eLearning Management Advisory Team

The eLearning Management Advisory Team (EMAT) was created in 2008, as a cross-functional team focused on improving the overall quality of online learning at Ferris.  The EMAT group has been involved in providing leadership in a number of key areas, including development of appropriate policies for online learning as well as research into best practices and faculty/student perceptions of online learning.

In 2010, the EMAT team was charged by the Vice President of Academic Affairs with the development of a comprehensive plan for online learning at Ferris.  In 2011, that plan, including 11 major recommendations, was approved by the faculty senate and the Dean's Council for adoption at Ferris.

A copy of the plan with the 11 recommendations can be found here: A Plan for eLearning at Ferris

Since adoption of the 11 recommendations in 2011, the EMAT team has continued to meet monthly to pursue these initiatives, including continuous improvement plans to further drive some of the initiatives.

An update to the Faculty Senate was provided in 2013: April 2013 Update

EMAT Current Objectives

• Review the process that determines which courses are offered online and when.
• Provide resources to support the development of new online programs.
• Review the quality and effectiveness of educational technologies used for teaching online.

EMAT Current Projects

Learning Management System Review

Several reasons have inspired a Learning Management System (LMS) review, including the imminent upgrade to Blackboard Learn Ultra, the time lapse since the last review, infrastructure issues, and support issues. There has been a significant time lapse between LMS reviews. Ferris has had two LMS reviews in the last 20 years. The first LMS review would have been completed in 1998 when Ferris adopted WebCT. Ferris began the migration process from the WebCT Campus Edition to WebCT Vista Enterprise in 2006, but it is not clear that an LMS review was done to see if there were better technology. In February 2006, Blackboard acquired WebCT. The second LMS review was performed in 2010, twelve years after adopting WebCT, and included Blackboard Learn, Moodle, Sakai and Desire2Learn. After piloting Blackboard and Moodle, Ferris decided to upgrade from WebCT Vista to Blackboard Learn. It is now 2018 and after 20 years of LMS upgrades, it is time to seriously review and consider other LMS technologies. 

For more specific details and updates about the LMS Review, please see the LMS Review web page.

EMAT Surveys and Reports

• SLOAN-C Presentation on Online Readiness Orientation (based on Summer 2013 Survey of Online Faculty on usefulness of Online Readiness Orientation/Tutorial)
• March 2011 Faculty Survey
• Spring 2010 Faculty Survey 

EMAT Members (Spring 2018): (left to right) back row: Donna Eaton, Lori Jenema, Cheryl Cluchey, Amy Greene, Stacy Anderson; front row: Warren Klope, Andrew Peterson, Sandra Brigance, Russo.