Innovation in LMS: How the Cloud Changes the Model

Before the New Year, we wanted to highlight one more excerpt of Khalil Yazdi's whitepaper, Innovation in LMS: Underlying Economic Drivers--Motivating a New Model for the Provisioning of Course, Teaching and Learning Management Software Systems.

Last week, we explored Yazdi's examination of how LMS stakeholders (vendors and the institution's technology leaders, faculty and students) perceive one another, and how their confused perceptions impact what is delivered by an LMS vendor, the capacity that an LMS is implemented by an institution and how satisfied the LMS users are in result.

Today, we're highlighting part one of Yazdi's exploration of how the Cloud (cloud computing, in particular) changes not only the traditional IT delivery model, but raises campus technology leaders' expectations in regard to LMS scalability and flexibility and users' subsequent expectations of LMS availability, access and "speed."

As we continue exploring Yazdi's arguments, let us know how you think LMS delivery is evolving, and what you'd like to see from this wave of LMS innovation. Feel free to discuss in the comments below.

Innovation in LMS: How The Cloud Changes the Model

An alternative model shifts LMS services delivery to permit individuals to independently purchase and utilize a more diverse set of solutions while respecting institutional obligations to appropriately manage such activity. This requires that vendors and institutions develop effective strategies to ensure when a faculty member activates use of an LMS service, the institution is “informed” in a structured and managed manner. This suggests a model of course, teaching and learning systems procurement that is patterned after that which is used in the purchase of textbooks and other course-based content or services. For textbooks, faculty decisions are made on the basis of discipline, program objectives and their pedagogical bent. The student purchase is made through a bookstore and the institution has a broad role in managing the process and retaining appropriate records of the transaction. Selection, procurement and adoption are fairly simple and straightforward – and while textbooks can be expensive, the process has minimal institutional cost, is very efficient, agile and highly responsive to emerging needs.

In a traditional internally hosted LMS, there are a number of barriers to deploying such a model. With SaaS-based LMS solutions there is now an opportunity for subscription or user-based pricing and a mitigation of technological and operational barriers to individual faculty-based selection and provisioning. Minimizing the need for internal IT resources and complex governance can lead to significant savings to the institution – including the removal of some components of traditional LMS systems like “learning systems” from the institutional budget entirely.