Leading by innovating higher education: LMS change management strategies designed to mitigate student attrition during a large-scale Blackboard Ultra implementation

Technology-driven education is rapidly changing. To keep up with this environment institutions implement new learning management systems (LMS). A poorly executed LMS implementation can negatively impact the student experience.  This paper presents findings from a study conducted to understand better ways to mitigate student attrition during LMS migrations. After an exhaustive search of the peer reviewed literature, seminal professional white papers and other documents, along with interviews with similar institutions and vendors, three primary recommendations emerged. First, university leadership should consider a staged migration to ensure that the first phase of implementation is executed as flawlessly as possible. Second, a multi-faceted communication strategy should be implemented with the purpose of generating university-wide excitement and buy-in and third, use the transition to the new LMS as a way to improve curriculum.