Introduction 

For over 12 years, CCCS Academic Technology has provided LMS (Learning Management System) programming and technology solutions for the eLearning departments at colleges. These solutions have allowed the eLearning departments to manage processes at scale, efficiently and effectively.  

Examples of past solutions include: 

  • Updating course start dates in bulk  
  • Business case: A college can choose to update all nursing course start dates with one request. Nursing courses are fast-paced and to allow students to be prepared, it is essential they have early access. 
  • Cross-listed courses 
  • Business case: There are situations where courses that are separate in Banner should be combined in the LMS.  For instance, ENG121 is often combined with CCR classes in the LMS to provide additional support for students.  Virtual courses taught by the same instructor across multiple campuses may also be easier to manage when crosslisted and combined in the LMS.    
  • Staff Registration forms for CCCS Training 
  • Business case: For many years when CCCS provided training in the LMS, the LMS admins would have to import the course shell into the college’s LMS and manually create staff user accounts. Staff user accounts are not automatically created in the LMS.  The LMS admins would have to create those accounts on-going until the training was over.  CCCS AT created a self-registration tool where staff can register for training.  Upon registering for training, if the staff does not have a user account, it is created in real-time.  Plus, they are registered for the course in real-time.  This has been a significant staff time-saver for College eLearning departments.  
  • Preferred Name in D2L 
  • Business case: CCCS has had the ability to display a student’s preferred name in the LMS for over 12 years, even though this feature has only recently become available in Banner and D2L. This is an example of CCCS Academic Technology providing a needed solution before vendor products could officially support it.  

Examples of recent and upcoming needs include: 

  • Self-registration for training, orientation, etc. courses with the LMS 
  • Business case: In the single LMS instance, the self-registration tool can no longer be used by the colleges. It allows any student across the system to register for college training or other non-academic courses, which is not desired by eLearning departments. CCCS AT will provide a solution to accommodate the colleges in a single LMS instance. 
  • Enrolling all students into course shells 
  • Business case: Automating the enrollments of all students into the student orientation based on college, instead of choosing which enrollments to combine at the course prefix or number level. 
  • Delivery of Ready-To-Teach Course Shells 
  • Business case: Provide a way for an instructor to request access on-demand to view a Ready-To-Teach (RtT) course shells, allowing the instructor to decide if they want to use it.  If the instructor wants to use it, they can request that a D2L sandbox course shell be created on-demand with the content of the RtT course shell copied into the sandbox. 

Recommendation:   

The Colorado Online @ Technology subcommittee recommends that CCCS AT continue to provide programming solutions that allow the college eLearning departments to scale their processes and be efficient.  

Rationale: 

Every semester the colleges have several LMS-related processes to complete.  These processes are essential for allowing faculty and instructors to teach every semester. CCCS AT has provided solutions to allow the college eLearning departments to complete these processes at scale and efficiently.  

Factors to Consider 

Benefits 

  • Provides efficiency for the eLearning staff. 
  • Time savings for eLearning staff in completing their processes. 
  • Better service for students, faculty, and instructors.  
  • Academic Technology already has the knowledge and staffing to provide this solution. 

Considerations 

  • Project requests will need to be prioritized based on impact and need. Ideally, solutions benefit most colleges and do not require too much overhead to maintain.  

Potential Impact/Effect on Other Decisions 

  • No impact on other areas. This recommendation has no impact on staffing at the eLearning departments 

Required Resources 

  • No new resources are required. CCCS Academic Technology has the staffing since it is a service already provided.  

Next Steps 

  • Develop a process that includes consulting CCCS IT regarding any programming requests that overlap with IT applications development.  
  • If the recommendation is approved, notify the Learning Technology Council.