Morehead State Sticking with Blackboard Learn

Kentucky's Morehead State University chose to upgrade from Blackboard 7.3, its previous learning management system, to Blackboard Learn version 9.1 instead of implementing open source alternative Moodle. The decision came after a faculty pilot determined that release 9.1 was the best fit for the university. The upgrade took place this fall.

According to a statement from Blackboard, an evaluation team concluded that the technical transition and faculty training on Release 9.1 would be much easier than a move to Moodle. They were also concerned about support and continued development should they choose the open source option.

"Release 9.1 was the best decision for our students and faculty and their online learning needs," said Misty Hanks, coordinator of instructional design at Morehead State University. "The transition went smoothly, it is easy to use and we were able to move to the new system quickly, without problems. The on-demand resources that accompany Release 9.1 are critical to our staff and we are impressed with the responsiveness of Blackboard for any support we may need--something we weren't confident we would get from the open source option we considered."

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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