Technology Foundations for Twenty-First Century Higher Education - Edited by Mary Curnock Cook

Given the dominance of the degree within the UK higher education model, it is not surprising that the sector tends to think in programmes and apply the logic of programmes across the majority of its activities – from its approach to learning design and outcome specification, to quality assurance and delivery, regulatory compliance and statutory reporting. [...] While the LMS requires a careful and deliberate plan for installation, maintenance and usage (often aligned to an institution’s teaching and learning strategy), the facilities available for non-technical faculty and administrative users enable them to deploy the options list of features for a variety of uses beyond the ‘basic’ requirement of teaching and learning. [...] While the intended use of a LCMS is often a focus for teams who look for and procure such a technology, it is the teaching and learning professionals within the institution, often found in multiple departments and faculties and rarely in a centralised place, that are best placed to inform and advise on this structure. [...] The challenge will come on two fronts; understanding the requirements of the LCMS and ensuring the university systems can accommodate them (including non-technical factors of procurement that cover data protection, system requirements, accessibility and more), and ensuring the live link between the LCMS and LMS is stable to allow the updates to be actioned in real-time. [...] While the teams involved in procurement and technical integration may be able to get their head around the system, the academic and administrative users will need more time and more use cases to demonstrate the use, the power and the instructions to use it on a day-to-day basis.