In a move to enhance the student experience, the Alabama Community College System (ACCS) announced that it is migrating all of its colleges to a cloud-based learning management system (LMS).
ACCS announced that it has entered into a multi-year system-wide agreement with Blackboard to deploy the company’s LMS, Blackboard Learn Ultra. With the migration to a new LMS, ACCS is looking to streamline the student experience for the more than 170,000 students across its 24 community and technical colleges.
ACCS noted that this move to a new LMS comes after the system’s successful implementation of a single enterprise resource planning solution. ACCS said this implementation was the “first transformational step” taken by the ACCS to increase effectiveness, efficiency, and service delivery.
The new LMS ecosystem will include data analytics, virtual classrooms, an IT help desk, retention coaching, and professional development software. As part of the migration to a single LMS, ACCS is also contracting with HonorLock to provide online proctoring and Tutor.com to provide online tutoring.
While the benefits of the migration will last well beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, ACCS said that the initial implementation of this effort is funded in part by CARES Act funding Governor Kay Ivey awarded to the ACCS earlier this fall.
“For the first time, every ACCS student, regardless of whether they attend in-person or online, will have access to a uniform student experience at each of our 24 colleges,” said Jimmy H. Baker, Chancellor of the Alabama Community College System. “We are committed to continually raising the bar on the student experience and today’s announcement is a significant step forward in those efforts.”
ACCS anticipates completing implementation systemwide for the 2021-2022 academic year.
