{"id":1839,"date":"2012-05-09T09:33:27","date_gmt":"2012-05-09T13:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/?p=1839"},"modified":"2013-08-19T09:26:32","modified_gmt":"2013-08-19T13:26:32","slug":"angel-it-is-through-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/2012\/05\/09\/angel-it-is-through-2014\/","title":{"rendered":"Angel it is, through 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Learning Management System (LMS) Work Group<\/a> made its recommendation this morning – we’ll be sticking with ANGEL through Spring 2014.<\/p>\n

A full report is on the way, but in the meantime, here’s the announcement from Work Group leader Connie Wisdo:<\/p>\n

Hello all,<\/p>\n

The LMS Evaluation Working group had its final two meetings over the last three weeks and concluded its work.\u00a0 Below is a synopsis of the meeting minutes and the final recommendation made by the group.\u00a0 (A full report will be compiled and made available in the coming weeks.)<\/p>\n

Group members discussed their findings and observations from testing the three LMS products chosen as finalists \u2013 Blackboard Learn, Desire2Learn and Moodlerooms.\u00a0 It was recommended unanimously by group members that Moodlerooms should be dropped from consideration due primarily to its lack of internal email.\u00a0 We concluded that the messaging features of Moodlerooms did not adequately substitute for an internal email system.\u00a0 Of the remaining two finalists, Desire2Learn was deemed a slightly better choice for us than Blackboard, overall.\u00a0 Many factors were taken into consideration in the analysis, but it really came down to (1) course conversion capabilities in Desire2Learn were better than those in Blackboard; and (2) the students who evaluated the products overwhelmingly chose Desire2Learn over Blackboard.\u00a0 Overall there were many issues with converting courses from ANGEL to each of the LMS products evaluated.<\/p>\n

Since we are now not being forced to move away from ANGEL, the group considered the possibility of the University staying with ANGEL, for at least two more years. CTLE and ITDA did some background research for the group, by conducting a conference call with Blackboard reps.\u00a0 They gave us assurances that ANGEL development will continue, but the majority of Blackboard\u2019s resources will be put towards the Blackboard Learn product. Blackboard said it will be putting more development into ANGEL mobile than ANGEL desktop.\u00a0 Therefore, the group concluded that any changes to ANGEL desktop will be minor over the next several years.\u00a0 The group was asked to identify any shortcomings in ANGEL which, if not addressed in the next two years, would significantly hamper our institution\u2019s teaching and learning practices.\u00a0 None were identified, except for the lack of a good mobile interface.\u00a0 Otherwise, ANGEL seems to be adequately meeting faculty and students\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

Due primarily to the experiences encountered in the LMS sandboxes with course conversion, and the significant cost, time and energy associated with transitioning to Desire2Learn at this time, the group members unanimously recommended that we stay with ANGEL for two more years (through Spring, 2014), and re-look the LMS market in Spring 2013.\u00a0 Doing so will allow us (1) to see if LMS products\u2019 course conversion capabilities improve to the point of being acceptable to our faculty; and (2) to determine if any of the newer LMS products (such as Canvas by Instructure) evolve to a point where they could be considered as possible replacements to ANGEL at that time.<\/p>\n

The group also unanimously recommended that if we stay with ANGEL we purchase Blackboard Mobile Learn for ANGEL.\u00a0 Respondents to a recent mobile app survey conducted by Public Relations and ITDA overwhelmingly named mobile access to the LMS as their top priority for mobile functionality on our campus.\u00a0 We have had the free version of Blackboard Mobile Learn for ANGEL for approximately 18 months, usable only on iOS devices (iPad \/ IPhone), with connectivity available only via Wi-Fi, or via the Sprint network. \u00a0However, the full version of Blackboard Mobile Learn can be used on both iOS and Android devices, and with any cellular network.\u00a0 A significant portion of our students have Android smartphones and\/or tablets, and are therefore incapable of using the free version of Mobile Learn for ANGEL.\u00a0 I negotiated with Blackboard to get a free trial of the full version of Mobile Learn for ANGEL, from mid-April, through the end of the Spring semester.\u00a0 The app was demonstrated at the working group\u2019s April meeting and members of the group were encouraged to download the app.\u00a0 Several CTLE TechCons downloaded and evaluated the app, and concluded it was quite adequate for students\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n

As I said earlier, a detailed summary of the group\u2019s overall evaluation process, conclusions and recommendations is forthcoming.\u00a0 I expect to have it finalized and made available to the campus community by May 18th.\u00a0 In the meantime, if you have any questions, please feel free to call or email me.<\/p>\n

Thank you,<\/p>\n

Connie Wisdo
\nDirector, IT Development & Applications
\nx4123
\nconstance.wisdo@scranton.edu<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

Many thanks from TAG to the faculty representatives who served on the Work Group:\u00a0 Maureen Carroll (math), TAG member\u00a0Teresa Conte (nursing),\u00a0Tara Fay (biology), \u00a0Julie Nastasi (OT),\u00a0Wesley Wang (economics\/finance), and\u00a0Keith Yurgosky (communications, part time).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Learning Management System (LMS) Work Group made its recommendation this morning – we’ll be sticking with ANGEL through Spring 2014. A full report is on the way, but in the meantime, here’s the announcement from Work Group leader Connie Wisdo: Hello all, The LMS Evaluation Working group had its final two meetings over the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[754,485,490],"tags":[506,515,517,612,613,628],"class_list":["post-1839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lms-2","category-announcements","category-mobile","tag-angel-2","tag-blackboard","tag-blackboard-mobile","tag-lms","tag-lms-work-group","tag-mobile-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3017,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1839\/revisions\/3017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.scranton.edu\/tag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}