The next few series of blog entries will be about evaluating learning management systems or LMS for short. This will be separated into a four- part series. The first one is in reference to the first two weeks that I have been learning about LMS such as what it is, how they work, some differences between different types as well as features to make them unique. I will be adding a few personal reflections on each area as well as my personal look into the future on how a learning management system will work for me on my educational journey to online teaching.
What is a learning management system? How is it used? Who uses this system? What I learned from the first two weeks working with LMS is a software application or web-based system used to create, implement and assess a specific learning process (Rouse, n.d.). Rouse suggests it is used for eLearning and consists of two parts: A server and a user which is usually used by instructors, students, and administrators (Rouse, n.d.).
How to use the LMS is dependent on who you are. According to Rice (2012), there can be corporate or academic uses as well as content-based systems. Each area can use the system, but each is unique to itself. To begin I will look at the corporate use of an LMS. A corporation may want to use the system for training, I have been through this with many companies. Using this approach allows the company to deliver learning programs that they can control with administrators creating a scheduled time, content, and completion of a topic, such as harassment training. A corporate LMS targets business organizations. The other type targets Academic areas used by schools. This is different from corporate because it is used for delivering learning online with a graded result. This is like corporate with a passing grade but differs since there is interaction with a professor and student via discussion boards, learning goals, and in some cases web conferencing.
The last area to review is LCMS-LMS. This is a combination of Learning Content Management System LCMS and learning management systems LMS. A bit confusing, YES! LCMS is learning management system with content. This area does not create a specific course for a person to take and be graded on, but it gives a person just enough information to understand and is used mostly by organizations that make their own instructional programs.
OK, now that the basics are covered it may be helpful to discuss what I plan on doing with all this information. My educational journey is to achieve my Master of Education in online learning with the hopes of teaching, online, well after my retirement years. The medium used seems to be Blackboard which is an established LMS. I personally have not had any experience creating a course within Blackboard but as a student have used this for many years. I need to flip from being a student to being an educator and therefor, learn how Blackboard works. What type of online teacher do I want to be?
Since the university I hope to work for uses Blackboard, I will need to understand how to add a course module when needed. The course set up requires a new set of learning which will include how to create everything like the home page, content, discussion boards, gradebook and so much more. If I am lucky the class is already created but there will come a time when one may need to be created from scratch.
Looking ahead I know from being a student online that some classes have issues such as broken links for readings and videos, outdated material, information that is just not relevant to the course. As an instructor I hope to have enough time to open the class to be taught, open each link, verify that it all works before I begin. Only then can a course run smoothly and hopefully with confidence that all students will succeed. See the following video if they do not.
Milne, J. (2020, Jan 1). 5 mistakes online teachers make
Resources:
Milne, J. (2020, Jan 1). 5 mistakes online teachers make . Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0od65Nv7F4
Rice, W. (2012). Blackboard essentials for teachers : Build and deliver great courses using this popular learning management system. Birmingham: Packt Publishing. Chapters 2-4
Rouse, M. (n.d.). learning management systems (LMS). Retrieved from https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/learning-management-system
Published by Lynette Markey on March 28, 2020
Lynette's Educational Journey 