Additional review of LMS options takes place over the next three weeks

Cincinnati State faculty and staff members who use Blackboard are invited to participate during the next three weeks in additional evaluation of options for a new Learning Management System (LMS) for the College.

Detailed 2-hour vendor presentations will be offered via Zoom four times each week for the three LMS platforms under consideration:

• Canvas (vendor presentations on May 13 & 14)
• Brightspace (vendor presentations on May 20 & 21)
• Blackboard Ultra (vendor presentations on May 28 & 29)

College employees received Outlook calendar invitations for all of the presentations. You need to attend only one of the four sessions for each LMS (or view a recorded session for each LMS), and then complete a feedback form.

• Each LMS vendor’s presentation will focus on specific criteria that have been identified as important to Cincinnati State students and faculty.
• After the presentations, stakeholders will be granted instructor-level access to each LMS so you can explore and experiment “hands-on,” by creating sample course content, uploading content, designing assessments, and exploring other relevant features of each LMS. (Note: It’s possible the number of participants in these hand-on activities may be limited.)
• Also, each vendor also will provide a 1-hour, pre-recorded presentation focusing on the student experience with their LMS. These presentations will be available to employees and students to view and supply feedback.

At the end of the 3-week testing period, participants who have examined all three LMS options will be asked to provide additional feedback that will help the LMS Evaluation Team make an informed decision about the LMS platform recommended for future use at Cincinnati State.

Background:

Blackboard Original, the learning management system (LMS) currently used to support all Cincinnati State courses and to support some employee organizations and services, is being phased out by its parent company and replaced with a newer version that is significantly different from the current version.

Previous steps in the LMS evaluation process have included vendor presentations, reviews of sample courses created by vendors, and surveys to collect stakeholder responses to the products under consideration.

The evaluation process will be completed and a new LMS will be selected before the end of Summer Semester 2024. Transition to a new LMS will occur during the 2024-25 academic year, with full use of a new system expected to launch in Fall Semester 2025.

If you have questions, you can contact Dr. Stephanie Stafford, Associate Dean of Teaching and Online Learning (stephanie.stafford@cincinnatistate.edu), or the other members of the LMS Evaluation Team: Jon McKamey, Julie McLaughlin, Bob Nields, Peggy Rolfsen, Frankie Baker, and Tracy Metsch.