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Volume 9, Number 7: April 9, 2003

TTT's Q and A with Kathy Pletcher


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Last week UW System negotiated a five-year contract with Desire2Learn, a provider of eLearning systems for higher education. TTT recently sat down with Kathy Pletcher, Chair of the Task Force on Course Management Systems, to discuss events leading to the selection of Desire2Learn and to report on plans for implementing the platform. Her comments appear in full here.

TTT: Please describe the RFP process. How did the task force arrive at its decision, and how did Desire2Learn emerge as the leader, among big players like WebCT and BlackBoard?

Kathy Pletcher: The Task Force on Course Management Systems was charged with preparing recommendations for the procurement process for a single product, or a set of integrated products, to meet the Web-based learning needs of the University of Wisconsin System....from blended courses that combine online with traditional learning styles to fully web-based asynchronous courses.

The driving force behind this initiative was not dissatisfaction with the current course management systems: Blackboard and WebCT. Most faculty are happy with these CMS products. Rather, the driving force was the escalating cost of supporting two CMS platforms in a time of severe budget constraints.

There were 12 members on the Task Force with representatives from six campuses, OLIT, Learning Innovations and the Office of Procurement. Over the past 15 months the Task Force has researched the eLearning marketplace (Feb.-April, 2002), conducted an RFI process, with 32 responses (May - June, 2002), consulted with experts in the field (July- August 2002), written
requirements for an e-Learning RFP (June-August, 2002), issued an RFP (released August 7, 2002; due Oct. 2, 2002), evaluated 16 RFP responses (Oct. - Nov. 2002), further evaluated the top four, which included Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Granada, and WebCT (Nov. 2002 - Feb. 2003), and conducted a site visit for the finalist, Desire2Learn (March 11-12, 2003).

Each step of the way, the task force sought advice from campus constituency groups, the Provosts and Chief Business Officers. In the evaluation of the final four, the task force invited all campuses to participate. In the first phase of evaluation, 35 people participated in two-day evaluation conferences in Madison for each of the four vendors. The second phase included a group of 45 evaluators who attended a two-hour training session via the web and then received guest accounts for a period of two weeks to evaluate the products. The third phase involved open sessions for faculty and students. For each of the phases, we used feedback forms so that participants could share their assessment. We received thousands of pages of "advice." We reviewed all of the feedback and incorporated the data into our final scoring system.

In the final analysis, we had a clear winner: Desire2Learn received the highest number of points based on functionality, technical merits, business plan and cost. The subjective feedback forms praised Desire2Learn as being highly functional and easy to use. Desire2Learn was the favorite of the faculty and instructional staff.

The evaluation scheme was 10% for general requirements, 65% functional and technical requirements, and 25% cost. On a scale of 10,000 points Desire2Learn received 9,700 points. Desire2Learn scored so well because they have a sound technical architecture with adherence to standards, features that faculty need in an easy to use format, a business plan that fit well with UWS eLearning goals, excellent customer service based on reference checks, and a very competitive price.

TTT: Could you comment on the LTDC and student/faculty demonstrations. Were you confident that those groups would reach a similar consensus as the task force?

Kathy Pletcher: When we had the Madison demos there were about 35 people involved in the evaluation. I had the opportunity to listen to the questions of participants and to observe their response to the vendors. I also read the feedback forms from the participants. I was not surprised
when the feedback from the campus demos was consistent with the feedback from the Madison demos. The campus demos (LTDC and faculty/student participation) served two purposes: first, to provide an opportunity for more people to participate in the process and voice their opinions, and second, to verify or refute what the task force believed. The campus demos were very effective in achieving these objectives. The feedback from the campuses corroborated what the task force had discovered. This was very reassuring.

TTT: Faculty seem most concerned about dealing with change. What, if anything, will UW System do to help ensure that Desire2Learn remains a healthy company, so that they won't need to face this again in a few years? And, because no one can predict the market for these systems, how will UW System prepare for another potential change?

Kathy Pletcher: It is true that faculty are concerned about change. In the past the course management systems have changed with little warning, and faculty have had to spend a great deal of time converting their content. We had several goals with this RFP process: to find a product that is easy for faculty to learn and easy to use, to find a product that is efficient in converting courses from other CMS platforms, to find a product that is standards based so that future conversions will be seamless, and to find a product that we can stick with for at least five years. The Desire2Learn product meets all of these criteria.

There is also a fear that because this is a new company with a great product that it will be bought out by another company and the product will go away. In the IT business this is a constant concern, and it is one that is impossible to protect against. However, we have taken steps to minimize this risk. A site visit to the Desire2Learn headquarters and the University of Guelph was conducted as part of the due diligence phase of the evaluation. The site visit team was impressed with the company and the installation at the university. The President and CEO of Desire2Learn, John Baker, has assured us that he has no plans to sell the company, but we have built in some assurances just in case the situation changes in a few years. In the meantime, we will continue to monitor the marketplace and the OKI initiatives so that we are always prepared for market shifts.

TTT: There has been some debate surrounding implementation, but faculty will want to know what comes next. How does UW System plan to help them learn to use the product, not only to migrate their content but also to use it to teach effectively?

Kathy Pletcher: Ed Meachen has appointed David Wirth as the project manager to guide the implementation of Desire2Learn. David is an excellent choice for project manager. He has been a member of the task force so he has the knowledge of the goals of the RFP and knowledge of the architecture and the product itself. David has experience being an instructor, instructional designer, and a site administrator. And he has strong project management skills. David is in the process of developing a project plan which will include training for LTC and campus site administrators. Once these folks are trained they can train the faculty on the campuses. Desire2Learn has conversion tools that will assist with the conversion process. David plans to use the Desire2Learn collaboration tools to enhance communication among the campuses and to build a knowledge base that will be available to faculty and staff. The reference checks we did on Desire2Learn revealed that the product is very easy to learn and intuitive. Most campuses have found that faculty need very little training to be able to use the product. Also, the flexible interface design will allow LTC staff to create templates for faculty to speed up course development.

TTT: Is there anything else you would like to add?

Kathy Pletcher: I would like to thank Ed Meachen for his leadership in establishing the task force and for his support throughout this process. I would like to thank the task force members who have labored over the past 12 months to conduct the market research, develop the vision and requirements for the e-Learning system, and evaluate the RFP in a fair and objective manner. Task force members are Judy Brown, Dave Dumke, Dirk Herr-Hoymann, Margy Ingram, Bob Kaleta, Glenda Morgan, Hal Schlais, Pam Scheibel, Lori Voss, David Wirth, and Lorna Wong.

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For more on the RFP process and Desire2Learn, see:

"Preparing for Change: UW and the Quest for a New eLearning System" (October 2002), and

"UW Selects Desire2Learn as its New eLearning System" (April 2003)


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