Needs Statement
Course Management System Review

What need(s) does this project address or fill? What is the problem the project is designed to address? What about the current situation is unacceptable? Why do we need to move forward with this project?

Course Management Systems (CMS) are critical to the delivery of e-learning and supporting the Community and Technical College (CTC) system with emphasis on providing enhanced access and learning opportunities for all students. Demand for online classes is illustrated by their enrollment growth. Online enrollments grew 17.29% last year, while general enrollment remained flat. Online learning enrollments have increased 257% in the last five years, growing from 3,480 FTEs in 2000-01 to 12,434 in 2005-06 (per SBCTC enrollment reports). 

CMS tools are increasingly added to traditional face-to-face classes. These changed classes are being called hybrid, enhanced, supported or blended, and colleges report that they are growing at an even greater rate than fully online classes. In addition, CMS are used for a broad array of campus functions, from internal campus committees to student elections to staff development.

Colleges are spending over $3 million per year on licensing, hosting, and support for current use levels and functionality.  Licensing costs are paid primarily from student fees. Costs will further increase with additional users, integration with other campus systems, technical and administrative support, and enhanced features. In addition, the course management system market is changing. Blackboard, with the purchase of its nearest competitor WebCT, now supports 75% of the national CMS market, and has 95% of the market share in WA State CTC System. Competitive products are growing and maturing.

The project will deliver two products:

• A decision support tool, including white papers and reference guides for colleges to use in planning their course management system strategy. Possible components include an evaluation of Application Service Provider (ASP) vs. locally hosted solutions, and funding approaches. This activity is being developed by the CMS-Review Advisory Committee as a separate, but related activity.
• The result set of a Request for Proposals (RFP) of vendor-supplied solutions and a search for solutions based on open-source and home-grown systems. This research will gather information about current features and functionality, support and performance backgrounds of the solutions, and pricing for various approaches to implementation. It will be developed in a modular fashion, with core CMS functionality, add-ons, Application Server Provider (ASP) support, and other categories.

The CMS Review Advisory Committee expects to gain efficiencies and leverage by working as a system. By collaborating on a review process, the system performs work that a single college might not be able to complete alone. It is expected that WAOL will execute a contract based on the results of the research. Colleges will have the opportunity to use the results for their own contracts or for a consortium contract, or can choose not to accept the options developed, depending on their tactical and strategic needs.