Based in Davao City on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, the University of Mindanao is no stranger to using technology in learning. The institution was already using a Learning Management System (LMS) even before the pandemic, when many other schools were just beginning to use one to adjust to online learning. 

University of Mindanao Senior Vice President Dr. Ronnie V. Amorado knows all about using an LMS. After all, Dr. Amorado handles the institution’s academic affairs (including its other campuses around Mindanao). He also oversaw the school’s transition to using Blackboard Learn as a supplemental delivery platform. 

“We were able to continue operating throughout the pandemic thanks to our familiarity with [the] LMS,” Dr. Amorado explained. “[The] LMS remains useful even today, especially with flexible, remote, distance learning becoming more popular.”

Challenges and opportunities with an LMS

The rising importance of distance learning has been recognized even by the Philippine government. In early 2021, the government went as far as tasking one of the country’s top universities with helping other educational institutions develop their distance education programs.

The University of Mindanao’s success with distance learning and using an LMS provides a good blueprint for what other schools can do. Not only was the institution able to operate at a time when many schools had to close, but Dr. Amorado shared that using an LMS also increased the school’s enrollment. 

“We had about 35,000 students enrolling at our main campus in Davao City. With our other campuses and branches we reached about 45,000,” Dr. Amorado said. “That’s our highest enrollment ever, surpassing our 1999 record of 29,000 university-wide. This way we see our LMS as a recruiting method because it lets us offer remote education and flexible learning via online classes.”

Today, all of the school’s professional school programs remain online while undergraduate programs take a hybrid approach—all using Blackboard Learn. 

Yet Dr. Amorado also shared that there were challenges in the transition to using Blackboard Learn. 

For example, although the University of Mindanao already had extensive experience, there were still faculty members that had to be trained to use Blackboard Learn. The good news was that Blackboard Learn’s user-friendly features, such as easy monitoring and reporting capabilities, smoothed the transition. Dr. Amorado himself even cites the automatic generation of data analytics as a personal favorite feature. 

Another challenge was onboarding teachers who had been using free versions of different LMS programs. “Retraining everyone to get on the same platform took about three months,” said Dr. Amorado. 

What also helped both students and faculty make the transition and warm up to Blackboard Learn was its interactivity compared to other LMS systems. By utilizing tools such as discussion boards, blogs, journals, and wikis, University of Mindanao faculty and students can create assignments that are engaging and enable them to share and generate knowledge. 

The institution also pushes for the use of Blackboard Learn by sending regular reminders to use the platform. Finally, the school has regularly scheduled training sessions for Blackboard Learn every semester as part of faculty retooling and HelpDesk services.

Facing tomorrow with Blackboard Learn

Overall, Dr. Amorado believes that Blackboard Learn is key for the University of Mindanao’s future. 

“Distance learning is becoming more and more common, after all. Schools are realizing how important it is to have an LMS,” he said. “But the problem is many schools are treating it just as another classroom.”

Some schools use an LMS only to post assignments, failing to realize how it can facilitate engagement beyond the classroom and even offer valuable data on how students perform. “With face-to-face classes having come back since the pandemic, it’s become even easier for teachers to forget to use the LMS at all,” said Dr. Amorado. 

According to Dr. Amorado, it’s crucial to show that an efficient LMS is key to solving tomorrow’s educational challenges. Dr. Amorado hopes that Blackboard Learn’s research and development will create automated feedback tools to streamline future assessments. Another such challenge Dr. Amorado hopes Blackboard Learn can help with is the rampant progress of artificial intelligence and the threat it poses to academic integrity. By solving these challenges with LMS technology, schools should realize its full potential. 

In the meantime, however, Blackboard Learn has certainly contributed to the University of Mindanao’s goal of becoming globally engaged. 

“The school is ISO certified,” shared Dr. Amorado. “We really want to be able to hold our school to global standards. So the fact that we’re ISO certified means our use of an LMS is auditable—which is why we want to be sure our faculty is really maximizing the benefits it delivers!”

The University of Mindanao’s faculty expressed appreciation for Blackboard Learn as well. The school conducts an evaluation survey every term with the aim of letting faculty express how they feel about the LMS. 

“Our recent surveys for Blackboard Learn have shown us better results than we had with any other LMS,” said Dr. Amorado. “People love its user-friendly features and the relatively easier migration to the platform.”

Blackboard Learn has become an essential tool in facilitating distance education for the University of Mindanao. The school’s successful utilization of Blackboard Learn as a supplemental delivery platform serves as an excellent example of how an LMS can be effectively implemented in the Philippines. While challenges exist, the benefits of an LMS in terms of global engagement, automated feedback, and accessibility make it a valuable tool for universities. With its user-friendly interface and robust features, Blackboard Learn has the potential to transform the way education is delivered and accessed.