12th Annual LMS Data Update

The fall 2024 US LMS market share data referenced in this post is available for purchase. Additionally, a complete historical data set of all LMS usage data dating back to 2013 is also available for purchase.

Over the past several years, educational technology has undergone significant transformations driven by advancements in digital tools and evolving educational trends. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of online learning platforms, leading to a surge in hybrid and remote teaching models.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has now become more prominent, with tools offering personalized learning experiences and real-time feedback for students. Virtual and augmented reality applications promise to enrich interactive learning, allowing for immersive experiences that enhance understanding of complex subjects.

Even considering all of these modern shifts in related educational technology, schools and universities still continue to rely heavily on the Learning Management System (LMS), a technology that emerged in the 1990s, to facilitate course delivery, assessments, and student engagement.

Now in our 12th year, we continue to capture shifts and trends in LMS usage in US higher education. Trends established in previous years continue with Instructure’s Canvas and D2L’s Brightspace taking virtually all new wins.

This year we also explore the geographic adoption of LMSs over time. Created by our Lead Data Scientist, Stephanie Lidstone, this map shows the regionality of the very rapid adoption of Instructure’s Canvas beginning in 2016 and the more-recent wave of D2L Brightspace adoption.

LMS Data – Spring 2024 Updates

The spring 2024 US LMS market share data referenced in this post is available for purchase. Additionally, a complete historical data set of all LMS usage data dating back to 2013 is also available for purchase.

US higher education is facing a very tumultuous period driven by changes in the perception of the value of college, funding challenges, student aid challenges, demographic changes, a shift towards skills-based instead of degree-based hiring, and changes in student expectations that started before the pandemic and were impacted by it.

Since we began tracking Learning Management System (LMS) usage in US higher education over a decade ago, we’ve noted over 250 institutions that have closed or consolidated. This trend seems to be accelerating, and combined with year-to-year shifts in student enrollments, it’s beginning to reflect in the trends seen in our data.

This spring, we note two developments of significance. First, D2L Brightspace has taken over Moodle as the third-most popular LMS in US higher education. D2L has been winning new Brightspace customers at an accelerating pace. Moodle’s losses come from a mix of LMS switches and also from an uptick in smaller schools that are closing or consolidating. Second, Instructure no longer appears to be winning every potential new customer at the pace it once was. This, combined with school closures and mergers within its existing customer base, has slowed Instructure’s US higher education growth.

For many years, we have consistently tracked institutions having more than 500 students – a number we determined indicates a strong likelihood that a school would have and use a LMS. It’s also one indicator of the financial sustainability of an institution. As with every update, we’ve updated our data to reflect the latest IPEDS enrollment data. We’ve also begun to remove the growing list of colleges and universities that have closed. The number of active, unique institutions having more than 500 students has again decreased. This trend, combined with the coming enrollment cliff, means that the next several years will not only be increasingly challenging for higher education institutions themselves but also for the technology vendors that sell solutions to them.

The spring 2024 US LMS market share data referenced in this post is available for purchase. Additionally, a complete historical data set of all LMS usage data dating back to 2013 is also available for purchase.