Having taught five years of secondary level Chemistry in Surrey, most lessons have been designed with minor tweaks from semester to semester. Being able to teach provincial as well as International Baccalaureate (IB) curricula requires accommodating not only content, but pace and delivery. My goal for this course is to explore how learning management systems (LMS) can promote student learning and engagement, allocating media pedagogically using available tools. I currently use Wikispaces primarily as databases for notes/answers, where hopefully LMS can transform employing interactivities, uploading resources, conducting assessments and managing discussions. Given license restrictions, students log in using generic accounts which although convenient does not promote accountability. LMS have steadily been adopted into education given its (a)synchronous communication, content development/delivery, formative/summative assessment and class/user management (Coates et al., 2005). Through experiencing Blackboard and Canvas, I seek to redesign my own courses perhaps towards a module-based framework. Excluding administrative duties like attendance and report cards that are centralized through MyEd, uploading assignments and grade reporting can potentially be transitioned into LMS. Social networking can possibly be embedded to strengthen teacher-student and peer-peer connections, as learners actively reframe knowledge to demonstrate understanding. I aspire to implement LMS to provide diverse menus for instruction (Diaz et al., 2009) towards employing mobile technologies within the science discipline. Kahoot for instance has enabled redirecting already-present devices for games-based learning.
Different LMS can be evaluated using Bates’ (2014) SECTIONS model within context, reflecting demographic variation, ease of use among others, to measure reliability and robustness. Selection includes how well LMS enable flexible course delivery, increase teaching efficiency, enrich adaptive learning, to meet technology expectations in competitive marketplaces (Coates et al., 2005). LMS can expand pedagogical richness of modalities, enabling personalization and just-in-time learning, developing best practice models to augment learning communities with virtual presence. Flexibility allows learners to utilize online activity to complement school discussion for authentic experiences. Despite limitations given course structures, I want to discover how to efficiently incorporate technologies with students, progressing towards more learner-centered pedagogies, maybe employing (reverse) mentoring (Diaz et al., 2009). LMS can enhance collaboration within departments as platforms for discussion, extending towards multi-disciplinary conversations. Using ISTE (2007) standards for evaluation, technology affordances can be leveraged for effectiveness, promoting equitable access tools for student empowerment.
Porto (2015) describes notable cautions regarding the uncertain future of LMS, around inflexibility as newer technologies distribute open access. Managing logins and securing privacy remain important considerations. Furthermore, expecting young learners to adopt different LMS in different classes presents foreseeable challenges. Although my school has technology facilitators, most IT support is centralized for the district, suggesting inevitable troubleshooting might need to be addressed in house using online tutorials. Restructuring can be disruptive and costly given inertia of institutions (Bates, 2014), though I hope LMS will employ blogs, wikis, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Hangout, YouTube and Khan Academy as complementary experiences, expanding ways to interact with learning resources. From Spiro (2014), I am curious to explore Moodle along with its various plugins (ex. Progress Bar, BigBlueButton, VeriCite), tracking learner participation through configurable reports, self-registrating with admin confirmation, and controlling access to interactivities. Teachers facilitate the what, when and how, returning control to students curated for on-demand learning. Clear policies explain what students can expect and get out of it, building skills as modern currency. As many roads lead to learning (Chickering and Ehrmann, 1996), I aspire to broaden my own repertoires with students, expecting more from learners by employing interactivity with real-life issues. I want to find practical methods to engage learning as collaborative over competitive, utilizing even spontaneous social interactions, having students talk about what they are learning. Students can learn by doing with simulations for example, instantly seeing concepts with inherent feedback.
References
Bates, T. (2014). Choosing and using media in education: The SECTIONS model. In Teaching in digital age. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/part/9-pedagogical-differences-between-media/
Chickering, A. W., & Ehrmann, S., C. (1996). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6. Retrieved from http://www.aahea.org/articles/sevenprinciples.htm
Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of Learning Management Systems on university teaching and learning. Tertiary Education and Management, 11,(1), 19-36. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11233-004-3567-9
Diaz, V., Garrett, P.B., Moore, J., & Schwartz, C. M. (2009). Faculty development for the 21st century. Educause Review (44)3, 46-55. Retrieved from http://er.educause.edu/articles/2009/5/faculty-development-for-the-21st-century
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2017). Standards for teachers. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators
Porto, S. (2015). The uncertain future of Learning Management Systems. The Evolllution: Illuminating the Lifelong Learning Movement. Retrieved from http://www.evolllution.com/opinions/uncertain-future-learning-management-systems/
Spiro, K. (2014). 5 elearning trends leading to the end of the Learning Management Systems. Retrieved from http://elearningindustry.com/5-elearning-trends-leading-to-the-end-of-the-learning-management-system