Eastern Washington University joined forces with 34 community and vocational/technical colleges and five other fouryear public universities in Washington state through the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC)
to execute a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a new learning management system (LMS). The RFP process involved
approximately 800 faculty and staff members from across the state in the review and product evaluation phases.
The result of the RFP was an “opt in” pricing agreement with the
successful vendor (Instructure, Canvas). Within two years of the
RFP conclusion, all 34 of the vocational / technical community
colleges and five of the six four-year institutions
in Washington State had adopted Canvas
as their supported LMS.
100%
80%
60%
RFP Process
Once the top three vendors had been selected to
move forward in the RFP, access to an installation
of each was provided to all of the institutions for
testing. Altogether there were more than 800 staff
and faculty members from across the state that
reviewed the merits of the three products. Using
a standardized rubric created by the selection
committee, individuals could rate as many of the
products as wanted. This assisted in the collection
of a larger pool of reviews by allowing for the
variable amount of time commitments of each
individual.
40%
20%
0%
%
98
Of Washington
community colleges,
vocational/technical
colleges and
universities joined RFP
One set of reviewers agreed to test the same
“dozen” features in each of the three products
and to provide input via a web form. Another set
of reviewers just tried out whatever features and
whichever product was of interest/concern and
provided input via a web form. More consideration
was put on the input from individuals who
completed a full review of all three products than
those who did hit-and-miss testing.
In addition to this partnership saving the university
hundreds of thousands of dollars, this solution
also strengthens Eastern’s collaboration with other
state higher education institutions — in fact on
the heels of the LMS effort, statewide partnerships
have commenced for lecture capture and desktop
web conferencing systems.
800
Staff and faculty state
wide assessed the merits
of LMS vendors
The use of a common LMS within the state
has lowered barriers to student transitions
between community colleges, EWU and
other four year institutions in WA state.
Coordination of institutions has broadened
from purchasing of shared systems to
sharing of development materials and
strategies. A statewide effort is currently
in process to launch a new statewide
technology conference, the “Building
Bridges” conference, designed to help foster
greater collaboration between institutions.
Location of institutions that joined RFP
Key Benefits
Price leveraging
Size of test group
1 RFP
In the Works
Lecture Capture
Statewide Building Bridges
Conference
What it Takes Next Steps
Trust
Faculty Involvement
Communication
Audience Response
BI tools
Canvas Transition Year at EWU
It Takes a Village to Select a Learning Management System
Faculty
57%
39%
8.4%
FALL
WINTER SPRING
Students
77%
60%
13%
FALL
WINTER SPRING
During the 2012-2013 academic
year as faculty became more
familiar with Canvas, the number
of faculty continued to rise from
8.4% (55 faculty) during the Fall
Quarter to 57% (377 faculty) by
the end of Spring Quarter.
As EWU faculty started to use
Canvas more, so did EWU students.
During the 2012-2013 academic
year, the growth of students
accessing a published Canvas
course rose from 13% (1,649
students) to 77% (9,457).
Courses
Winter 2013 Canvas Courses
452 in Canvas
2,672 Courses
Spring 2013 Canvas Courses
642 in Canvas
2,729 Courses
The number of published courses in Canvas increased each quarter.
During Winter Quarter, 17% of all EWU courses offered were available to
students in Canvas. By Spring Quarter, that percentage had risen to 24%.
Currently, 2014, the total number of courses is hovering around 47%.
$690,000
Blackboard v8
Blackboard v9
Moodle Rooms
Desire2Learn
Canvas
June 2013
Contract for
Blackboard v8 expires. Blackboard
courses archived. Last of the faculty
migrate to Canvas.
Jan 2013
All EWU faculty are able to
use Canvas for any of the courses they teach.
Dec 2012
Complete integration of Banner
database syncing courses in Canvas with EWU
course catalog and student enrollments.
Sept 2012
Early adopters start teaching students
at EWU with Canvas. Professional development
materials take shape for Canvas and are available to
EWU faculty and staff.
Aug 2012
Single Sign On (SSO) is set up
so no new passwords need to be remembered to
access Canvas.
July 2012
EWU signs contract with Canvas.
Set-up of Canvas system for EWU begins.
April 2012
Academic Systems Advisory Committee
(ASAC) supports OIT’s recommendation to adopt and
join the SBCTC selected choice of Canvas.
March 2012 Desire2Learn, Blackboard v9, and Canvas
all make the RFP short list. More than 800 staff and
faculty from across the state begin testing the three LMS
systems to determine which company is awarded the new
contract. Thirty-five EWU staff participated in the testing
process. Access to Canvas made available to any interested
faculty.
Sept 2011
In September 2011, Eastern joins a
state-wide LMS RFP process led by the State Board for
Community and Technical Colleges (SBCTC) and includes
representation from each of the six four-year universities.
April 2011
Discussions begin about a statewide higher education adoption of a LMS. EWU begins
testing Moodle Rooms and Blackboard v9. UW begins
testing Canvas.
Jan 2011
v8 begins.
The search for replacing Blackboard
Sept 2009
EWU migrates to Blackboard v8 as their
LMS. Blackboard v9 is released, OIT begins monitoring for
possible adoption.
Total amount saved by EWU over 7 year life of contract
http://goo.gl/OwYe4R