This guide is for Higher Education IT administrators and faculty who are either thinking about migrating to a new LMS or who may have already started the process. This step-by-step guide for successful LMS course migration will break down the process you should follow to ensure your project’s completion.

Step 1: Choose the migration method

First, choose the migration method that works best for your institution. You have two options: manual or automated. 

Manual migration options include bulk migration tools, common cartridge exports, or simple copy-and-paste. Because these are very manual processes, they require constant quality checks to clean up errors and incomplete data brought into the new LMS.

An automated solution like Scaffold LMS Migration allows you to match course content with 99.9% accuracy and saves each school 70-80% in costs. As you can imagine, automated migration is quickly becoming the new standard.

Step 2: Map your data and features

Identify and map the data and features in your existing LMS that you want to transfer to the new one.

If you have custom data that you need to migrate as well, don’t worry. Scaffold LMS Migration can provide solutions to properly transfer any content, including data that may not fit the new LMS structure/logic. This includes:

• Quizzes
• LTI’s
• Question Pools

Step 3: Conduct a pilot run

Schedule a free demo to see firsthand what course content will look like in your new LMS.

The best way to understand how the process works and to plan your migration timelines properly is to start with some sample courses:

• Choose 10-12 sample courses for K16 to test migrate
• Find courses that are heavy in content and tools
• Pick a variety of courses that best reflect the rest of your catalog

Step 4: Create a realistic timeline

Do some math to determine how long your project will take manually. First, figure out how many courses you can migrate per week. Next, divide the total number of courses by the number you know you can migrate per week to determine how many weeks it will take.

With K16 Solutions, your migration project will take 90-120 days to complete. We spend the first couple of weeks migrating a small batch of your courses into the new LMS, then implementing your feedback on those courses. Once we get the thumbs up, we can run up to 6,000 courses per week with over 99% accuracy!

Step 5: Communicate the project and timeline

Now it’s time to communicate with all stakeholders about this project’s timeline. Lay out your project milestones and expected completion dates. Continue to update stakeholders regularly with progress or changes.

Step 6: Launch the project

When you work with K16 Solutions, launching your migration project is as simple as letting us know we can begin. We will handle everything for you from the first step to the final course migration. We will check in with you bi-weekly to ensure that we are migrating course content to your satisfaction.

Step 7: Quality check

If you are using a manual migration method, this step is crucial. Often, data transfers in fragmented pieces. Faculty will need to go through each course to ensure accuracy. You can hire a white glove service to help, but this will incur significant costs.

If you are using an automated method like Scaffold LMS Migration, you can skip this step! All content will be migrated accurately through an automated, one-to-one matching system, leaving very little for your team to QA.

Step 8: Train admins and end-users

This step is outside the actual migration process but is still important to your institution’s success when making a move to a new LMS. Technology is only beneficial if its users understand it. Walk through best practices and common situations with faculty and staff for desired outcomes.

Depending on the size of your institution, this training can be done in a group format or on a one-to-one basis. To ensure complete understanding, allow time for faculty and staff to ask questions.

Congrats! You’ve successfully completed your migration project!

Download the step-by-step guide for successful LMS course migration to learn more about migrating course content quickly, accurately, and without the burden or cost of a manual process.