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Learn About Learn: UNM's Next Generation LMS

Announcing UNM Learn, UNM's new Learning Management System

WebCT Vista, as it is known on campus, will no longer be offered after the Spring 2013 semester, due to the fact that the product is no longer being supported by the vendor. In its place, New Media & Extended Learning (NMEL) is announcing a significant update to the University of New Mexico's official Learning Management System (LMS). The new software, Blackboard Learn™ (Release 9.1), is a next generation LMS and sports a modern interface and many new features. Learn represents a significant architectural shift away from the current LMS, WebCT Vista. Learn takes advantage of the latest web technologies to enhance the student and faculty experience, and increase accessibility. The software has been awarded Non-visual Accessibility Gold Certification by the National Federation of the Blind.

New Media & Extended Learning will continue to provide the same services to faculty and students on both systems during the transition, as well as training and support for faculty who are new to UNM Learn. For more information please see this list of frequently asked (and answered) questions or email learn@unm.edu.

When?

Spring 2013: Faculty who use the UNM LMS to augment their campus courses will be able to choose UNM Learn instead of WebCT Vista for Spring 2013; see Getting Started in Learn for details.

Summer 2013: UNM Learn will be fully implemented for all LMS users.

 

Quick List of New Features & Changes 

• Announcements & Discussion Postings can be forwarded to your UNM preferred email
• Customizable Course Menu for improved navigation
• Dynamic dashboard for Announcements, What's New, Alerts, Calendar, To Do's
• Instructors can choose to use internal or external email for course messages
• Full text editing for all course tools; students cam easily add images & web links to messages & discussion postings
• Improved grade book
• Students can see all graded work can be seen in one place
• Learn does not support the same grace period for accessing publisher content that was available in WebCT. Students will need to obtain publisher codes prior to accessing the publisher content used for the course.

Learn Migration Timeline

Spring 2012	All courses were hosted on WebCT Vista.
May 2012	A small group of faculty began using the new system to develop courses for the Summer Term.
Summer 2012	All courses remained on WebCT Vista, except for a limited number of courses that participated in an Early Access Program pilot within the new LMS.
	Faculty identified for the Early Access Program participated in a limited pilot in Learn over the Summer 2012 semester.
Fall 2012	All courses remained on WebCT Vista, except for the Early Access Program pilot classes.
	Early Access Program pilot classes expanded to include a larger, but still limited set of courses on UNM Learn.
Spring 2013	All faculty have been able to opt in to using Learn for any class.
Summer 2013	All active courses will be hosted from Learn.
Summer 2013 through May, 2015	WebCT Vista will be scaled down, but maintained for old course material storage and retrieval. No new courses will be offered using WebCT.