We orginally outsourced the content, but found we had absolutely no control over the content at all. We then purchased that content and different software to present it in. Now we have full control over updating/correcting anything within the content. We are able to change exams and projects as seen fit as well.
My theory goes like this:
Use an open source system to get a feel of how it works. Committing to paying a license fee without fully understanding what is involved in the decision does not make sense to me. I am sure that even open source SLMs will begin accruing costs after some point.
That is the point, I am thinking, I will have to decide to research and compare other systems.
If the needs of the school are met prior to the beginning of fee paying then great; we got a free system until the school needs change!
do you agree?
If not please comment.
It has been "home grown" as it were...by adopting best practices from other leading platforms including Desire2Learn, eCollege & Blackboard/Angel.
I am not sure either on this subject, but it has peaked my curiosity to do further investigation of this.
I'm not sure at this point but my best guess would be a board from corporate. Hopefully all instructors/staff from all schools will get the chance for input.
As may have been mentioned before, our corporate office has a team that looks at, researches, and decides what will be used. Those who want to be trained in it are, and are either instructors or people on the ground campuses that are able to help the students taking both on-ground and on-line classes.
We chose BlackBoard and looked at expandability, cost, ease of use. It was a small team of us that made the decision since very few others had any experience with LMS systems.
-Chris
I have used a variety of LMSs including Outlook Express (a free, threaded discussion platform), Blackboard, Moodle, and proprietary platforms. The University that I am currently with has a proprietary platform, but has a broad based University committee providing input on the next generation.
Mark York
The LMS of choice, at my school, is e-College. That has been the choice for the 7 years that I have been teaching online. I am not certain how it was chosen initially, but I know that we work very closely with e-College to continually improve the product. It, in my experience, has been a solid and stable teaching platform.
