Library and Technology Services announced on Tuesday that it is upgrading the University's online learning tool, LATTE. The LATTE system is used by faculty and students to organize course syllabi, notes and assignments, as well as forums for course discussions.

LATTE was established in 2007 using the software Moodle, and still runs on the same version of the software that "is starting to get up in age," said LTS Associate Director for Academic Services Adam Lipkin in an interview with the Justice. "We want to bring LATTE up to date." The new LATTE will be upgraded from Moodle 1.9 to the latest version, 2.4.

LATTE is actively used in 75 percent of courses, and there are an estimated 40,000 log-ins per week, according to Lipkin.
The new LATTE is scheduled to be available for faculty by November 2013, and for students in January 2014. The LATTE team is in the process of development testing, and will be conducting beta testing with students and faculty later in the spring.

The announcement of the plan for LATTE was released during the same week as the the long-awaited draft of the University-wide strategic plan.

"With the strategic plan emerging on campus and strategic directions becoming clear, we'll be launching updated LATTE in time to help support those new initiatives in appropriate ways," said Joshua Wilson, LTS director for academic support and user services.

"A lot of elements in the strategic plan are actually well-positioned for LATTE use," Lipkin added, including the second-year course initiative, increased flexibility in education and creating new models of intensive educational options. "A robust and flexible online system is one of the core pieces of technology that can help for a lot of those things," said Lipkin.

LATTE is used by many members of the Brandeis community, and the new LATTE will be geared toward everyone's needs. "One of the things we are trying to do in this project is to get as much community input as we can, so we've been consulting with an oversight group that's composed of faculty, students and staff, all who have a key stake in the future of LATTE," said Wilson. The oversight group has been asked questions pertaining to the availability of course material and syllabi, among other issues.

One change that has already been implemented is the option for faculty to make syllabi publicly available beyond LATTE. This is "a preview of coming attractions," according to Wilson. "It is the kind of thing we want to put into the updated LATTE when it emerges in 2014."

Additions include more compatibility with mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets, as more students are using these devices to access LATTE on the go. The system will also be integrated with GoogleDrive and GoogleDocs, which will make it easier for professors to upload both course material, readings and other assignments.

LATTE will also have "a new look and feel," Lipkin said, which does not affect the functionality, but "comes to affect the way people approach these systems." A survey was sent out for students and faculty to vote on what the new LATTE logo should represent, and it has already received a large response.

Despite the changes to be implemented, Wilson and Lipkin guaranteed that the LATTE experience would be familiar to students and faculty. "LATTE has been a very well-accepted system at Brandeis, and we want people to have a consistent experience with what they are already used to," Lipkin said.