Original Post-11/26/2018

Over the past 6 months, Learning Suite has reported outages 13 Times. These outages last hours, impacting the ability for students to turn in assignments, do online quizzes, and access crucial information about their classes. Learning suite was designed by BYU Software engineers and was implemented starting in late 2011, replacing the aging "Blackboard" system. Blackboard was used by BYU until May 2012, when it was officially retired and was fully replaced by Learning Suite. Things have changed since 2012.  In an increasingly wireless world, where we have everything at our fingertips, it is time for BYU to move on from Learning Suite. With 13 outages in 6 months, each lasting an average of 4.375 hours, Learning Suite has been down for over 56 Hours over the course of 6 months, all of which occurred during the day. This amounts to a downtime of 1.13%. Canvas, a program with similar features that Learning Suite was designed to emulate, has a guaranteed downtime of less than .1%, 13 times better than Learning Suite. The simple fact of the matter is Learning Suite is broken. It is a flawed system that can no longer keep up with the demands of students, faculty, and staff. If BYU follows in the footsteps of BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii, and hundreds of others by making the switch to Canvas, the changes would be astronomical. Money now spent on software engineers and servers could be directed into other struggling campus services. There would be less frustration from users as the interface of canvas makes it easy to use through tutorials and a vast support network. It is time to put learning suite to rest and look to the future.

**Update-11/28/2018**

While we appreciate the response of Mr. Kelly Flanagan, head of the BYU Office of Information Technology, it is still not our desired answer. Countless members of the faculty and staff use alternatives to Learning Suite such as Moodle and Canvas. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be reaching out to staff to hear their opinion on learning suite, both the good and the bad. These meetings will be recorded with faculty permission, and posted online as proof that it is not just students the are fed up with Learning Suite, but members of the university as a whole. Again, we thank Mr. Flanagan for his response, and look forward to continuing this dialouge as a way to promote change on our campus.