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Channel: Course Management Server-side – Laura Gekeler Speaks Her Mind
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All the Connecting Dots

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We’re planning an upgrade of our LMS. Consider these “dots” and their connections:

  • The old gradebook is out. No further development. When do we take it away from our instructors? How many times do we notify them first?
  • We’re in the middle of changing video on demand (VOD) providers. The old one was to have been available ’til Jan. 2019, but the old one does not provide a standard LTI integration and therefore isn’t ready for the upgraded LMS version.
  • Also, there is no straight migration of content between the old VOD and the new one. Our instructors want to take their content with them. There are 576 sites which have media that needs to be migrated. This needs to be decoupled from any and all LMS upgrades. I wish.
  • We’ve been running this LMS since 2011 with that aforementioned gradebook. There is no archival method for old sites in this LMS, nor in any other LMS I’m aware of. Nor should anyone ever expect that an LMS is a system of record. But instructors do. So when we upgrade to the new version without the old gradebook, none of their old sites will have grades. Just a blank screen. Can we live with that?
  • There’s one best time frame for an LMS upgrade, even one that mostly streamlines performance and usability without adding new features or seriously changing workflows. That time is Commencement weekend, a mere 5 and a half weeks from now.

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Instead of focusing on the technical details, all the splotches that need to be corralled, tested, organized, cleaned up and formed into a pleasing whole… let’s see if it helps to imagine this from our constituents’ point of view. What do they need to know and when?

  • Their current gradebook is going away. Even in old course sites they haven’t seen in a long time. Now would be a good time to check their records and export gradebooks from long ago since instructors are responsible for these things, not the LMS, nor those who run it.
    • From Fall 2018 course sites on, the old gradebook will no longer be available.
    • From that same time, old course sites also won’t have grades records.
    • We’re working on a copy of all those sites to run on the old server software version, so that we can take requests for anyone who missed these messages, and get them spreadsheet exports of those old gradebooks. But that old server software won’t be able to be up for ever. We’re thinking may another year?
  • They’re going to like the new gradebook. And we’ll help. In fact, we’ve been offering it as an alternative since last May, so even if it wasn’t in use by any given instructor, LMS support staff already knows a good deal about it and the kinds of questions  people have.
  • The upgrade to the LMS? Not really of consequence this time. People will care more about their gradebooks and their embedded video service.
  • How fast can we migrate their content from the old (“K”) to the new (“P”) video on demand/playback service? Because of course we can’t take away K without delivering on an alternative!

Sometime in August I hope to deliver on a cohesive orchestrated totality.

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