Managing your K-12 school’s educational programs with disparate legacy technology systems creates challenges for teachers that can impact student outcomes. As learners’ and educators’ needs change, you can quickly outgrow your patchwork solution and find yourself looking for a better way to deliver courses and track progress.
Schools that adopt a streamlined learning management system (LMS) improve efficiency for teachers, students, administrators and superintendents. Teachers get the tools they need to create content that keeps classes engaged, which has a direct positive impact on the student learning experience. Administrators have a clear way to monitor student advancement, pinpoint areas of need and support consistency across courses. And superintendents have access to easily accessible data that can drive improved outcomes, including student retention and completion rates.
Change Management Challenges: The Bumpy Road to a New LMS
Putting a new LMS in place involves extensive planning and preparation, especially if you manage several schools across a district. Ideally, you’d like to prepare everyone for the change and minimize friction during the transition.
A strategic approach to change management anticipates challenges and provides support to:
- address any concerns educators have about the process
- secure skills and resources for implementation and training
- minimize downtime and post-implementation administrative work
- set up integrations and ensure interoperability
- create an adoption plan that enables all stakeholders to benefit from the platform’s features
Creating such a detailed change management plan can seem overwhelming, as most educational teams are already busy with more than they can handle. Administrators may lack the knowledge to properly transition data and content into a new system, and teachers may be wary of adopting new tools due to bad experiences with previous tech transitions.
Finding a Reliable Change Management Partner
An approach to change management that considers everyone’s needs and concerns can help implementation go smoothly and promote better outcomes for students and educators. That’s what Evan OBranovic, executive director of technology at Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) in Traverse City, MI, did when he set out to expand accessibility to digital learning across the district’s 16 schools.
OBranovic described the existing learning management approach as a combination of “… different solutions—often free or trial versions of software that [teachers] had signed up for themselves. As a result, the solution landscape was complex, and it was difficult to share resources or integrate tools.”
Nathan Bishop, principal of Blyth Academy in Toronto, Ontario, faced similar challenges. Blyth delivers more than 160 in-person and online courses to over 12,000 students, and its LMS “…didn’t offer the flexibility required to step up to the next level.”
To improve the learning experience and continue providing high-quality education, the Academy was looking to “…move away from hosting, managing, and maintaining our LMS ourselves so that we could focus more time and resources on educating our students.”
Streamline Change Management With Support From D2L
Both OBranovic and Bishop found the solution they needed in D2L Brightspace. But D2L goes beyond providing education software to act as a change management partner. With tools, resources, and support for every step from onboarding, to course migration, to customer success, to staff adoption and training, D2L enables districts to:
- set goals and outcomes for their Brightspace transition
- identify affected stakeholders
- lay out an implementation timeline
- familiarize teachers and students with Brightspace tools
- maximize platform adoption
Onboarding Services: Your Path to a Smooth LMS Transition
Implementation and setup support ease the anxiety that can accompany new tech adoption. Through its onboarding services, D2L provides a team of experts to help create a change plan based on years of experience working with K-12 institutions.
Onboarding services work closely with executive leadership, administrators and teachers to streamline change management through:
- a tailored approach that considers every stakeholder and use case
- steps that align program outcomes with educational goals
- clear communication that addresses feedback and concerns
- supportive technical direction that integrates disconnected tools and systems
Once Brightspace is in place, D2L’s Learning Strategists stick with you to support successful course migration and enable widespread adoption.
OBranovic was grateful for D2L’s help implementing Brightspace at TCAPS. “As well as providing a full suite of digital resources, D2L went above and beyond to implement the solution in line with our needs,” he says. “We worked with them to offer webinars and one-to-one support and help us migrate our data into Brightspace quickly, securely and accurately.”
Course Migration: Upgrading Your LMS With Minimal Downtime
Seamless course migration is essential to ensure continued access to educational content. But the process doesn’t always go as expected: manual migration can leave important content behind, and elements from previous systems may not display correctly in the new platform.
D2L’s course migration support provides unlimited course conversion to ensure all content is migrated to Brightspace. A combination of software tools and expert guidance helps you:
- identify high-priority courses that need to be transferred before other content
- handle course exports, imports and custom content updates
- anticipate and plan for potential challenges involved in migrating complex courses
- validate the migration to ensure all content is in working order
- identify opportunities to improve course content and learning experiences
Course migration services enable educators and students to enjoy an uninterrupted experience so you don’t have to spend time fielding support requests due to broken links or missing content.
Simple implementation was one reason why Blyth Academy chose Brightspace. “We looked at various solutions from many different LMS providers, and the Brightspace platform came out on top,” explains Bishop. “The fact that Brightspace is easy to set up and requires no IT administration from our side was a huge plus.”
Customer Success: Your Personal Change Management Support System
Communication and training are critical to avoiding complexity as you navigate change. Stakeholders at every level need insight into next steps and a supportive onboarding experience that quickly familiarizes them with the new platform.
D2L works with you to create a phased training plan that includes:
- personalized onboarding
- consultation
- on-demand Brightspace training resources
- private training for extra support
Quick response times and consistent communication throughout the change management process give teachers the skills to create successful blended learning environments and supplement classroom sessions with additional resources.
OBranovic saw the benefits of smooth Brightspace implementation at TCAPS. “Teachers report that they are more confident using digital learning solutions,” he says, “and … the Brightspace platform has helped to streamline their workloads.”
Adoption Dashboard: Visualize LMS Use Data and Track Platform ROI
While positive feedback can indicate satisfaction with a new LMS, you need data to validate the true impact of the switch. The Performance+ add-on for Brightspace includes an Adoption Dashboard that tracks:
- how often educators engage with the platform
- which tools and features are accessed the most
- course access and engagement among students
- course enrollments and withdrawals
- course adoption across schools
Detailed reports help you visualize trends and track changes over time. For more specific information, you can filter based on attributes like school, role or time period, and customize your dashboard to display the most relevant data at a glance.
Comparing this data with other Performance+ insights can help you connect adoption to outcomes and make strategic decisions about where to focus future efforts for maximum impact and ROI.
“Thanks to the insights tool in Brightspace, we can now dig much deeper into student performance and take a data-driven approach to enhancing and improving the way we teach and assess our courses,” Bishop says.
Overcome Friction for Successful Change Management
With the right tools and partners to help you navigate change management, the schools within your district can implement a new LMS with ease and confidence. D2L’s experts work alongside you to create a structured change management plan, maintain stakeholder communication and successfully migrate course content to Brightspace.
Previous failed attempts at change management can raise concerns about course migration and LMS performance. D2L is there to ensure all stakeholders have positive onboarding experiences that empower them to leverage Brightspace tools for student success. Detailed reporting provides additional guidance to maximize platform adoption.
For TCAPS, the transition was a game changer. “Switching to a single LMS has removed many of the compatibility and user access headaches associated with a multi-vendor environment,” says OBranovic. “What’s more, teachers, students can access lessons and other essential school resources from a centralized platform, enabling them to focus on learning rather than searching for materials or information.”
More time spent learning means better educational outcomes—and higher ROI for your school district. Get in touch with D2L today to start your transition to Brightspace and experience the difference for yourself.
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