• LTRC announces the launch of spring/summer course pilot and the beta-tester program on ELM.
• Please see the launch information page for more detail description of the pilot programs

• Update to the LMS Implementation Committee (PowerPoint presentation: 18-Mar-2009_final.pps

• LMS Update report () to the committee and community during the Learning Technology Symposium December 3 - 4, 2008
• ELM: E-Learn at Mac is the chosen name for the new Learning System
• The infrastructure staff spent two and a half days along with hardware and Blackboard consultants to install one component of ELM. This major learning component is now installed and the various nodes (machines) and are successfully talking to each other. The rest of the month will be spent installing the other components of ELM, configuring the base installation, as well as intensive testing of the hardware and base installation. Configuration of the application will commence in the new year.
  
  

• Success in obtaining the LMS environment name. ELM: eLearning @ McMaster now has its own registered web domain name.
• Clustered install services of the Vista application has been scheduled for December 1st.
• Production Mentoring services (from Blackboard) will commence December 15th.
• The staff have been piloting a new ticketed support system with WebCT. Preliminary result: increased work flow efficiency. This ticketed support system will be used for ELM.
• Training materials development is back in full swing.

Hardware

• The majority of the new LMS hardware is racked and assembled. We are still waiting for the arrival of specialized custom power cables among accessories for the power installation/integration of the new LMS hardware to the JHE data centre facilities. New ETA is October 6th.
• Moving Forward:
  • Cable and accessory installation
  • Hardware burn testing (to make sure all the hardware is working properly)
  • Operating system and database installation
  • Clustered install services of the Vista application:  this is tentatively scheduled for November 24th pending availability of Blackboard and a hardware vendor
  • Production Mentoring services (from Blackboard) will commence one week after the clustered install services  
• Competing priorities and potential setbacks:
• Scheduling for Bb services may get pushed further in time depending on availability of consultants.  Other work tasks (e.g. application configuration, data integration, etc. will also be pushed further in time)
• Primary LearnLink online storage needs to be moved to new storage array asap.  This will take place prior to the clustered install services

• The new data streams from UTS/Registrar are in production! The major tasks ahead are
  • Develop strategies for data integration (people, courses, enrolments)
  • Testing API calls, gathering requirements for XML inputs into the new LMS and programming
• The staff have successfully tested course migrations. As a test, the majority of January 2008 courses were converted from WebCT 4.1 to the Blackboard Vista 8 format. It is likely that on launch of the new system, faculty will receive a sandbox environment containing a blank course as well as converted courses.
• Training material development has begun, but is on hold temporarily as staff support start of term activities for WebCT and LearnLink

• The majority of the hardware is racked and assembled. We are still waiting for the arrival of specialized power cables among other accessories.
• Although development of training materials has begun, it is on hold as staff deal with the heavy beginning of term support for WebCT and LearnLink.
• The data schema for the new files from UTS/Registrar are now finalized and being moved to production.
• Vista, Community and Content have been installed on the Virtual environment. Preliminary configurations have begun.
• Discussions have taken place with the University Libraries, HSC Library, Continuing Education and Student Affairs regarding their needs within the new LMS