Integration between digital learning materials and an institution’s learning and administrative systems has gotten better, but instructors, higher ed administrators and providers agree there’s more work to be done.
That work, providers say, is easier when all parties pitch in to figure out how to best serve students.
In the meantime, faculty deal with difficult decisions in choosing content that’s vital for their courses. “Faculty may still find themselves forced to choose between the publisher’s platform and their own preferred tools in order to give students a simple, unified experience,” says Jared Stein, vice president for higher ed strategy for the Canvas LMS.
Link to main story: Colleges connect the textbooks
It’s important to keep lines of communication open between faculty and administrators who may be charged with helping to manage an integration.
“Administrators see it as extra work; faculty see it as delivering the best experience to the university’s students,” says Chris Uthe, product manager for Jenzabar, the provider of learning management and other higher ed technology systems.
Ken Chapman of D2L, creators of the Brightspace LMS, says administrators must keep the student experience top of mind.
“The technology ecosystem they use to manage and deliver this experience needs to be considered in full, and in service of their student needs—including privacy, content performance data and individual student data,” says Chapman, vice president of market research.
Nancy Mann Jackson is an Alabama-based writer and frequent contributor to UB.
