For assignment #2, I had the privilege of working with Paige, Alexis, Mimi and Faeyza. Thanks to Natasha for making our groups based on time zones, it was easy to connect three times over the two weeks using Google Hangouts. We did notice how although Blackboard would ‘meet expectations’ according to the rubric, how we often resorted to third-party software (ex. gmail, Drive) as tried-and-true applications. These however are under different privacy agreements compared to Kaltura for example, which is pertinent to consider in context.
From the Bates (2014) and Chickering-Ehrmann (1996) readings, our initial rubric design focused on three LMS aspects: Functional, Technical and Networking. Functional incorporated affordances the LMS provides; Technical incorporated background hardware requirements; and Networking incorporated promoting connectivity not limited to social media. We approached these sections from three varied personas: student, teacher and administrator, since LMS decisions would look different from each perspective. As a teacher, I might focus on usability; technology personnel might focus on server requirements; principals might focus on budget, etc. Our group ultimately decided that framework (refer to Appendix A) was too restrictive given none of us have actual experience being administrators needing imagination, while there would be considerable overlap between descriptors for students and teachers both working in the classroom.
The structure was then redesigned to focus on each criteria, transferring important points from brainstorming each persona into a unified rubric. Instead of all-or-none, we embedded a scoring system to describe the extent to which the LMS does not meet, meets or exceeds expectations for particular topics within each broad category. Delegating tasks among group members was positive and natural, making revisions directly on Google Docs. Towards the end, I was in charge of downloading a copy to reformat before submission, where we experienced slight miscommunication as minor corrections were still being made to the online document as it was being formatted offline. It took a bit more work and time to piece the modifications back together, but otherwise our team experience was phenomenal!
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