LMS Course Migration Case Study: Modernizing & Migrating Courses at Scale
Executive Summary
Western Continuing Studies successfully migrated nearly 100 courses from Sakai LMS to Brightspace in just months using KnowledgeNow's automated migration technology, transforming what would have been a years-long manual process into an efficient, scalable solution. This represents Phase 1 of a comprehensive 3-phase project to migrate over 400 courses total.
The Challenge
Western Continuing Studies needed to migrate almost 100 courses from their existing Sakai LMS to a new Brightspace LMS and have them ready for the fall semester. The project received approval at the end of May 2025, creating a focused timeline for delivery.
Western’s traditional migration approach presented two equally problematic options:
Manual Migration Process: Copy and paste each course element by hand into the new LMS, including all formatting and content structure. This process was time-intensive for interactive elements like quizzes, which required inputting each question individually: selecting correct answers, assigning point values, adding feedback, and saving each question separately before moving to the next. With some final exams containing hundreds of questions, a single quiz could take hours to recreate.
Data Dump Approach: Use a data migration tool that would move content in bulk but leave courses in a sometimes unformatted state, requiring months of manual cleanup work, from the team at Western, to make the content usable.
As Karen De Heus, Western University's Continuing Studies Program Operations Manager, explained:
"The data dump option sounds efficient until you realize what you're left with. It can end up being months of manual cleanup. We'd essentially be trading one problem for another. Every quiz question could still need manual review and reformatting, videos might not embed properly, and the student experience would be inconsistent across courses."
The Solution
Western Continuing Studies implemented KnowledgeNow's comprehensive LMS Course Migration & Modernization Solution, which combines expert instructional design review with smart automation and responsible AI. This integrated approach systematically automated each component of the migration process while maintaining educational quality standards.
The result is a modernized Brightspace environment where instructors can focus on teaching and students experience consistent, reliable access to their courses.
Our solution transfers all course elements while preserving the original design and functionality through intelligent automation:
Videos embed automatically without requiring downloads
Links transfer correctly
Interactive elements maintain their original structure
The transformation was dramatic. What would have taken years of manual work was completed in months, allowing Western Continuing Studies to meet their fall semester deadline while maintaining course quality.
Results and Impact
Time Savings
The automation eliminated the hours of manual work required for each course component. Quiz creation, previously the most time-intensive task, now happens automatically regardless of whether the quiz contains 10 questions or hundreds.
Scale Achievement
The automation enabled Western University Continuing Education to handle the full scope of their migration needs. We can do a mass amount of these with very few people. It would be physically impossible for anyone else to do it without this technology.
Quality Maintenance
Courses transfer with their original formatting and structure intact. The format and layout was improved and modernized to use in D2L Brightspace similar to what it would like if you started the course from scratch.
Strategic Value
Rather than limiting themselves to a small subset of priority courses, Western University Continuing Education could address their entire course catalog. The efficiency gains transformed their approach from tactical migration to strategic course library enhancement.
Client Perspective
"The automation didn't just save us time, it unlocked strategic possibilities we couldn't consider before. We can now tackle our entire course catalog systematically, making improvements at scale that would have been physically impossible with manual migration. This isn't just about moving courses; it's about being able to invest in making them better rather than just making them work."
Karen De Heus, Program Operations Manager
Western Continuing Studies
Conclusion
Western Continuing Studies migration project demonstrates how KnowledgeNow's LMS Migration & Modernization Solution can transform seemingly impossible educational technology projects into manageable, scalable solutions. By combining expert instructional design review with smart automation and responsible AI, institutions can eliminate the manual bottlenecks that typically constrain LMS migrations and large course/training library updates and focus on how to make strategic improvements to learning at a larger scale.
