When was the last time your institution reviewed the effectiveness of your learning management system (LMS)? If you’re like most schools, your LMS has been challenged in recent years due to the rapid shift to online learning. Your institution can benefit from an in-depth LMS assessment, a process that analyzes faculty, student, and course needs and determines whether a new system would better meet current demands.
If you’re moving to a new LMS, the process of migrating to the new system can be overwhelming, especially in the tight timelines that most institutions face. Often, starting the LMS migration reveals other needs, such as archiving historical course content and student data or replacing video file links if your institution is also moving to a new video platform provider. This transition requires more time and work capacity. Training faculty and students on the new system only adds to the stress of the business.
When Bradley Denisondirector of educational technology services Mainland College (COM), was tasked with facilitating an LMS assessment, he understood the importance of listening to stakeholder needs, carefully analyzing priorities, and designing a clear plan to meet the demands of the institution. And as a communications specialist, Denison also recognized the importance of keeping faculty informed throughout the transition. Recently, EdSurge caught up with Denison to discuss his experience with K16 Solutionsa leader in migration, archiving and LMS integration.
EdSurge: Why did you choose K16 Solutions for your LMS migration process?
Dennis: A few years ago, we started an LMS assessment, which was assisted by a faculty-led committee. My role was to facilitate faculty knowledge and look for gaps or needs in the transition if we changed systems. And after the one-year evaluation, we determined that we needed to change the system and chose Bright space by D2L. Speaking with one of the top LMS players, K16 Solutions came up in almost every turn as the top option for course conversions done properly and in a timely manner. On a larger scale, like the one we encountered at COM, K16 Solutions was definitely the best choice.
Did K16 Solutions offer a demo of the final product before you started the migration?
Yes, we were able to demo K16 solutions before making a decision on our LMS transition. They showed us what classes would look like in Brightspace, which reassured our faculty. K16 explained how the whole process would go and it was very easy to follow the planned path.
What challenges has your institution faced with the LMS migration?
The College of the Mainland needed to migrate thousands of courses in a short period of time. We switched to a new LMS and started working in the new system a month later, it was very fast. Within two months of the decision, K16 began the conversion process.
Our courses are a mix of online, hybrid and face-to-face courses. The college did some of the easier conversions in-house, but we quickly realized we needed help to complete the entire migration on time.
K16 was incredibly helpful in meeting our deadlines. Their ability to migrate the most difficult lesson shells was essential, especially for our professors who teach hybrid or in-person only courses, which equates to a lot more content. In these complex cases, we were impressed with K16’s automated conversions. Our faculty also recognized the difference with the K16 migration. K16 offered fast turnaround and much less cleanup.
How do you measure the success of your partnership with K16 Solutions?
K16 Solutions was great at listening to our needs. We showed them an example of what we wanted the final product to look like in Brightspace and explained how our college works on the system. We gave them our feedback throughout the process and they improved it. Having the opportunity to fine tune the procedure with them was very helpful.
Towards the end of the conversion process, we found issues with a handful of courses. K16 helped overcome these obstacles, even though the courses had already completed the conversion. Their customer service was excellent. I only wish we had invested triple the amount with K16 Solutions. They made the process easy for us, especially with the less technologically advanced courses. We were able to set up courses as we wanted within a difficult time frame.