As announced in August, via a joint communication from the Chief Academic Officers Council (CAOC) and the Educational Technology Advisory Committee (ETAC), the University of Maine System has selected Desire2Learn’s Brightspace platform to replace Blackboard Learn as our Learning Management System (LMS). This decision came after a thorough review and procurement process driven by input and feedback from the entire University community. The UMS Information Technology team partnered with the CAOC and ETAC throughout this evaluation and will continue to partner with students, faculty, and staff in supporting the teaching and learning needs of the University as we work to implement Brightspace.

Looking forward, we will be working towards a full implementation of Brightspace targeted for a full go-live for Fall 2020. In the interim, the IT support staff will continue to support Blackboard in the same capacity that we always have. The next steps for Brightspace include building the project team that will guide the implementation forward and starting the behind the scenes setup of the new platform. During the project, IT staff will be critical in configuring our new Brightspace solution, assisting with automated migration of content from Blackboard, building a support model to ensure the success of students and faculty, and much more.

The UMS Information Technology team looks forward to the opportunities Brightspace provides students and faculty with a modern, accessible, flexible solution that empowers their teaching and learning needs. More information about the Learning Management System review process, as well as future updates on the progress of the implementation, can be found on the ETAC website.

(Content provided by John Brown, Director of Campus Services, Campus Academic and Business Solutions)