Developing a flexible online learning management system to facilitate various aspects of instructor-led training and lab administration

For many years, Academic Computing Services (ACS) at The University of Kansas (KU) has offered computer workshops to faculty, staff, students, and the general Lawrence, KS community. ACS required registration for most workshop offerings. In addition, ACS had the responsibility to oversee public computer lab reservations by faculty and staff. The tasks of workshop registrations and lab reservations were primarily carried out by a phone-in system. As the technical ability in the user community increased and as our services became more popular, this system became cumbersome. A need for a more automated registration and tracking system developed. ACS staff spent 5 months designing a central database that would integrate all computer workshop descriptions and schedules, as well as lists of lab software, hardware, locations, and reservations.Beginning this spring semester, ACS began requiring registration for all workshops. Registration could now be done online at http://www.ku.edu/acs/train 24 hours a day. Upon registration, a user account is created that keeps track of all workshops currently signed up for, and all workshops attended.The newly designed ACS training Web site features improved workshop listings that are sortable and searchable. Workshop listings can now be filtered by instructor, location, department, or category. There is also a new "Search" feature that lists workshops based upon user-inputted keywords. Moreover, a dynamic calendar allows users to examine the state of a workshop (open, closed, full, or cancelled) and to easily register for workshops that best fit their schedule. Once attendees for a particular class complete registration, instructors then have access to an online workshop roster to check attendance.Additional advantages of the new online registration system allow one to:receive workshop reminder emailsbe placed on a waiting list for full workshopsbe notified of any scheduling changes that may occuropt to get weekly workshop schedule updates and other training newsevaluate attended workshopsThe new ACS training Web site is successful in efficiently relating various aspects of workshops taught in a university environment. Most importantly, it has proved invaluable for us, as instructors, in our preparation and organization of delivering quality training.