Dr. Linda Thor, Maricopa Community Colleges’ Governing Board Member at Large and Rio Salado President Emerita
All Faculty meeting, spring 2016
By Mira Radovich, Senior Contributing Writer
Rio Salado College’s online learning platform, RioLearn, is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The college’s learning management system (LMS) debuted on Aug. 23, 2004, and has been transforming the way Rio students learn ever since.
How RioLearn Came to Be
When Rio Salado College began transitioning from correspondence courses to offering online classes, there were not many LMS platforms in existence.
“The available LMS platforms were few and could not accommodate our vision for how to serve students online,” said Dr. Linda Thor, Maricopa Community Colleges’ Governing Board Member at Large and Rio Salado President Emerita. “Therefore, we committed to building our own LMS.”
Thor said the college had to consider many factors when developing its LMS.
“We needed a system that would support our one-course, multiple-starts model, allow online access to student services, and be scalable to 100,000 students,” Thor said. “Since we were building from scratch, we needed technical talent and financial support. Ultimately, we were able to partner with Dell and Microsoft to create our LMS.”
Ed Kelty, Rio Salado’s chief information officer at the time, oversaw the project’s development.
“I remember that (faculty member) Angela Ambrosia and I worked very closely with a Microsoft engineer for a full week on the new system designs,” Kelty said. “From that point I worked with Microsoft to obtain nearly $500,000 in grants. Dell provided deep discounts on hardware, and MSS Technologies offered project management help.”
Creating the LMS was truly a collaborative process not only with the vendors, but college personnel as well.
“We worked long hours and weekends to meet our deadlines,” said Earnestine Harrison, former Associate Dean of Teaching and Learning. “This was huge because we were developing our own system and not using an off-the-shelf product. As members of the college’s Instructional Helpdesk (IHD), we knew there were differences in the way Rio’s departments worked, so we incorporated value-added comments into the design.”
Kelty said that more than 100 college faculty and staff worked on the development of RioLearn.
“What was exciting was that about 25 percent of the college worked for nearly nine months, sometimes seven days a week, collaborating to get the first release of RioLearn built, tested and ready for students,” Kelty said.
After RioLearn was developed, Harrison’s IHD team was responsible for training new adjunct faculty members, staff and students on how to use the product.
“With RioLearn, the college was able to provide one-stop service between student services, the technology helpdesk and the instructional helpdesk. We were one college, one team,” Harrison said.
RioLearn Proves to be a Game Changer
In the 20 years of its existence, RioLearn has redefined Rio Salado College’s ability to serve tens of thousands of students through online learning, as well as students’ ability to access college classes at their convenience.
Most notably, Rio’s online classes start most Mondays throughout the year, so students don’t have to wait for a traditional semester start date.
“RioLearn’s three game-changing achievements have been the ability to offer weekly starts, never canceling or closing a class because of low enrollment, and allowing a student to accelerate a course for faster completion,” Thor said.
The RioLearn platform allows students to access their online courses including lessons, assignments, and gradebook, as well as student resources, and contact information for their instructors and advisors.
“Because of the design and quality of RioLearn and the built-in student services, the college enjoyed a significantly better retention and success rate than online courses offered on a generic LMS,” Thor said. “It allowed Rio Salado to build on its mission of providing quality, accessible learning to people where they were and when they wanted.”
Evolving for the Future
Over the years, RioLearn has undergone updates to streamline the online learning experience and adapt to the changing expectations of today’s online students.
“Students are the primary end-users of the LMS, so their feedback provides valuable insights into their actual experiences and needs,” said Dr. Julie Cober, Communication Faculty Chair and co-chair of the college’s student digital experience committee. “Incorporating this feedback will help enhance the functionality, navigation and usability of RioLearn making it more intuitive and engaging for students.”
“Rio Salado’s innovative work as a pioneer and leader in online learning helped to change the higher education landscape in profound ways; opening doors for students worldwide to access a college education— whenever and wherever it works for them,” said Rio Salado President Kate Smith.
“As we mark the 20th anniversary of RioLearn, we pause to appreciate and celebrate the amazing successes RioLearn has empowered. We look forward to sharing our next innovations within digital learning to meet the future needs of the next generation of online learners.”