DOODLE Learning Management Systems Review Prepared by: Greg Ketcham, Keith Landa, Kyle Brown, Ken Charuk, Tony DeFranco, Michael Heise, Ryan McCabe, Pam Youngs-Maher, Clark Shah-Nelson [February 14, 2011] Table of Contents Executive Summary ....................................................2 Introduction .................................................................2 The LMS Market Space ..............................................3 Product Evaluation......................................................4 Product and Vendor Profiles .......................................5 Feature Comparisons .................................................7 LMS Feature Integration Technologies.......................8 Cost Comparisons ......................................................8 Content Migration........................................................9 Overall Recommendations........................................10 Conclusion ................................................................14 DOODLE LMS Report Page 1 Executive Summary Beginning in early 2007, SUNY implemented a large scale adoption of the ANGEL Learning Management System (LMS). In 2009, the greater educational community was informed that Blackboard (Bb) had acquired ANGEL Learning, Inc. Blackboard has since announced that support for the ANGEL product line will continue through 2014. In early 2010, the SUNY Learning Network (SLN) asked the Directors of Online and Distance Learning Environments (DOODLE) to undertake a Learning Management System evaluation to address the concerns of the SUNY community regarding the future directions of SUNY supported learning management systems as the current State University of New York ANGEL contract will end in December 2011. The following report discusses the selection methodology for the systems reviewed. Analysis of the unique characteristics of the four systems evaluated follows in this report. This report summarizes the project’s overall impressions of the systems under review, and provides guidance as to which systems DOODLE believes should be supported by SUNY System Administration (via SLN, ITEC and SICAS) going forward. Introduction Under the direction of the SUNY Office of the Provost, SLN provides services to SUNY institutions in the arena of online learning. These services include application hosting and administration of the ANGEL software, end-user support via help desk services, professional development for faculty, and instructional design expertise. Each SUNY institution operates independently; students register for and receive credit from individual campuses, and courses and degree programs are maintained by each institution. Currently, 27 out of 64 SUNY units subscribe to some combination of the described SLN services. DOODLE was formed as a SUNY-wide association of distance learning administrators, with the mission of fostering knowledge-sharing and best practices for the development and support of online learning programs. The 37 DOODLE member campuses encompass the full scope of SUNY's engagement in distance learning: SLN-affiliated institutions and independent institutions that self-manage or outsource their LMS application and user support. Key to DOODLE's premise is that it is an LMS-neutral organization focused on the creation, implementation and operation of distance learning degrees, programs and courses. Online learning, as defined by the spectrum of use from a supplement to classroom based courses, through hybrid/blended courses, to fully online asynchronous learning, continues to grow dramatically for SUNY colleges. Online learning provides opportunities to improve the teaching and learning experience, reach more learners, and lower infrastructure expenses. Coupled with the fact that the current State University of New York ANGEL contract will end in December 2011, the director of SLN asked DOODLE to undertake an LMS evaluation to address the concerns of the SUNY community. With Blackboard's announcement that support for the ANGEL product line (ANGEL 7.4 and the future release of ANGEL 8.0) will continue through October 2014, this evaluation will allow SUNY to position itself to make an informed decision with ample time for each campus to undertake a migration. DOODLE LMS Report Page 2 The overall adoption rate of Blackboard family products (Blackboard, WebCT, and ANGEL) comprises over 87% of SUNY’s total usage of learning management systems. Recognizing the scope and importance of the business relationship between Blackboard and SUNY, SUNY via SLN continues ongoing negotiations for a SUNY-wide contract. The goal of this project will be to evaluate selected alternatives to Blackboard Learn. Periodic evaluation of all information technology resources on a regular basis is a prudent action by any organization. In this particular case, there are several overarching reasons that contribute to the need for this project: The requirement to reevaluate: Given the expiration of the state-wide contract with Blackboard for the ANGEL LMS in 2011, combined with end of life (EOL) for the ANGEL 7.4 and 8.0 releases in October 2014, SUNY should reevaluate all relevant and viable LMS options. The opportunity to reevaluate: The market space for learning management systems has changed dramatically since the inception of online learning offerings within SUNY. The commercial sector products have been drastically consolidated via Blackboard's acquisition of WebCT and ANGEL. In parallel, open source platforms such as Moodle and Sakai have gained significant user share in higher education as acceptance of open source software grows and product capabilities mature. The mandate to reevaluate: Online learning, via the OpenSUNY concept in Chancellor Zimpher's strategic plan, "has the potential to be America's most extensive distance learning network". SUNY's future LMS selection needs to align with this goal, and must be able to integrate with social and emerging technologies as part of the portfolio of online learning tools. We see this as an opportunity to select an LMS platform that has the ability to scale and support growth at a non-linear rate, and to determine if current LMS platforms have the flexibility to incorporate current and yet to be imagined Web 2.0 integration. The LMS Market Space State of the LMS market The 2010 Campus Computing Project recently described the LMS market space as “a market in transition”. Several factors can be seen as contributing to change in market share between (Blackboard), and its open source and commercial competitors. One obvious marker is market consolidation: Blackboard’s total market share has grown via the acquisition of WebCT in 2005, and the subsequent acquisition of ANGEL in 2009. During this time frame, acceptance and adoption of open source alternatives (primarily Moodle, with Sakai holding a minority share of open source implementations) has grown. DOODLE LMS Report Page 3 Flux in market space The Campus Computing Report (http://www.campuscomputing.net/sites/www.campuscomputing.net/files/Green- CampusComputing2010.pdf) notes that Blackboard’s total market share has decreased from 71 percent in 2005 to 57.1 percent in 2010. Open source alternatives Moodle and Sakai gained 1.6 percent in market share. This raises the question: if colleges and universities are selecting an alternative to Blackboard, why isn’t there a corresponding proportional rise in open source adoption? Interestingly, Desire2Learn, as possibly the only large-scale alternative commercial LMS vendor, has seen an 8 percent increase in adoption since 2005, bringing their market share to 10.1% - slightly larger than the combined open source segment. A varying interpretation from analyst Michael Feldstein agrees with the shift in the market away from Blackboard; Feldstein notes that the combined market share of Desire2Learn, Moodle and Sakai equals 30% of the total installed LMS base. Feldstein provides further breakdown of the data: Desire2Learn’s greatest gains are in the 2 year community college sector, while Moodle seems to the preferred transition platform for 4 year colleges. Anecdotal evidence suggests that many ANGEL campuses specifically chose ANGEL as a viable commercial alternative to Blackboard. It is extremely likely that other institutions using ANGEL today are performing similar evaluations and weighing their possible migration options. As further evidence of the rapidly changing nature of the LMS landscape, Instructure’s Canvas LMS was not considered for in-depth evaluation for this report due to the relative immaturity of the product and the company. Since that time, Instructure has signed the Utah Educational Network (UEN) as its first major consortium client, and announced (on February 1, 2011) that it would now provide an open source version of its Canvas application. Product Evaluation Product Evaluation Selection The Committee investigated and examined various proprietary and open source LMSs and identified the following products to be formally evaluated: ● Blackboard Learn ● Desire2Learn ● Moodle ● Sakai The above LMS applications were selected for evaluation based upon the following criteria: ● Viability/vibrancy/health: the above platforms demonstrate continued adoption by higher ed institutions as well as ongoing, sustained product development and support, either via the parent company (Blackboard, Desire2Learn), or via community development (Moodle, Sakai Foundation) or commercialized supported releases of open source community software (Moodlerooms, rSmart). ● Similar scale: