Unit 6:Changing Course Management Systems: Lessons Learned

This article outlines the problems and benefits associated with changing course management systems (CMS) through a small study conducted by the University of North Dakota. During 2003 they evaluated the possibility of moving to one CMS and what that might do to the 300 faculty members who used blackboard for their courses. With a lack of research on how well courses converted from one CMS to another the University decided to conduct their own test (study) to help inform their plan of action. To initiate the test they decided to convert blackboard courses to Desire2Learn for ten faculty members. There were certain research questions they wanted to concentrate on: would all course content of a blackboard convert to Desire2Learn? How intact and accurate would the content be if portions did not convert correctly? How would faculty assess the ease of Desire2Learn, and would they be willing to convert their course to a new system? The results of the study, “indicated that 46.91% of the course content converted and 53.09% of the course content did not convert” (p. 137). This would require a great deal of extra work by the faculty to restore their course content of the institution decided to change CMS. But when the researchers asked the faculty to indicate their willingness to change, based on their evaluation of the new system, 80% of them stated they were willing. Through this study, the authors explain, “that institutions seeking to save money by consolidating with one CMS need to factor in the time and effort of faculty who will need to review, correct, and revise the converted content” (p. 139). Furthermore, CMS providers needed to improve and market their ability to convert materials from one CMS to their own.

What surprised me about this article was the willingness of the faculty to do the extra work so that the institution could save money by consolidating to one CMS. I believe faculty/teachers are a unique breed, always ready to do their part to make a situation better as a whole. Being exposed to blackboard for the first time this year, I can only imagine the amount of time it would take for instructors to reorganize and fix the content that didn’t convert correctly during a CMS change. Just thinking about Victor’ 501 course and all the information posted on blackboard gives me a headache. I would hate to be the one trying to restore it. Hopefully, like the author stated, the CMS providers will improve their product and the conversion to a new CMS will be less stressful on all participants.

Smart, K.A., Meyer, K.A. (2005). Changing course management systems: Lessons learned. Educause Quarterly, 1-5 (2)