event in Hotung Café.
UIT chose the name from among 285 entries in its Blackboard Replacement Naming Competition, which in November collected suggestions from students, faculty and staff across the university, according to UIT's Director of Educational Technology Services Gina Siesing.
Juniors Belal Hakim and Adhvait Shah submitted the winning name. Hakim said they defined "trunk" — purposefully left uncapitalized — as an acronym for "Tufts-run unified network of knowledge."
Tufts' new LMS is based on the open-source platform Sakai, which is used internationally by the academic community, according to UIT's Senior Faculty Development Consultant Rebecca Sholes.
The UIT team implementing the switch from Blackboard organized the contest to give the new system a Tufts-specific name according to Sholes. Sakai will allow UIT to specially tailor Trunk to Tufts' diverse needs, she said.
Two committees composed of faculty, administrators and undergraduate students voted on the name, Sholes said.
"[They] selected a name that they felt communicated that this was a next generation learning management system for teaching, learning and collaboration and something that was expressive of Tufts as an institution," Sholes said.
Hakim and Shah said they came up with the name "trunk" during a break from studying for a genetics exam.
"We wanted something Tufts could identify with," Hakim said, which led them to consider Tufts' mascot, Jumbo.
Hakim said the name "trunk" not only represents the idea that many conduits of information branch from one main system but is also a throwback to the word's old-time definition as a communication channel.
"‘trunk' had a particular appeal for us," Hakim said. "It's all about communication coming from many sources."
While Hakim and Shah were the first to submit an entry with the name "trunk," UIT gave honorable mention to six other contestants who had similar entries, according to Sholes.
"We didn't know what to expect, but we're really pleased by the input we got from across the university," Sholes said.
The work on Blackboard's replacement platform will now shift to branding for the site, developing the platform and creating training and documentation resources for faculty who will be using Trunk in the fall, according to Sholes.
"We're defining the look and feel of the site," Sholes said, adding that UIT will be seeking student involvement during the branding process.
The final design of the website will be revealed to the Tufts community in April, Sholes said.
