Dear Colleagues,
I write to inform you of the status of our platform to support on-line instruction. As you know, price increases for participation in Blackboard had resulted in Towson?s search for an alternative platform. For the last 18 months, and most intensively since last July, our team has been negotiating with UMUC on the possibility of Towson?s migrating to their product, Web Tycho, under an agreement similar to that recently concluded between UMUC and UB. In that regard, I want to again thank the faculty for their help in the survey of last August, which gathered critical data on usage of Blackboard.
My main concern in these negotiations was the requirement that Towson needed assurance that the migration would be seamless for faculty and students as we moved to a new platform beginning with the Summer 2006 sessions. This week I concluded that this standard could not be met ? i.e., we had run out of time to insure the necessary preparation for a move.
In the meantime, our team under the leadership of Acting Vice President Leberknight has been talking with Blackboard about an extension. I am pleased to report that we have reached a reasonable agreement with Blackboard, which will allow us an additional year with that platform. So, I am informing the university community that we shall not be migrating this spring, but rather staying with Blackboard for the short term.
Our team will continue to study the rapidly evolving landscape in this area with the goal of making a recommendation to the President and VPs in six months, so that we can plan for the longer term. I shall keep you informed of these developments.
I want to thank all for their patience and understanding of this process.
James F. Brennan
Provost
