By Doug Rogers
Project Manager, Technology Enabled Learning: LMS Implementation
It has been a busy few months for the technology-enabled learning LMS (Learning Management System) implementation project.
From April-June 2015, the project team worked with D2L (the company behind Brightspace) to configure Dalhousie’s instance of Brightspace. During this time, Dal’s trainers, including Instructional Designers, Systems Administrators and Faculty Support staff, received core training from D2L. We also began development of training and curriculum materials (these efforts are on-going).
In May, phase one participants were chosen and invited to participate in the implementation of Brightspace. They include:
- Faculty of Agriculture
- Faculty of Architecture and Planning
- School of Social Work
- Centre for Advanced Management Education
These programs were chosen because of their self-contained nature which would limit the number of faculty and students using two systems. Each early adopter group was invited to a Needs Analysis in mid-June, after which, a training program was developed and implemented for each group. Training began mid summer, and is still taking place.
Course migrations for phase one participants took place over a three-week period beginning in early July. During this time, a snapshot of each course in Blackboard was taken, so that the migrated course in Brightspace could be cleaned up and matched to the Blackboard course. Course migrations have gone smoothly and the project team is actually ahead of schedule. Phase one adopters have also had their January 2016 courses migrated from Bblearn to Brightspace.
This summer has been a learning experience for everyone involved in phase one of the pilot. The LMS will officially launch on September 1st when the Centre for Advanced Management Education begin their live classes in the new system. It has been a collective effort throughout the summer and we are prepared for the launch of Brightspace at Dalhousie.
You can find out more about the TEL LMS implementation project by visiting dal.ca/elearning.
Please contact the Project Manager, Doug.Rogers@dal.ca if you have any questions.