CaTS will be replacing our existing WINGS portal platform with a new Drupal-based portal. Many of you may know that Drupal was used to rebuild the university’s websites over the past few years. The primary reason for this WINGS portal platform replacement is that the existing platform is antiquated, inflexible and costly.
Course Studio, which is built directly into the current WINGS portal, will not be available in the new Drupal-based portal. Many have felt for some time, including sentiments frequently expressed by students, that consolidation into a single Learning Management System would be beneficial. The Center for Teaching and Learning has a plan to help transition Course Studio users to Pilot. This plan includes the availability of a simplified course home page, along with relevant training and workshops. The CTL will be providing more information on this plan soon.
Currently, CaTS anticipates releasing a beta version of the new WINGS portal in early 2015. Both the existing WINGS portal with Course Studio and the new portal will be available through 2015 Spring Semester. No Course Studio classes will be generated for the 2015 Summer Semester. The old WINGS platform will be retired during the Summer Semester, allowing faculty and anyone with a group in Group Studio to collect any content of value. Once WINGS is retired, the content in Course Studio and Groups will no longer be available. CaTS will soon be announcing a new collaborative platform that can serve as a replacement for WINGS Groups.
Finally, CaTS and CTL will be soliciting feedback from the campus community over the coming months. We hope that you will actively participate, helping us to make this transition as easy as possible for all of you.
