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Australia's Deakin U Moving to Desire2Learn

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 08/02/10

After a lengthy review, Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia will be migrating to Desire2Learn as the primary application for delivering Web-based course material and assessment tasks. The university had been using Blackboard Vista as its primary LMS.

In the evaluation a selection committee assessed commercial and open source options against a list of critical needs. The process sought feedback from stakeholders and included extensive hands-on evaluation of different systems by a group of academic and technical staff. Academic evaluations of Desire2Learn included comments about its usability and noted improved capabilities with group and multimedia management. "I actually began to get excited about changing systems seeing everything Desire2Learn had to offer," said Arlene Silvas, director of the Knowledge Media Division.

"At Deakin we place great emphasis on our flexible learning programs and with over 30 percent of our students studying from home, work, regional, or remote areas, we needed a solution partner who can deliver a smooth and rapid transition, with little or no 'culture shock' for academic staff and students," said Deakin's deputy vice-chancellor, Philip Clarke. "Desire2Learn offers the best fit with our excellent existing teaching and learning practices. They are the best fit with our values and ways of operating."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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