Unit 6- Smart, K. & Meyer, K. 2005. Changing Course Management Systems: Lessons Learned

This article discussed the issue of changing a multiple course management systems to one CMS. The authors asked several faculty members at North Dakota University to switch from Blackboard to Desire2Learn. The research focused on three main questions that covered how much content from Blackboard would transfer to Desire2Learn, the impact of the content that did not transfer, and if faculty would be will to switch systems. What Smart and Meyer found was that the gradebook, tests & surveys, communication, and library access did not transfer, which is a huge part of course management. Because these very important parts did not transfer, not all the faculty wanted to switch systems. This shows, that switching management systems could lead to much work for faculty and administration.
After reading this article, I think that switch management systems would be really bad during a school year. If administration wanted to switch management systems for cost purposes, they should definitely do that before the school year, so teachers have enough time to learn the new system and setup gradebooks, communication, and library access on the new system. I thought it was great that these researchers went to the faculty first to see how the new system would work before installing the new system. I hope that the district I work in cares about their faculty as much.