| | September - 20218Turning a Battleship on a Dime: Moving to a New LMS During LockdownBy Valerie E. Polichar, Ph.D., Senior Director of Academic Technology Services, University of California, San DiegoIN MY OPINION When the University of California, San Diego sent everyone home in March, 2020 because of theCOVID-19 pandemic, our department was in the midst of moving from our old LMS to our new one, Canvas. Faculty suddenlyhad to rustle up remote approaches to their final exams -- and they had just four days to do it. They had to face the prospect of teaching remotely just a couple weeks after that. And we had an LMS migration deadline: we'd already licensed Canvas and had special dispensation to pay for a year of overlap to make the move. There was no money to extend that further. COVID-19's timing could not have been worse. But we pulled off our migration on schedule, and with happy customers to boot.A careful process gets upendedWe'd made the LMS decision after extensive consultation with faculty, students, and partners about their experiences with our existing LMS and their dreams of what might be possible. Our
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