Pilot Implementation of Learning Management System for Tanzanian Higher Education Institutions

2020
PILOT IMPLEMENTATION OF A
EM
01/10/2020

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Table of Contents
Problem statement.........................................................................................................................................................3
Introduction................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Project Summary...........................................................................................................................................................3
SMART goals for successful implementation of Learning Management System.........................................................4
LMS task requirements.................................................................................................................................................4
Users and their roles......................................................................................................................................................5
Technical requirements.................................................................................................................................................5
Expected metrics:..........................................................................................................................................................5
Evaluation criteria for determining the feasibility of the LMS......................................................................................6
Crucial inquiries after the completion of the implementation.......................................................................................7
What is next?................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Project plan checklist after the pilot implementation....................................................................................................7
Literature review.....................................................................................................................................................11
Other methods.........................................................................................................................................................11
Research after launching.............................................................................................................................................12
Budget development for the implementation of LMS project.....................................................................................12
Project timeline...........................................................................................................................................................13
Conclusion.................................................................................................................................................................. 14
Reflection....................................................................................................................................................................14
References...................................................................................................................................................................17

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Problem statement
There has been an unprecedented increase in the demand for higher education in Tanzania. Currently,
there has been a large number of student enrolment in universities compared to any other time in the
recent past. Therefore, the demand for university education in Tanzania surpasses its supply. Such an
inequality between demand and supply can be well illustrated through the two most important ratios
pertaining to education sector that is, teacher to student ratio and textbook to student ratio which is
approximately 1:51 and 1:10 respectively, indicating a huge gap between the demand and supply of
education in Tanzania. It has been found from the statistics of education sector for the year 2020, that
for number of pupils that is, 1059 who are enrolling for the higher education, there is only 17 teachers
are available which gives rise to a very higher ratio of pupils to teacher that comes around 62. In the
year 2020, Ministry budget identifies approximately 25000 shortage of teachers while stating the
reason of poor supply of education against the demand for education in Tanzania. It is because of the
reason that teachers are the main or basic input responsible for the performance of education sector as
they have the main role in the process of delivering education along with enhancing the quality of
education in the nation.
A measure that universities can put in place to cope with the increasing demand is the use of
Information and communication technology (ICT).
Introduction
Learning management systems (LMS) can be defined as “a suite of services designed to deliver,
track, report on, and administer learning content, student progress, and student interactions." In
this project, Moodle is the LMS of choice due to its convenience in terms of customization to the
needs of Tanzanian institutions. Moodle is an Open Source Software(OSS); thus, the base coding
is available for public use and can be tailored to the needs of the institutions in question,
bypassing the cost hurdles in adapting LMS developed for non-Tanzanian education institutions.
With the recent COVID19 pandemic crisis all around the world, Tanzanian universities got shut
down, and students were unable to continue with study programs online due to the absence of a
platform where study resources could be made available as well as assessments.
In consideration of this and any other future crises, as well as the ongoing efficiency in ensuring
education support; it has become evident that there is need for a smooth, functional, and
affordable LMS that is customised to cater to the Tanzanian higher education sector.
Project Summary
This proposal will expand on the implementation of LMS designed for Tanzanian higher
education institutions, using Ardhi University in Dar Es Salaam as a study case.
Ardhi University is the right institution for this trial implementation as it has a manageable
number of enrolled students (3500). There have not been any reports on the use of a pre-existing
LMS. At the moment, student and staff training resources availability are via emails sent or
printed notes.
In this adaptation, Instructor-led training is to be employed; that is, educators will be responsible
for the overall task assignment and monitoring.

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SMART goals for successful implementation of Learning Management System
Smart goals states the objectives of implementing the learning management system in terms of specific
objectives, which should be measurable, attainable, relevant and bounded by a time frame during with the
specific objective of the project should be necessarily achieved. The specific objectives pertaining to the
LMS project implementation are stated below:
Specific: To develop a unique module to enhance creativity, storage, publication and exchange of learning
materials.
To develop a unique mechanism for ensuring the protection of stored databases and information, ensuring
appropriate management of the users of the system and allow proper flow of learning materials to the
learners.
Measurement: To ensure the reduction of 50% of the current gap prevailing between the forces of demand
for education and supply of education.
Attainment: The implementation of LMS in the education system of Tanzania will target students who are
enrolling themselves for the higher education, but not getting an opportunity to access the education due to
the shortage of input responsible for granting education. So, with the help of LMS, satisfaction of the
demand of those student who are not getting access to education would become possible which would
results in reduction in the gap between demand and supply.
Relevancy: LMS is relevant for both students and teachers. As students demand for education get satisfied
with the help of online availability learning materials and teachers and teachers will be benefitted with
accessing large number of students at a time without investing much on resources needed. Stored learning
materials can be easily accessed by students which has been uploaded by teachers.
Time – Bound: The objectives so stated above will be met within the period of two to three years that is by
2023 and accordingly it can be said that by 2023 there will be considerable reduction in the gap prevailing
between demand and supply.
LMS task requirements
Tasks to be performed by the LMS include:
 Enrolment of students
 Uploading of study resources
 Creation of online assessments
 Online discussion forums