Dive Brief:

• Some schools are turning to custom-built learning management systems rather than purchasing a solution off the shelf. 
• Most schools already customize pre-built systems to some extent, either by adding their own content or selecting which functions to adopt, but experts say the totally DIY approach ensures the system addresses all of a school’s needs.
• The designing and launching of a custom LMS, however, is often more difficult than anticipated.

Dive Insight:

One potential trick for making a custom-built LMS work is partnering with smaller startups that haven’t yet established themselves. The district can serve as a pilot project, benefiting both parties. Florida Virtual Schools took this approach several years ago.

Some schools or districts may also be able to recruit, or have work donated by, local programmers or companies — not all of which may be so small. For example, Summit Public Schools in California had its new personalized learning system designed by Facebook engineers.

But at least one school doing this urges caution when jumping in. Saint Stephen’s College, a private school located in Australia, is currently in the process of migrating its content to a custom-built LMS. “At this point, you just can’t compete with the big guys who have all of the resources and all of the experts onboard,” Peter West, the school’s director of eLearning, told eSchool News. “Ten years ago you may have been able to handle this in-house, but these days the complexity of a good LMS or online learning environment is huge; it does much more than simply deliver content.”