The e-Learning Assessment Team has been tasked with identifying and recommending to the President’s Cabinet the e-learning tool that will carry us into the next decade. With support from the Technology Advisory Group (TAG) and the Office of Teaching & Learning Technologies, the team will examine how and why we use our current Blackboard system, and will identify not only our current needs from a pedagogical, administrative and support perspective, but will also identify the tools or features that will likely be required over the next 5-10 years. This examination will directly inform the evaluation of suitable e-learning technologies and allow the team to recommend the e-learning tool will best suit the needs of our campus community. Plymouth State University’s first foray into online teaching and learning was launched a decade ago with version 1.1 of WebCT. Over the past ten years we have seen steadily increasing adoption of this powerful tool, to the point where in the fall of 2007 over 38% of our undergraduate and 44% of our graduate courses employed our learning management system to some extent. While this growth points to the extent of the adoption of our learning management system, or LMS, there has been no formal assessment of the tool in its 10 years of use, and we have only anecdotal information upon which to base any current decision.
Therefore, our intent is to gauge not only the historical and current extent of our current use of our learning management system but to also consider how we utilize our system and to identify the features and tools necessary for addressing our future needs. To that end, the e-Learning Assessment Team seeks to involve both faculty and students in the process of examining our current attitudes and usage patterns in order to determine our needs criteria for the evaluation of appropriate technologies. Surveys will be sent out to both groups in the coming weeks. This is your opportunity to help shape the future of our online learning environment and we look forward to your participation.
Should you have any questions, comments or wish to volunteer your services as an evaluator, please contact John Martin at jemartin@plymouth.edu
