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Overview
Beginning in the Spring of 2024, teams across Quinnipiac launched an evaluation of our current learning management system (LMS), Blackboard Original. This evaluation is dedicated to ensuring that our LMS effectively supports the university community and our teaching and learning objectives as the University of the Future.
The teams involved in this evaluation are:
- Quinnipiac Innovations in Learning and Teaching (QILT) →
- Teaching and Classroom Technology (TCT) team from Information Technology
- Faculty Senate ITC
This evaluation will include the latest version of Blackboard - Blackboard Ultra, and Instructure’s platform - Canvas. Currently, Quinnipiac uses Blackboard Original and has for some time.
Both Blackboard Ultra and Canvas offer enhanced features from our existing LMS, and both have key differentiators. Those differentiators, along with the below considerations, will guide the evaluation to find the LMS that best fulfills our needs for in-person, hybrid, and fully online learning:
- Student Assignments, Discussion Boards, Assessments, and Grading
- Student Experience and Interaction
- Content Creation and Content Management
- Course Design
- Course Administration
- Tool Integrations (ex. YuJa, Zoom, etc)
- Tablet & Mobile App Functionality
- Communication Features
- Required Technology Infrastructure
- Considerations raised from the evaluation survey (the survey closed June 30, thank you for your participation!)
Timeline
2024
September 5: QILT will host a final demo session of Ultra & Canvas for faculty.
End of September: Final decision made.
2025
- June: Our current Blackboard contract ends.
Note: The above timeline is subject to adjustment as needed.
How You Can Get Involved
Parallel to the evaluation group conducting their evaluation, we’ll have several opportunities for community members to demo both Blackboard Ultra and Instructure’s Canvas platform and provide feedback. Please keep an eye out for e-mail communications over this summer and the beginning of Fall.
Survey
The evaluation survey opened on April 29 and closed on June 30. Thank you for your participation!
Sandboxes
We’ve closed the sandbox request form while we’re working on the final decision. When the final decision is announced, we’ll re-open the form to request a sandbox in the chosen platform! In total during the evaluation, 89 faculty and staff members received a sandbox.
If you have a sandbox already, we’ve created pages with links to resources to use as you explore the platforms:
Blackboard Ultra Evaluation Resources
Ultra & Canvas Demo
QILT held three demo sessions on Ultra and Canvas for the university community. Our goal was to introduce attendees to both learning management systems and demonstrate how basic instructional tasks look in each system.
Frequently Asked Questions
As we answer questions from the community, we’ll update this list.