| | February - March - 20188IN MY OPINIONPreparing for a Smooth LMS TransitionBy Sue Workman, VP & CIO and Tina Deveny Oestreich, Sr. Director, Teaching and Learning Technologies, Case Western Reserve UniversityA well-planned learning management system (LMS) transition will provide many benefits to your learning community, potentially including reduced costs, increased adoption, simplification of technology and support infrastructure, and increased faculty and student satisfaction with instructional technologies. However, evaluating whether to keep or change the campus LMS and the possible subsequent implementation of a new system require a well thought-out plan, a good deal of lead-time and no shortage of staff effort. In 2016, the Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) IT Strategic Plan, prompted a year-long LMS exploration resulting in a decision to unify into a single enterprise LMS system. The decision represented a significant simplification from the multiple LMSs previously in existence in various schools at the university. The exploration revealed that there are pros and cons with each LMS, and the choice of system depends on campus culture and priorities. Therefore, it is important for each institution to evaluate its own systems within its own community. CWRU began the LMS exploration project by creating a project team to:· Determine how the enterprise LMS (and other LMSs) were being used on campus and determine campus satisfaction with existing systems· Include the entire university community by creating advisory committees of faculty, staff, and students· Identify the top LMS choices to be part of an in-depth evaluation · Analyze and report findingsto the community· Navigate through campus governance to gain buy-in for the decision reached by the advisory committees' recommendationUsing a Data Driven Approach to Decision MakingFrom the beginning, a data driven approach was applied to the project, investigating the usage rate of the primary LMS in place and which of its features were actually used by faculty and students. It was discovered that the Tina Deveny Oestreich
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