Faculty members and students want their future learning management systems to be customizable and full of features, but a new study (pdf) found that they still use the systems’ basic functions most often. The researchers analyzed data from last year’s Core Data Service survey, which collects information about institutions’ IT use, as well as individual surveys of faculty and students. According to the faculty survey, more than 70 percent of respondents said learning management systems are useful for enhancing their teaching and student learning. However, most faculty members said they primarily use their system as a place to store content such as lecture notes and the syllabus, while 41 percent said they use it to interact with students outside the classroom. With the report, Educause has launched the Next Generation Digital Learning Environments Initiative, a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supported effort to examine why colleges and universities are using “antiquated” technology — and how to replace it.