THESIS:

Technology in Higher
Education in Support
of Innovation for
Student Success
THESIS is a
collaboration of leading
institutions worldwide
to enable a 10-100x
improvement in the
adoption of innovative
digital technologies in
support of teaching and
learning.
There are so many technologies out there today dealing with digital
content and learning management systems that need to integrate with
the ERP system. And IMS is one entity that makes sure that theyre all
going to work together.
Mike Mathews, Chief Strategist for Innovation and
Entrepreneurship, Lone Star College System
The Reality of Going Digital
The growing emergence of digital resources promises easier access to a variety of content and the realization
of personalized learning. Unfortunately, the reality is that its a challenge to integrate these rapidly emerging
resources so that they work together in a variety of software and platforms that institutions, teachers and students
use.
How can higher education bridge the gap from the reality of today to realizing the full potential of digital technology
to improve access, affordability and quality of education? The missing link is an open platform based on open
standards. Luckily, IMS Global Learning Consortium, a non-proft member driven standards organization, provides
such a platform, and IMS-enabled products are exploding into the education community through viral adoption by
leading technology suppliers. Any college, university or system can move naturally over time towards an open
academic enterprise by simply requiring IMS Conformance Certifcation as part of the procurement process.

A Collaboration to Improve Effciency and Learning Experiences
Technology in Higher Education in Support of Innovation for Student Success, or THESIS for short, is an IMS
Global initiative, developed in collaboration with institutional leaders, that seeks the commitment of colleges
and universities to break the status quo of closed proprietary systems that make digital innovation a challenge.
Pledging support for THESIS signifes an institutional commitment to evolve to an academic IT enterprise that is
based on open standards that will enable a 10-100X improvement in the deployment time, cost, and usability of
educational platforms, applications and content. The end result? Systemic technology innovation that improves the
teaching and learning experience!

Join the THESIS Collaboration
Get more from your enterprise learning technology. Join leading colleges and universities who have pledged
support for THESIS. Visit www.imsglobal.org/thesis/ for more information or contact info@imsglobal.org.
www.imsglobal.org

Make Costly Integrations a Thing of the Past!

Institutions pledging support for THESIS are provided access to IMS staff, support forums, resources, and
informational webinars to help IT and academic technology staff understand 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.
Interested colleges and universities may submit their request to participate in the THESIS program by visiting
www.imsglobal.org/thesis/thesispledge.cfm.
Upon receipt of your pledge, IMS will provide you with the THESIS toolkit and access to support forums to help
your institution begin to incorporate adoption of IMS interoperability.
For more information or to request a free webinar to learn more about THESIS, contact info@imsglobal.org.
Helping Institutions
Get More from Their
Enterprise Learning
Technology
THESIS is a practical framework to help institutions move
towards an open enterprise, and provides the support to make
procurements and upgrades that advance the adoption of open
standards relatively easy and at no additional cost. Specifcally,
THESIS is designed to:
Break the status quo of closed, proprietary systems that
make the use of digital technology diffcult to use for
teaching and learning.
Help institutions become more productive and effcient
through the adoption of proven IMS standards that will save
10-100x the cost/time to implement and support a seamless
interface of educational applications, content, and data with
the enterprise.
Enable an institution to become more agile in integrating
new technologies and digital content to evolve personalized
learning.
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 to enhance the student learning
experience.
Facilitate information sharing about innovative and
sustainable uses of technology for teaching and learning.
Why Institutions
Are Supporting
THESIS
Institutions pledging to adopt the principles
underlying THESIS will be provided the
following IMS support:
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.
Appropriate wording that specifes
requirements for relevant procurements.
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 certifed product. Typically
this is not needed for products that
have already been certifed. But this
form of troubleshooting with community
involvement is an essential feedback
mechanism and insurance policy.
www.imsglobal.org