Information Technology Services Making the change to a single enterprise CMS Phil Hill, HBO Systems, Inc Molly Langstaff, University of Iowa

Information Technology Services Project at a Glance Attempt in 2002 to consolidate on one centrally- supported CMS did not succeed, but sowed the seeds for 2004 project E-Learning Assessment in 2003 identified 2 centrally-managed CMS in addition to at least 4 others on campus CMS Selection project in 2004 created ICON (Iowa Courses On-Line), using one centrally- supported enterprise CMS

Information Technology Services Why Change? Departmental or collegiate CMS evolving to campus-wide or system-wide CMS –license fees –integration with other systems create value –mission-critical –need to move focus away from feature wars and into value creation Net effect: we didn’t choose change, we chose to manage change for our benefit

Information Technology Services Key Challenges to Selection Cultural pride in decentralization led to assumptions –cannot communicate directly to faculty lists –faculty don’t want AT support in pedagogy Historical lack of trust between colleges and ITS Lack of structure for making common decisions for academic use

Information Technology Services Why the Different Results from 2002 to 2004? In 2002 we did not understand what problems the colleges were solving with CMS, and we did not structure the process well In 2004 we focused on UI’s problems, and created a shared vision of how a centrally- supported enterprise CMS could help solve many problems In 2004, we created a structure where selection was a cross-functional decision sponsored by ITS Communications and trust

Information Technology Services Shared Vision Example Beginning in February 2005, the University has been searching for a single enterprise CMS vendor whose product is: –easy to use and intuitive, encouraging faculty adoption despite busy schedules, –yet also has a full-featured enterprise architecture, allowing efficient implementation of complex tasks, supporting advanced systems integration and distance and nontraditional initiatives. Internally, we refer to this choice as the “Chuck Paradox,” named after the faculty member who pointed out the multiple dimensions of CMS usability. Historically, given the current CMSs supported on campus, UI has had to choose between these two dimensions of usability. Based on the results of the CMS Evaluation project, we believe we can now move forward with a system that finally solves the “Chuck Paradox,” allowing UI to move forward strategically in e-learning while not placing an undue burden on busy faculty to learn a non-intuitive system.

Information Technology Services How’s Project Going? ICON started supporting classes in May 2005 The entire College of Business is migrating to ICON for Fall 2005 All 11 colleges, along with UIHC (hospital) and continuing education are in process of making migration Heavier technical burden on ITS, but project has helped usher in new collaborations