Frequently Asked Questions

St. Norbert College has been using Moodle as our primary Learning Management System since 2009. Our last LMS review, in 2017, resulted in us choosing to continue with Moodle. At that time, we committed to a 5-year review cycle for our LMS platform. The LMS industry has seen significant changes following the COVID pandemic which makes it timely for us to do this evaluation, to determine if Moodle is best meeting the needs of our students and faculty.

Using an inclusive process of gathering feedback through surveys, listening sessions and testing out the various platforms, we hope to land on a recommendation that people feel they’ve had the opportunity to contribute to. We realize any decision won’t be met with 100% agreement, but our ultimate goal is to recommend a solution that will complement and support teaching and learning with a fun and easy-to-use platform.

After an initial evaluation of the various platforms in the marketplace, we’ve decided to do a thorough evaluation of: Moodle 4.0 by MoodleUS, Canvas by Instructure and Brightspace by D2L.

Faculty input, student input, ease of use, grade book, mobile platform and cost are some of the greatest factors being considered. Specific elements within the platforms including forums, assignments, communication, integrations, and learning outcomes are also being carefully considered.

If a recommendation and decision is made to move from Moodle to a new platform, there would be a period of time where we would be running both Moodle and the new platform simultaneously to aid in the transition.

The working group will present their recommendation to the Academic Technology Advisory Committee, and that final recommendation will then be brought to the CIO and VPAA for final decision making.

Our goal is to have a recommendation made by the end of the Spring ‘23 semester. Based on the decision, an implementation timeline would follow.