New Learning Management System page live

The tender for UU’s new Learning Management System (LMS) is progressing on schedule. The tender is expected to be finalised by the end of April 2024, followed by a pilot phase in the 2024-2025 academic year and a UU-wide go live at the start of the 2025-2026 academic year.

To inform all stakeholders about the progress of the project, the impact on lecturers, students and support staff, what support will be offered and much more, the intranet page New Learning Management Systeem has gone live. Here you will also find the global schedule, general information about the project, answers to the most frequently asked questions and the latest developments.

A new LMS has an impact on education. It requires a lot of effort from the educational organisation to get to know a new system, set it up properly, transfer learning materials and rebuild courses. Naturally, proper training, guidance and support (e.g. in transferring learning materials) are provided to make the transition as smooth as possible. At the same time, the future LMS also offers many opportunities: higher user-friendliness, new functionalities and a better and more modern system.

Many registrations for user tests

The high level of commitment to the New LMS is demonstrated by the high number of applications from the faculties for the user tests. We made an appeal for these last month. No fewer than 40 lecturers, 54 students and 25 key-users signed up to assess the various LMSs for user-friendliness in January 2024: far more than the required number of testers. The selected testers, determined by the faculties, will soon receive invitations and calendar reservations. The remaining applicants will be put on the reserve list.

Why is UU getting a New LMS?

UU is getting a new Learning Management System (LMS). The agreement with the supplier of Blackboard expires in 2025 and the current version of Blackboard, which the UU currently uses, is outdated. Therefore, UU is launching a European tender procedure to come up with a successor to the current Blackboard. In order to come up with a new LMS, we will not rush. A careful process is followed, in which the users’ wishes and requirements play a crucial role. We ultimately choose the supplier that best meets our wishes and requirements.

Marijn van Ellen