CMS/LMS

Wilfrid Laurier U Expands Use of Desire2Learn

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 03/16/10

Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario just signed a five-year agreement to implement the Desire2Learn Learning Environment across the entire university, starting Aug. 1. The university, which already uses Desire2Learn's learning management system in some of its programs, is broadening use to replace the Blackboard-owned WebCT.

The wider adoption of the learning management system came out of an institution-wide evaluation of its IT strategy, which has been going on since 2009. The university, with 16,000 students and four campuses, is only about three miles away from the company's headquarters. Desire2Learn participates in a co-op program with Laurier to give students work experience in regionally-located businesses.

"The contemporary university environment needs solutions that allow learning to take place both inside and outside the classroom," said Tom Buckley, assistant vice president for Student Academic Services. "We believe that Desire2Learn provides a solution that will support our faculty and students in this regard."

Buckley said the university has chosen to implement Desire2Learn's hosted service. "This arrangement will enable us to focus on content development, delivery, and pedagogy and not the technical management of servers and availability," he added.