U of A transitioning eClass software

Dan McKechnie

Students returning in the fall may notice an increased use of a Moodle-based online learning system if the University of Alberta accepts the advice of a recent report.

The Blackboard Corporation will be discontinuing support by 2013 for the Blackboard Vista Learning Management System (LMS), which the university currently uses to power eClass, the centrally-supported online system for course content, class notes, grades, and online discussion forums.

In response to that discontinuation, Vice-Provost (Information Technology) Jonathan Schaeffer established the Learning Management System Evaluation Team (LMSET) to choose a new centrally-supported LMS. Schaeffer hopes to have the selection of the new LMS system made by the end of summer.

The LMSET report favoured Moodle over other similar technologies, including Blackboard Learn, the new LMS being developed to replace Blackboard Vista.

Schaeffer has reviewed the LMSET recommendation and said he thinks the report is fair, but is still looking for other feedback. He said he hopes the decision can be made before September.

"This is a university," he said. "And a university has lots of people with interesting opinions. So despite the recommendation, we are still going out and consulting with people, seeing if there are any reasons that would prevent us from going with Moodle."

For instructors, Schaeffer said, the change will be significant, given that they have to navigate the new LMS to upload all of their course content. He said that for students, the technology is essentially the same and the transition won't be difficult at all.

Students' Union Vice-President (Academic) James Eastham said he thinks using Moodle as a centrally-supported LMS could be beneficial to students because it might make it easier for the U of A's Centre for Teaching and Learning to provide training for instructors, making them more fluent with the technology.

"Right now there isn't necessarily a lot of fluency with the WebCT program, so if we are able to get professors to attend sessions on how to learn to use Moodle, then [we will have] instructors who are better equipped to use the tools that are available."

Eastham mentioned that Moodle would be a good choice because it's open source software, so it could be more easily customized.

The LMSET report also notes that the university's staff are already more skilled at using Moodle.

Schaeffer said it's clear that the transition to Blackboard Learn would cost less initially, but that the long-term costs will be lower with Moodle.

The report estimated a three-year total cost of operation and transition to the Blackboard Learn LMS at around $2.7 million if hosted by the U of A, and $1.7 million if hosted externally. The estimates for Moodle were about $1.4 million if hosted by the U of A, and $477,000 if hosted externally.

Many faculties across campus already use Moodle, including Arts, Engineering, Campus Saint-Jean, and Augustana, while the Faculty of Business uses Blackboard Learn.

Eastham noted that after the transition, each faculty will still be able to use its own LMS, though they will have to support it themselves if they elect not to use the centrally-supported system.

Last year, another LMS review recommended providing central support for both Blackboard Vista and Moodle, but this was re-evaluated after news that Blackboard Vista would be discontinued, and after the university's budget became a constraining factor.

Once the new software is selected, all 5,000 courses in eClass will have to be transferred to the new LMS over the next two and a half years.