LumiNUS & You

It is just a few weeks until the end of semester.

The LumiNUS team has been busy readying LumiNUS for the Beta launch in time for AY18/19.

When the Beta launches, academic staff will have a few decisions to make.

As announced previously, LumiNUS beta and IVLE will run concurrently during AY18/19. The two learning management systems are entirely separate, so it is likely that students and staff will have to engage with both LumiNUS and IVLE in the next academic year.

Despite the inconveniences and possible confusion, we thought it would be best to create a bedding-in period for LumiNUS.

Academic staff will have to decide if they want to use LumiNUS or IVLE for their modules for the coming two semesters. There are several factors that you will need to take into account when choosing a platform for each module. For example, your level of comfort with technology, your tolerance for bugs, class size, among others.

Two groups of academic staff will have additional decisions to make:

• Web Lecture (webcast) users, and
• Academic staff co-teaching modules.

New web Lectures (webcasts) will only be available in LumiNUS. If you record a new Web Lecture, your web lectures will be in LumiNUS. This is because we are moving to a new web lecture system in AY18/19. The system has only been integrated with LumiNUS. If you reuse an existing web lecture (recorded prior to AY18/19), they will be only in IVLE.

Academic staff who co-teach modules will have to decide collectively about which platform to use. We encourage you to choose either IVLE or LumiNUS rather than splitting the module between two platforms. (Recall that IVLE and LumiNUS are not connected.)

You may want to sign up for access to the Alpha. You can also read on and sign up for the LumiNUS online information sessions.

LumiNUS online information sessions

This month, we will begin fortnightly webinars to introduce LumiNUS to the NUS community.

The sessions for April will be held on:

• Tuesday 10 April 2018 at 12 noon (register here)
• Wednesday 25 April 2018 at 12 noon (register here)

During the information sessions, you will find out our plans for LumiNUS and IVLE and learn more about the new and improved features in LumiNUS.

Further information

You can find more details about and explore what's new in LumiNUS. These pages will be updated as new information becomes available.

LumiNUS Alpha is here

NUS students and staff are familiar with IVLE, which has been a part of campus life since 1999. Soon, this will change. A new learning management system (LMS), LumiNUS, will be launched.

Over the course of the next two years, LumiNUS will become the place for teaching and learning online in NUS. This will be a significant change for the entire campus community. As such, CIT has phased the LumiNUS rollout over several semesters.

Why a new LMS?

IVLE has been indispensable to thousands of students and staff over the years, but it has grown long in the tooth. To support teaching and learning effectively, CIT has had to redesign the LMS from the ground up. Unlike previous IVLE upgrades and refreshes, this one is a clean break from the past.

Why LumiNUS?

While the tools look familiar, LumiNUS is significantly different from IVLE. This necessitated a new name. LumiNUS alludes to luminous, which is defined as giving off light, or bright and shining. We hope that LumiNUS helps to light students' educational path in NUS.

Timeline

• AY 17/18 S2: LumiNUS Alpha.
• AY 18/19: LumiNUS Beta, IVLE runs concurrently.
• AY 19/20: LumiNUS, IVLE becomes read-only.
• Date to be determined: IVLE taken offline.

What to expect?

Currently, LumiNUS is in closed Alpha. This is meant as a preview of what to expect once LumiNUS becomes available. The Alpha is limited to staff and students who have signed up. It is not meant for actual teaching and learning use. There may be a second Alpha phase, which will expand access to the wider NUS community.

In the coming months, you can expect face-to-face and online seminars which will introduce you to LumiNUS. Monthly updates will go deeper into some of the new and improved features in LumiNUS. We are also working on a series of workshops.

When LumiNUS launches in Beta, before AY 18/19, academic staff will have to choose whether to use IVLE for a while longer or to switch immediately to LumiNUS. In the coming months, we will provide more details so that you can make an informed choice. Barring unforeseen circumstances, everyone will be on board LumiNUS before the start of AY 19/20.

Further information

You can find more details about and explore what's new in LumiNUS. These pages will be updated as new information becomes available.

You can also sign up as an Alpha user.