reflections on experiences in managing the piloting and evaluation phase of open source learning...

© 2009 NetSpot Pty Ltd

Piloting LMSenvironments in theHigher Education sectorMark Drechsler

Professional Services Manager

NetSpot Pty Ltd


Today’s Presentation

• A bit about NetSpot

• Open Source pilot experiences in the last year

• Supporting the case for change

• Critical success factors for LMS pilots


About NetSpot


Sakai Commercial Affiliate

Mahara Partner

Moodle Partner

Wimba Authorised Reseller

Partner


Pilot experiences in 2009


2009: Increased interest in piloting Open Source learning technologies.


What do we classify as a „Pilot‟?

“...small scale preliminary study conducted before the main research in order to check the feasibility or to improve the design of

the research”

- Wikipedia


Different kinds of pilots

Evaluation focus

• to support LMS selection process

Pre-implementation focus

• to help plan production deployment


Integration

Content migration

Technical evaluation

Hosting environment

Stakeholders

Support

Functional evaluation

Pilotconsiderations


Common trade off

Increased:

• Scope

• Stakeholder participation

• Integration

• Configuration

• t, $

• Evaluation data


Open Source vs Proprietary:

The flexibility of Open Source means that far more options are available for a pilot


A note on Sakai

In our experience, some technical configuration effort is required to showcase its true potential


The value of partnering

Partnering with an experienced services provider can:

• Reduce implementation time

• Avoid common mistakes

• Utilise existing knowledge

• Assist evaluation of partner services such as managed hosting and technical support


Supporting the case for change


An Open Source LMS can lead to...

... a re-think of teaching practice



... the use of the LMS for more than just teaching and learning

• Research

• Collaboration

• Networking



... an alignment of institutional culture to a community-driven product


Critical success factors


1. Clear governance

Including

• a Business Owner

• a project definition

• clearly defined roles and responsibilities

• Executive buy-in


2. Sound evaluation framework

Consider

• Pedagogical

• Support

• Integration

• Financial

• Strategic

Instruments such as surveys, observations, interviews, feature lists, TCO estimates


3. Stakeholder representation

Including

• Teaching and learning

• Technology

• Support staff

• Administrative staff


The biggest challenge?

Complex pilot that closely resembles the production environment, but that takes longer and costs more

Simple pilot that focuses on key

aspects, but that may leave gaps in

the evaluation process


Questions?

reflections on experiences in managing the piloting and evaluation phase of open source learning...

Education

critical success

open source

2009 netspot

netspot

pilot

support

research

teaching