A year after EDUCAUSE published a white paper on new directions for digital learning environments, Malcolm Brown, director of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative, reflects on the growing support and momentum for learning environments to be based on component architecture. Brown states that “rather than relying heavily on a single application like an LMS, this approach would be more modular in nature, allowing institutions to pick and choose the most relevant digital tools to suit the specific needs of their student and faculty populations.” Brown identifies six initial implications of this approach. He highlights the fact that the higher education community can act as architects of the learning environment. “The shift to component-based architecture gives us — the members of the higher ed community — an unprecedented opportunity to shape, rethink, plan, and design our digital learning environments in a way that we haven’t had since the advent of the LMS.” Brown writes that, “At EDUCAUSE, we see this evolution toward the NGDLE as nothing less than academic transformation. This will require new aspects or dimensions to leadership, especially the ability to build consensus across campus groups and organizations.”