Learning Management Systems

Wheaton College Deploys New LMS

• By Leila Meyer
• 04/19/16

Wheaton College in Illinois has implemented a new learning management system (LMS) with the goal of improving the teaching and learning experience for faculty and students.

Wheaton's 2,500 students and 300 faculty members had indicated that the college's previous LMS did not meet their expectations or needs, according to information on the college's site. IT staff also reported technical difficulties with the LMS, which prevented them from providing stable services. The college decided that it was time to re-evaluate its LMS and consider replacing it with a more modern system with tools and functionality that could support the college's new teaching and assessment methods and graduate and global education initiatives.

When the college began its search for a replacement LMS, the administration invited students and faculty to participate in the selection process. "The students were clear that they wanted a platform that was simple to use on any device and powerful enough to be fully adopted by all faculty so that there would be just one LMS for all of their courses and activities," said Wendy Woodward, chief information officer at Wheaton College, in a prepared statement.

Their search led them to Schoology, which features course management, assessment management, in-depth analytics and flexible standards-based integrations with other systems. Faculty and students can also access their courses and campus activities from anywhere using Schoology's native mobile apps. According to information from the company, Schoology uses a learner-centric rather than course-centric design, and it can support any type of campus activity, in addition to courses. "We selected Schoology because of its intuitive learner-centric design, its ability to support our traditional and new teaching methods, and its strong integration capabilities," said Woodward.