Abstract
Recent survey has it that nearly 80 percent of universities in Taiwan relied on commercial providers to implement a campus-wide Learning Management System (LMS) for enhancing and extending the dimensions of learning. Though outsourcing a LMS has become a viable alternative for higher education, past literature concerning the decision-making process, the cooperation models, the implementation steps and the future maintenances is rare and waiting to be clarified. Therefore, this study intends to explore the strategic planning and professional practices of local universities while implementing an outsourced LMS. The researcher conducted the study through collecting and synthesizing in-depth interview data from both academic institutions and the corresponding service providers via observations and semi-structured questionnaire. The results induce a profound strategic plan with three stages according to timeline: 1). Before the LMS implementation: two major incentives to consider; four criteria used in screening out commercial providers; three cooperation models between universities and commercial providers; 2). During the LMS implementation: an ideal framework for promoting a campus-wide LMS; Eight steps to deploy a LMS. 3). After the LMS implementation: Four most frequently used functional modules during instruction; the remaining challenges and issues to be overcome. Eventually, further research directions and insightful suggestions for both academic institutions and commercial providers are highlighted, too.