Abstracts
Jumping Ship Without Drowning: Managing Change of an Institutional LMS
Tuesday 5 May 2009, 1100 - 1130
Presenter: Derek White
The University of Waikato, NEW ZEALAND
Presenter Biography
Derek: Team Leader of the Waikato Centre for eLearning and Project Manager of the Moodle Implementation Project. Nigel: eLearning Designer in the Waikato Centre for eLearning. Responsible for Professional Development and Moodle Support provision.
Abstract
In 2007 -2008 Moodle was piloted and rolled out to all schools and faculties of the University of Waikato. Some institutions have used such change as an overt opportunity to force staff to reappraise their teaching practice. Others have developed tools or resources to transfer courses from an old to a new system. Others have used a phased roll-out to minimise risk. The University of Waikato took an alternative approach.
A fuII university-wide roll-out was instigated in Summer School 2008. Strategies were put in place to manage the change in ways that were likely to reduce the resistances inherent in any major change process while balancing the need for staff to engage with the new system.
The novel approach to implementation included the commitment to develop functionality comparable to the previous LMS so that there was no loss in experience; the decision to dissuade staff from major pedagogical review until a post-transition stage; and the decision to forego automatic migration of content from the previous LMS but to treat the transition as a positive disruption providing the opportunity to educate staff about the new environment
A key risk factor identified during the project was the lack of adequate support for staff and students in the use of the new system. In response to this threat, the University established a new unit to develop and support eLearning.
Additional success factors were implemented during the project. During the pilot phase, initial buy in from each school was garnered through involving key players. External partnerships were developed to manage technical development and to up-skill in-house expertise. During the roll-out phase, a team of temporary staff were utilised to provide staff with one-to-one support.
The benefits of intensive upfront work are now being reaped through increased engagement and satisfaction among staff and learners.
