REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FOR NEXT GENERATION LEARNING ENVIRONMENT/LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Transcription

1 REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) FOR NEXT GENERATION LEARNING ENVIRONMENT/LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM SPECIAL NOTE: This Request for Information (RFI) does not obligate the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system, its Board of Trustees or any MnSCU member institution to award a contract or complete the proposed project. Vendors should check the site frequently for amendments and/or responses to questions and are expected to review information on the site carefully before submitting a response. MnSCU RFI web page: 1

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3 Contents Section 1. Background... 4 Section 2. Statement of Need... 4 Section 3. RFI Process... 5 Section 4. Contacts... 6 Section 5. RFI Schedule... 6 Section 6. Review of Responses Schedule... 6 Section 7. Webinar with Script... 6 Section 8 Vendor Profile... 6 Section 9 Product Questions and Requirements... 7 Section 10 Total Cost of Ownership

4 STATE OF MINNESOTA MINNESOTASTATECOLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (MnSCU) FORMAL REQUEST FOR INFORMATION (RFI) Section 1. Background Minnesota State Colleges and Universities is the fifth-largest system of higher education in the United States. It is comprised of 31 two-year colleges and four-year universities with 54 campuses located in 47 Minnesota communities. The System serves approximately 430,000 students each year. The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities is an independent state entity that is governed by a 15 member Board of Trustees. The law creating the system was passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 1991 and went into effect July 1, The law merged the state's community colleges, technical colleges and state universities into one system. There is one board and one chancellor for the entire system. For more information about Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, please view its website at MnSCU adopted D2L Brightspace as a common learning management system (LMS) for all MnSCU institutions in late 2003 and has remained on this platform ever since. MnSCU s instance of D2L Brightspace remains one of D2L s top three largest client installations in the western hemisphere. MnSCU has selfhosted the environment since beginning with D2L Brightspace with an environment that handles daily logins averaging 75, ,000 users. The number of D2L Brightspace courses has grown from 1,110 in 2004 to over 30,000 per semester presently. In this RFI, learning management system (LMS) and learning environment (LE) will be used interchangeably referring to a software package that includes learner tools (communication tools, productivity tools, and student involvement tools), support tools (administration tools, course delivery tools, and curriculum design tools), analytics and data management tools, and the ability to extend to third party applications, all of which enable the delivery of web-based learning and learning management. Section 2. Statement of Need The System Office of MnSCU is in the process of conducting an environmental scan and product RFI to evaluate possible pathways for ensuring high quality, connected cloud-based learning environment (LE) services for MnSCU faculty and students well into the 2020s and possibly beyond. The Next Generation LE work group is gathering information to better understand the current and future states of LE/LMS solutions in higher education. Vendors should be prepared to address the needs of MnSCU as a consortium of higher education institutions. NOTE: This RFI does not obligate MnSCU to purchase any goods or services. A. Key Attributes While MnSCU is interested in learning about the instructional tools and pedagogical functionality of LE products, the primary purpose of this RFI is to explore possible pathways for ensuring high quality, secure, 4

5 connected cloud-based learning environment (LE) services. The following are key attributes that need to be part of any future MnSCU LE/LMS solution. The solution needs to: 1. Be a secure cloud-based service solution 2. Demonstrate compatibility with all major desktop and mobile vendors (Apple, Microsoft, smart phone and tablet vendors)) and all major browsers 3. Be SCORM-compliant so that learning content that can be incorporated into web-based courses and course delivery to end users 4. Support current LTI standards up to and including v1.2 a. Be able to demonstrate a strong effort to achieve WCAG 2.0 AA compliance 5. Waive any claims to intellectual property ownership of MnSCU-created content residing in the cloud services servers or databases 6. Comply with privacy standards regulated by FERPA and MGDPA 7. Provide access to the MnSCU system data as well as a means to course, department, program, institutional, and system-level analytic tools and reports 8. Ensure that customer information/data is segregated from other customers information in the provider s hosted environment. This includes segregation of MnSCU s 31 institutions data from each other. 9. Deliver a stable and robust system Additionally, the following key attributes are needed by vendors responding to this RFI must demonstrate: 10. The availability of a commercially available product with sales for a minimum of two years 11. A minimum of two years experience as a Cloud Service Provider 12. A minimum of three years experience with large institutions and systems of higher education 13. A minimum of three years experience in instructional design for higher education Section 3. RFI Process This section describes the process that respondents to the Request for Information will follow in this solicitation. 1. Issuance The issuance date of this RFI is December 28, Response Submittal Responses should be made for Sections 8-11 and should be organized in that specific order. Each responder is requested to submit an electronic response in PDF or MS Word format along with any attachments (no marketing materials) on or before 1:00 P.M., CST on January 25, Responses should be sent to: lesely.blicker@so.mnscu.edu. NOTE: MnSCU is not liable for any costs incurred by Responders in developing the responses directly or indirectly related to this Request for Information (RFI). Respondent is responsible for all costs associated with creation of a response or any follow-up requests. All responses submitted become the property of MnSCU. 5

6 Section 4. Contacts Questions and requests for additional information should be directed to Section 5. RFI Schedule Issue RFI: December 28, 2015 Submittal of RFI response: January 25, 1:00 P.M., CST Section 6. Review of Responses Schedule All responses received by the deadline will be reviewed by representatives of MnSCU. Because of the nature of an RFI, there will be no response rating or formal determination of solution. Section 7. Webinar with Script Webinar product information and demonstration will be requested the week of February 8-12, MnSCU reserves the right to select one, none, or more of the responders to present a webinar (up to 3 hours per responder that includes a Q&A period). MnSCU will provide questions and topics to be addressed in a timed presentation. MnSCU reserves the right to have additional meetings with none, one, or more of the responders. The script for the webinar product information and demonstration script if requested to present will include the following, but is subject to changes or additions: Company Overview (No marketing, this is not a sales call) Describe Offering o Show functionality of offering (if time is limited you will be asked to select several prominent features to demonstrate, but this does not need to be an all-inclusive feature set demonstration) o Show how product achieves a distinctive competence among competitors o Describe in detail data platform and analytics/reporting functions Architectural details of cloud platform, hosting services, and information security practices Training, technical support and migration implementation services Future roadmap and product functionality timeline General Cost Structure and Licensing/Subscription Models Q&A MnSCU reserves the right to request additional elements to be part of the times script and will send those invited to present additional questions no later than one week prior to presentation. Section 8 Vendor Profile 1. Identify the company name, address, city, state, zip code, telephone, and fax numbers. 2. Identify the name, title, address, phone and fax numbers, and address of the primary contact person for this project. 3. Provide a brief overview of your company including number of years in business, number of 6

7 employees, nature of business, and description of clients. 4. Identify any parent corporation and/or subsidiaries, if appropriate. 5. Give a brief description of the evolution of the learning management system software. Include the date of the first installed site and major developments which have occurred (e.g. new versions, new modules, specific features, features added via corporate acquisitions). Describe any previous ownership, if appropriate. 6. List any industry awards/recognition that you have received, the awarding party, and the date received. 7. Indicate the total number of installations in the last 3 years by the year of installation and the total number of current users for the proposed system. 8. Provide a summary of your company s short term and long term goals and strategic vision. 9. Provide a list of three references similar in size and scope in the higher education filed. References should be clients who have had their system installed within the past 48 months. (Include name, contact, address, telephone, system(s) installed and date of installation). Section 9 Product Questions and Requirements Provide responses to all questions. 1. Product feature set and functionality a. Describe all tools and functionality that are a part of the learning environment. Especially address those aspects that support effective class management and pedagogical functionality b. Describe some of the primary distinctive competencies or competitive advantages of this product over leading LMS products in the higher education LMS market. c. Describe tools or features which support faculty and student collaboration and at what organizational level (e.g., course only, across courses, across departments or programs, across institutions, across communities). 2. Content and File Management a. Describe how the solution: i. Provides for the creation, uploading, downloading, and management of course content (files, documents, video, audio, links, etc.). ii. Allows for customization in the presentation of content and the movement of content within and between courses, to include the use of a variety of file formats. iii. Provides for conditional and special release of content items iv. Is compatible with publisher course packs and other learning management systems 3. Delivery Properties a. List all operating systems and browsers with which the solution is compatible and describe how the solution supports mobile delivery on multiple platforms (ios, Android, other) b. Does the solution follow responsive web design principles for all devices? c. Mobile strategy 1. Describe how the product is currently designed to enable and support mobile functionality for faculty and then describe same for students. 7

8 2. Describe the product s future roadmap for enabling and supporting mobile functionality for faculty and then describe same for students. 4. Course Management a. Describe whether the solution provides the ability to combine multi-section courses into one large course? In other words, can courses be merged? 5. Learning Outcomes b. Describe how and in which tools the solution provides for competency-based education (cbe). 6. Differentiated Instruction Properties, Design and Learning Customization a. Describe how the solution allows the instructor or content designer to customize learning content and/or its design. Include in your answer a description of whether and how it allows for branching activities, forms of adaptive learning or differentiated instruction, scenario-based learning, linear and non-linear design. b. Describe degree of campus autonomy with regard to institutional branding and user experience. 7. Student-Centered Features a. Describe all student-centered features or tools within the LMS that provide for students to contribute, create, or display web pages for group work or collaborative projects. 8. Accessibility Standards and ADA Compliance b. Describe how the solution complies with WCAG 2.0 AA. 9. Intellectual Property a. Vendor agrees to waive any claims to intellectual property ownership of MnSCU-created content residing in the cloud services servers or databases (this is a yes/no question). 10. New Releases, Upgrades, and Patches a. Describe the process for pushing out all product upgrades. b. What is the frequency schedule for release of major and minor upgrades? c. Describe availability and timing of upgrade documentation 11. Training Services a. Describe the types of training provided on solution (onsite, webinar, video tutorials, user guides, etc.) b. Does vendor offer a train- the-trainer model of training for consortia system clients? c. Describe user groups or user communities for solution. d. Describe availability of user documentation. 12. Help Desk Services / Technical Support a. Describe the availability and outline cost structures of your company s ongoing technical and user (faculty, students, administrators) support capability. Include such things as who provides the support, tiers and avenues for support, availability of knowledge base, service metrics, availability of service level agreements, etc. 8

9 13. Migration and Implementation Support a. Please describe vendor s services and tools utilized as well as vendor s capabilities for migrating D2L courses and their content, and faculty and student information to the solution. Please describe any limitations, constraints, or standards that apply to this process. 14. Reporting Function and Analytics a. Does vendor have an analytical and reporting function available for customers? If not what is timeline for full-scale production? b. Describe elements and functionality of the analytics and reporting function of the solution including historical and predictive. c. Describe whether the solution has the ability to import, maintain, and export data to integrate and interact with MnSCU data warehouses or other analytical tools d. Does the solution support the Caliper standard? 15. Integrations a. Please describe solution s options for integration with student information systems, including architecture, data flow, and customer responsibilities for implementation and support. b. Please describe the 3rd-party integrations the solution currently supports, e.g., textbook publishers, libraries, bookstore vendors, lecture capture, streaming video, clickers, etc. c. Please describe which integration standards the solution supports, e.g., LTI versions, SCORM, AICC, etc. Please describe the contexts/features in which these standards are implemented. 16. Hosting Infrastructure a. Does vendor offer comprehensive hosting of the solution? If so, please address b-d below. b. Describe vendor s hosting facilities in broad terms including redundancy/failover, disaster recovery, and physical security controls. c. Describe vendor s hosting geography: where are the hosting facilities of all types located? d. Describe vendor s hosting facility's capacity and scalability in terms of institutions, courses, participants (administrators, faculty, students), and learning activities. Are there any limitations to file or database storage? If there are storage costs associated with this question, please address in Section Technical Attributes a. Please describe the technologies and processes used to develop and maintain the solution s: i. Operating system(s) ii. Development language(s) iii. Database vendor(s) 18. Information Security a. Does vendor have a dedicated information security group or function that is responsible for the oversight and implementation of information security? If so, please describe. 19. System-level Support a. Describe how solution supports a multi-institution system or consortium of colleges and universities 9

10 b. Describe solution s architecture for a multi-institution consortium (i.e., single instance vs. multiple instance architectures). c. Describe the faculty and student experience in using the solution when they teach at or attend multiple MnSCU institutions. d. Describe the various roles (e.g., system-wide administrators, institutional administrators, faculty, and students) available in the solution and permissions for each role. e. Describe the solution s database reporting tools. (This is not a data analytics/warehousing question; it refers to operational reporting within the main LE product.) Section 10 Total Cost of Ownership 1. What type of information does vendor need from MnSCU to present your most competitive price in an RFP? 2. In your experience, what do you see as cost drivers in developing service or products? 3. Describe general cost structures and licensing/subscription models, including pricing structures for hosting, storage, technical support, consulting, customization, or other services not listed here. 10