Assignment #1 was an interesting exercise for reflecting on WHY an institution would choose a particular LMS, and all of the myriad considerations that go into that choice. As someone working at the instructor level, it was useful to reflect on the selection of the LMS from that larger institutional perspective, rather than just how to use that LMS to deliver course content. This is especially eye-opening, as we went through the assignment, and I began to reflect on how this initial institutional choice might impact the design, access, and customization of content and lessons for the individual instructors and student audience.
For our group, we chose to evaluate the use of Moodle at the college level. I found this especially useful, as I knew very little about Moodle (compared to Brightspace or Blackboard), and I enjoyed the opportunity to investigate the product and consider how I might employ it to design my blended learning courses for the future. We chose to evaluate Moodle using the updated SECTIONS framework (Bates, 2015) and I appreciated the opportunity to use this framework on a wider scale, as I have previously employed it for small-scale tools in the classroom (deciding which in-class quiz platform to use, for example). I felt that I learned the framework in more depth through this shift in paradigm to the broader institutional perspective.
I worked with a diverse group, who had a range of different experiences and approaches to the application of LMS, and I appreciated their broad knowledge base for the use of technology. I was worried at first about my contributions, as I was the last member to join the group, but despite the challenges of working across time zones, and some problems with Google Hangouts – everyone worked well and (I think) evenly contributed to the assignment in a collaborative way through Google Documents. Though coordinating schedules to meet the deadline took some final-hour heroic efforts from all members, I appreciated everyone’s effort and energy, and I feel that I learned a great deal about how LMS choice can impact student and faculty interactions online in both positive and negative ways.