[VPAAEtal] Status of Our LMS Online Course Delivery

[Academic Affairs]

Dear Faculty and Staff members,

After months of speculation, we have recently received official confirmation that Pearson, provider of eCollege, our Learning Management System (LMS) platform for delivery of onLine courses, will no longer invest in upgrades/updates for eCollege. This LMS will be placed in "maintenance mode".

As one of the leaders of online higher education in Texas, this is unacceptable to us. Our contract with Pearson's eCollege expires on December 31, 2017 and Pearson will continue to provide customer service.

I have asked the Deans and the Interim Director for the School of Agriculture to nominate faculty representatives to serve on an LMS Search Task Force which will also have representation from our Faculty Center for Excellence and Innovation, our Faculty Senate, our Council of Academic Department Heads, our Information Technology sector, student users, and other key constituents. I will be chairing this Task Force. This group's initial charge will be to develop the academic, andragogic, technical, and other requirements to be included in a Request For Proposals (RFP) from prospective vendors and create an matrix to evaluate the responses to the RFP. Then, invite the top three or four vendors for campus presentations / demos sometime this coming summer and summarize their strengths and weaknesses to form a consensus for making a recommendation to President Jones regarding our university's new LMS provider.

I would like to have 12 to 15 months for implementation, including training and course migration. Likely we will have two parallel systems running for some time.

I look forward to working collaboratively and transparently with you and the entire university community on this critical project and thank you in advance for input and support.

With my sincere personal regards and best wishes for you and yours,

Adolfo

Adolfo Benavides | Provost and Vice President
for Academic Affairs

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-COMMERCE

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