During the University of Wyoming Evolution Conference, the Learning Management System (LMS) Steering Committee (Christi Boggs, Meg van Baelen Wood, Larry Jansen, and Jen Chavez) introduced the new LMS. The University of Wyoming after a year-long search has elected to go with Canvas as its LMS. It will be called WyoCourses. It will support all types of learning: online, blended, and classroom.
The video starts at the 9:11 minute mark.
The new LMS will support multifaceted roles to include teaching and learning, administration, community, and personal. Instead of having multiple LMSs across campus, there will only be one. This should improve support.
Reasons for new LMS
- Declining performance
- Multiple platforms
- Fragmented support
- Inequitable funding
- eCollege Contract Term
LMS Criteria
- Flexibility
- Innovation
- Centralization
- Accessibility
- Affordability
Boggs highlighted many of the benefits of Canvas. First of all, we can do more with external resources. We can do a lot of things in the course shell that we normally would have to leave the shell. Students can decide the best place to receive notifications to include social media applications; it does not have to be email.
Explaining timeline for new LMS – Canvas
Chavez explained the timeline for implementation. Mid-October will begin training sessions on the new system. They plan to have ongoing sessions in the future. For each course created by the University of Wyoming, a corresponding course shell in Canvas will be created; however, the course must be published to be used. Information Technology is working to identify how they will provide support for Canvas. The steering committee noted that this is an aggressive schedule and they do not have all the answers.
They also discussed the financing of the new LMS. There is a proposed student fee to all students to support LMS. Currently, there is a $40 fee to outreach students per course; the new proposal is $2 per student per term.
More Information
For assistance with the new LMS – Canvas, use these resources:
The WyoCourses page also has a live chat feature.
Here are a couple of other notes that I walked away with. It is possible to make a course public. As a result, it is possible to run standalone courses, MOOCs, and include external students.
This was a very informative presentation. I am glad I attended, and I look forward to learning this new system.
