January 29, 2015
To: Dimitri Androutsos, Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Chair, Advisory Committee on Academic Computing
Brian Lesser, Director, Computing and Communication Services
From: Mohamed Lachemi Provost and Vice President Academic
Janice Winton Vice-President, Administration and Finance, and Chief Financial Officer
Re: Recommendation to replace Blackboard LMS with Desire2Learn’s Brightspace
On January 16, 2015 we received a recommendation from Ryerson’s Advisory Committee on Academic Computing (ACAC) to replace the university’s current learning management system, Blackboard, with Desire2Learn’s Brightspace, provided the successful completion of a pilot phase, further internal risk assessments and a definitive agreement with the new vendor.
We are extremely pleased with the extensive process of community consultation that the committee has undertaken. Since January 2013, the committee has consulted broadly to determine if Blackboard should be upgraded or replaced to ensure that the university’s online learning and teaching software is truly flexible to meet student, faculty and staff evolving needs. The introduction of a community “test-drive” of the two short-listed products was an innovative approach to allow the community to try out the two systems and provide feedback on their experiences.
The committee has our full support to roll out a pilot phase of Brightspace between now and August 2015, and to work towards a negotiated agreement with D2L. We look forward to the outcomes of that process.
We thank Dimitri Androutsos, Chair, ACAC, and Brian Lesser, Director, CCS for their leadership on this very significant project, and would like to recognize the important contributions of the Learning Management System subcommittee of ACAC:
- Restiani Andriati, Manager, Digital Media Projects Office
- Naza Djafarova, Director, Digital Educational Strategies, The Chang School
- Heather Driscoll, Director, Office of the General Counsel and Information and Privacy Officer
- Paul Dunphy, Manager, Information Technology, Ted Rogers School of Management
- Dalia Hanna, Manager, Learning and Teaching Office
- Michel Kouadio, Director Technology Planning and Innovation,
Faculty of Communication & Design - Karen Kwan, E-Learning Designer, Human Resources
- Melanie McBride, MA Candidate, Communication and Culture
- Jason Nolan, Professor, School of Early Childhood Studies
- Robin Riley, Documentation & Training Specialist, Human Resources
- Maureen Reed, Professor, Department of Psychology
- Mugino Saeki, Information Systems Security Officer (ISSO), Board Secretariat
- Nancy Walton, Director, e-Learning
- Fangmin Wang, Head of Library Information Technology Services
- Sally Wilson, Web Services Librarian
- Leonora Zefi, Manager, E-Learning Initiatives and Course Development, The Chang School