An Institutional Pledge to Support
Technology in Higher Education in Support of Innovation for Success

 

Overview

“Technology in Higher Education in Support of Innovation for Student Success” or THESIS for short, is a collaboration among leading colleges and universities worldwide to enable a 10-100x improvement in the adoption of innovative digital technologies in support of teaching and learning.  Adoption of the “THESIS Pledge” by institutions signifies a commitment to the work of an institutional-led community to evolve to an academic IT enterprise that is based on open standards.  These open standards make technology experiences more seamless and productive for teachers and students, reduce the time and cost of integration, and reduce barriers to entry for new suppliers.  The THESIS community is organized and supported by the IMS Global Learning Consortium, a not-for-profit organization of leading higher education institutions, suppliers, school districts and states.

THESIS provides a framework to help colleges and universities to take the first steps towards an open academic enterprise and provides the support to make procurements and upgrades that advance the adoption of open standards relatively easy and at no additional cost. Specifically, THESIS is designed to:

• Break the status quo of closed, proprietary systems that make the use of digital technology in various combinations difficult to use for teaching and learning. 
• Help institutions of all kinds become more productive and efficient through the adoption of proven IMS interoperability standards that will save 10-100x the cost/time to implement and support a seamless interface of educational applications, content, and data with the academic enterprise.
• Enable an institution to become more agile in integrating new technologies and digital content, and providing support for evolving new personalized learning environments.
• Enable content and data to be migrated from one platform to another platform with ease.
• Help improve the consistency in the use of technology and digital resources by faculty, which in turn will enhance the student learning experience.
• Facilitate information sharing about innovative and sustainable uses of technology that can help improve access, affordability, and quality of personalized educational experiences.

By pledging to support THESIS, higher education institutions can do more with less while accelerating the adoption of the IMS standards to enable faculty and students to work more efficiently and effectively.  Additional details regarding the THESIS program are outlined in the THESIS Brochure (pdf).

 

Eligibility

Any college or university may pledge to participate in the THESIS program. Institutions pledging support will be provided the following IMS support to further the stated goals for THESIS:

• Serves as the authoritative source on the development, adoption, and impact of interoperability to enable and transform digital learning environments.
• Provides the appropriate wording that specifies requirements for relevant procurements.
• Access to support forums and informational webinars that provide the support and training required for IT and academic technology staff to understand where opportunities exist today and how to incorporate the adoption of open standards, including what to look for when engaged in a procurement or upgrade to advance the stated goals of THESIS.
• Finally, IMS is prepared to get experts involved in the rare case that an individual institution or system encounters an interoperability issue with an IMS certified product. Typically this is not needed for products that have already been certified.  But this form of troubleshooting with community involvement is an essential feedback mechanism and insurance policy.

Qualification for the above IMS support requires an official executive commitment (e.g. president or chancellor) to encourage IMS Global Learning Consortium certification as part of the campus procurement policy. The executive endorsement is essential because THESIS is a serious and transformational program that will mature over several years as the industry and each institution’s IT evolves. IMS will be making an investment in supporting your institution and needs some assurance of commitment at the institutional level. In addition, the executive endorsements aid IMS in its work to encourage suppliers to fully adopt IMS open interoperability and achieve certification.  Membership in IMS Global is not required.

 

THESIS Pledge

Interested institutions may submit a request to participate in THESIS to IMS Global. Upon receipt of your pledge, IMS will provide you with the THESIS toolkit of reference materials and access to support forums to help your institution begin to incorporate adoption of IMS interoperability.

 

Interested in Becoming More Involved?

Membership in IMS Global is not required to pledge your support of THESIS and receive the support outlined above. However, interested institutions and systems may also get more involved in leading the evolution of the institutional and technical requirements underlying THESIS by participating as members of IMS Global Learning Consortium along with other leading institutions and systems around the world.

 

THESIS Flyer and Overview Presentation

The THESIS Overview Flyer (pdf) are materials created by IMS Global to provide a brief snapshot of the THESIS program, including an overview of benefits provided to colleges and universities who pledge to adopt the principles of the THESIS program to move the institution towards an open platform to help make the use of technology and digital resources easier and more effective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The THESIS Overview presentation (pdf) provides an overview of the program that can be used to introduce the program to your institution.