Aloha kākou,
On Tuesday, July 9, you should have received the message from ITS Early Access to Lamaku User Accounts and Sandbox Environment, which contains information about obtaining early access to a Lamakū user account and sandbox site(s) that you can use to explore, tinker, and potentially begin developing your future Lamakū class/project/program sites should you wish. A link was provided to a few preliminary support resources.
We wanted to follow up on this UH System message to provide our Kapi‘olani CC ‘ohana with what are hopefully some helpful contextual insights and additional clarifying information based on inquiries we’ve received…
Points of Clarification: Terms & Timeline
- D2L is the vendor that owns/develops Brightspace, our new Learning Management System (LMS)
- Our iteration of Brightspace at UH has been named Lamakū (just like our iteration of Sakai was named Laulima)
- We are part of cohort 1, which is all UHCCs and UH Hilo, and we will all be teaching/learning fully in Lamakū in Spring 2025; this timeline was established by the System with input from campuses. (UHM and UHWO implementation is Fall 2025). The staggering of implementation is to manage support resources across the System to ensure the smoothest and optimally supported experience for employees and students.
- There is not an option to teach in Lamakū this fall (aside from those who participated in the Summer II pilot).
- There is not an option to continue teaching in Laulima after this Fall (unless courses are being taught at UHM or UHWO).
- You will not immediately lose access to Laulima (a timeline for fully retiring Laulima will be communicated by the System, but you’ve got plenty of time to back up and migrate content). There will be options to migrate content from Laulima to Lamakū should you elect to request this (for more info see “What’s on the Horizon…” below).
What’s Currently Happening…
Instructional designers (IDs) and technical staff (UH ITS) just gained access to Lamakū at the beginning of the summer. This summer, we have been:
- engaging in train-the-trainer sessions with D2L
- completing asynchronous training
- learning to navigate the new LMS
- testing and troubleshooting approaches to content migration and organization
- meeting frequently to debrief, troubleshoot, and document issues
- recommending updates to debug errors and alter default settings to optimize the LMS for UH users
- providing synchronous support sessions for pilot faculty
- planning multi-pronged approaches to user support, including curating and creating support resources and tutorials, planning and developing asynchronous and synchronous training and support, and developing templates and instructions
Faculty participating in the summer pilot program were invited to D2L train-the-trainer sessions as well as synchronous support sessions facilitated by instructional designers across the System. They have been testing and using Lamakū for their Summer II classes and have been providing feedback on the experience to inform future configuration and support.
If you would like to begin exploring/developing in Lamakū now, you may request a Lamakū user account and up to 5 sandbox sites (see info in the ITS email linked above). Sandbox instances are an opportunity for those who are eager to get a head start to dive in now. You are not required to do this over your summer break, but this is an opportunity and a safe space to familiarize yourself with features and tools in the new LMS and potentially begin developing your class/project/program sites if you’re so inclined.
You can keep apprised of further details via the Lamakū Updates log housed on the Discover Lamakū website.
⚠️ What’s on the Horizon…
The current System goal is that all employees will have a Lamakū user account and at least one sandbox by August 19.
You will (date TBD) be able to request content migration from a Laulima site into your Lamakū class sites (spring class sites will be auto-generated in Lamakū based on CRNs in the same way they have always been in Laulima). While some assets, like Tests & Quizzes and Discussions, have been migrating fairly well, Laulima lesson pages do not transfer exactly as is to Lamakū due to a difference in structure. You may find that it is preferable to develop modules in Lamakū manually (copying/and pasting from Laulima is an option – no need to re-type) rather than “cleaning up” migrated lesson content. We are working on a template (similar to the Laulima Course Framework) to make developing your modules as efficient and straightforward as possible.
❗IMPORTANT❗
Please know that the minimal resources shared in the recent System email are NOT the extent of the support that will be provided to faculty and staff! Again, the sandboxes and the resources sent out are intended for early adopters. Full support will begin this fall and will include:
- Synchronous training provided by D2L
- Synchronous support sessions provided by instructional designers
- Asynchronous training (both D2L and developed in-house for UH)
- 1:1 instructional design and technical support
- Just-in-time reference resources (text/images and video tutorials)
- Templates and corresponding instructions
We want you to know that we are collaborating diligently to learn the new LMS and preparing to provide the best support we can for our campus!
Jamie S. & Youxin Z.
Your friendly instructional designers from CELTT