Joel VannerOverview
Beginning in the Spring of 2024, teams across Quinnipiac launched an evaluation of our current learning management system (LMS), Blackboard Original. This evaluation is dedicated to ensuring that our LMS effectively supports the university community and our teaching and learning objectives as the University of the Future.
The teams involved in this evaluation are:
- Quinnipiac Innovations in Learning and Teaching (QILT) →
- Teaching and Classroom Technology (TCT) team from Information Technology
- Faculty Senate ITC
The LMS evaluation group is made up of faculty from across the University who have varying years of teaching experience at Quinnipiac, and experience teaching using in-person and/or online modalities. The members of the evaluation group have all used Blackboard as well as have experience with a different LMS.
Chair: Kristen Bourgault (Education)
Members:
- Bessie Flores-Zaldivar (English)
- John Goepfrich (Academic Development & Outreach)
- Jordan Jefferson (Law)
- Kiku Jones (Business Analytics & Info Systems)
- Laima Karosas (Nursing)
- Tom Martin (Medical Sciences)
- Peter Sumby (Communications)
- Michael Vieth (Biology)
This evaluation will include the latest version of Blackboard - Blackboard Ultra, and Instructure’s platform - Canvas. Currently, Quinnipiac uses Blackboard Original and has for some time.
Both Blackboard Ultra and Canvas offer enhanced features from our existing LMS, and both have key differentiators. Those differentiators, along with the below considerations, will guide the evaluation to find the LMS that best fulfills our needs for in-person, hybrid, and fully online learning:
- Student Assignments, Discussion Boards, Assessments, and Grading
- Student Experience and Interaction
- Content Creation and Content Management
- Course Design
- Course Administration
- Tool Integrations (ex. YuJa, Zoom, etc)
- Tablet & Mobile App Functionality
- Communication Features
- Required Technology Infrastructure
- Considerations raised from the evaluation survey →
Timeline
2024
- Early Spring: LMS evaluation group formed
- Mid-May: QILT begins reach-out initiatives to schools, departments, and programs to address questions and anticipate unique needs.
- Mid-June: Anthology (Blackboard) and Instructure (Canvas) hold on-campus demo sessions with QILT, TCT, Faculty Senate ITC, and the LMS evaluation group.
- End of September: Final decision made
2025
- June: All courses must be in the new LMS platform, our current Blackboard contract ends.
Note: The above timeline is subject to adjustment as needed.
How You Can Get Involved
Parallel to the evaluation group conducting their evaluation, we’ll have several opportunities for community members to demo both Blackboard Ultra and Instructure’s Canvas platform and provide feedback. Please keep an eye out for e-mail communications over this summer and the beginning of Fall.
Survey
Today, we invite the university community to take the LMS evaluation survey to give their feedback and opinions.
Sandboxes
Sandboxes to try both platforms are available! Use the form linked below to request one in Blackboard Ultra and/or Canvas.
Frequently Asked Questions
As we answer questions from the community, we’ll update this list.
Our contract with Blackboard is expiring on June 30, 2025. Moving to Blackboard’s new offering, Blackboard Ultra, would involve extensive re-design and re-construction of course materials to align with the enhanced features and structure of the new system. Therefore, this presents us with the opportune moment to explore the LMS market and make a well-informed decision.
We invite the university community to take the LMS evaluation survey to give their feedback and opinions.
The teams involved are:
- Quinnipiac Innovations in Learning and Teaching (QILT) →
- Teaching and Classroom Technology (TCT) team from Information Technology
- Faculty Senate ITC
The LMS evaluation group is made up of faculty from across the University who have varying years of teaching experience at Quinnipiac, and experience teaching using in-person and/or online modalities. The members of the evaluation group have all used Blackboard as well as have experience with a different LMS.
Chair: Kristen Bourgault (Education)
Members:
- Bessie Flores-Zaldivar (English)
- John Goepfrich (Academic Development & Outreach)
- Jordan Jefferson (Law)
- Kiku Jones (Business Analytics & Info Systems)
- Laima Karosas (Nursing)
- Tom Martin (Medical Sciences)
- Peter Sumby (Communications)
- Michael Vieth (Biology)
Provost Liebowitz will be making the final decision based on recommendations provided by the LMS evaluation group, Quinnipiac Innovations in Learning and Teaching (QILT), the Teaching and Classroom Technology (TCT) team from Information Technology, Faculty Senate ITC, and wider community input provided through the survey and during demo opportunities.
We are aiming to decide by September 30, 2024, to provide ample time for Information Technology to plan and build any required infrastructure.
Specifics of the transition process will be communicated once a platform is selected.
We are committed to supporting all community members through this transition. With the current timeline, we have ample time to be intentional about the transition and provide support to you when and how you need it.
The survey does ask about familiarity and satisfaction on specific platforms, but the rest of the survey contains general questions on features in an LMS. As part of the process, we will hold demo days and provide additional experiences, too, so if you take the survey now, there will be more opportunities to give feedback once you have experience in a sandbox.
Yes, you will still be able to open and use the archived Blackboard files of original Blackboard courses in both Ultra or Canvas.
A course migration tool will be available, and additional information will be communicated when a platform is chosen.
A specific date on when faculty can start building courses will be determined after we decide, no later than September 30.
