LMS

February 2022, LMS

Canvas and Blackboard and Moodle, Oh My!

We’re excited to announce that the LMS Evaluation project (click here for more information) is moving to a new phase – candidate demonstrations and evaluation.

Last Fall many of you were generous with your time and opinions about Moodle and your hopes for the future when it came to Learning Management Systems. With over 100 responses to our survey, and many departmental and student-group discussions, ITS and the LMS Evaluation Steering Committee, would like to say thank you! We’ve analyzed all of ideas and we’re currently preparing a short report to share the major themes of that feedback.

Based on that feedback, and on internal research, Clark is hosting two Learning Management System providers to offer virtual demonstrations to our campus community. These two LMSs are candidates for replacing Moodle as Clark’s LMS, phased in over the next 2 years, so we’re excited to see what they might offer you as you teach, learn and work with technology. Most of all, we’re eager to see if you think either of these systems have a place at Clark.

ITS is inviting you to attend these demonstrations. If your schedule allows, we recommend attending one demonstration from each candidate.

Click here to register to attend any of the candidate demonstrations. All sessions will be recorded.

Canvas

Canvas is an LMS offered by the company Instructure. It is usually cloud-hosted. It is currently the market leader in higher education with a share of 34% of US and Canadian institutions. Click here for more information on Canvas.

  • Student-focused demonstration: Thursday, March 17th, 3pm – 4pm
  • Faculty/Staff-focused demonstration: Wednesday, March 23rd, 1:30pm – 3pm

Blackboard Learn

Blackboard Learn is an LMS offered by the company Blackboard. Its current iteration is called Blackboard Learn Ultra and is usually cloud-hosted. Blackboard Learn (Ultra and previous iterations) have a 21% share of of US and Canadian higher education institutions. Click here for more information on Blackboard Learn.

  • Student-focused demonstration: Thursday, Thursday, March 24th, 3pm – 4pm
  • Faculty/Staff-focused demonstration: Tuesday, March 15th, 2pm – 3:30pm

Click here for more information on the LMS Evaluation process and timeline, and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact Joanne Dolan, Director for Academic Technology at jodolan@clarku.edu

LMS, October 2021

Moodle Evaluation

13 years ago, Android was released, the Apple App Store and Spotify were launched, Bill Gates fully retired as chairperson of Microsoft, and Breaking Bad premiered on television. Also, in 2008, Clark University adopted Moodle as our Learning Management System (LMS).

Like most things in life, it’s important to regularly check that systems we use are still meeting our needs and supporting us as we grow. To that end, this academic year, Clark is doing an evaluation of Moodle.

Share your Experience

We want to know what you think about Moodle, and how it supports (or doesn’t support) your teaching, learning and work at Clark. Whether you use Moodle every day, once or twice a semester, or even if you’ve made the decision not to use Moodle, your experience matters, and we’d love to hear more.

We have a number of ways you can let us know what you think:

  • Survey: Click here to participate in a very quick survey about your experiences with Moodle. The survey has 6 questions and you can answer one, some or all. This is the quickest and easiest way for your opinions to help Clark evaluate Moodle.
  • Listening Sessions: ITS will host three listening sessions on 11/8, 11/9 and 11/10, where any constituent can join a Zoom meeting and talk to an ITS representative about their experience with Moodle. These sessions are open to students, faculty and staff and we’re eager to hear from you regardless of how regularly you use Moodle. Click here to register to attend a session.
  • Focus Groups: We know that groups use Moodle in different ways. ITS is offering to come and talk to your group (faculty cohorts, departmental meetings, student organizations, etc.) about their use of Moodle and their hopes for an LMS in the future. If you would like to organize an ITS representative to visit with your group and discuss Moodle, please contact Joanne Dolan at jodolan@clarku.edu

Moodle is one of the most used systems on campus and your feedback will help ITS and Clark make the right decision for you and the institution as we continue to learn and grow.

Click here for more information on the Moodle Evaluation project.