My personal reflection for this assignment will be divided into two different sections. First I will discuss my experiences with my group, and second I will discuss the rationale, trying to not repeat too much from the assignment!
This assignment designated me to work with Che, Sally and Ghassan. We initially discussed our ideas over Google Hangouts, which led to a couple video chats that allowed us to converse about our evaluation rubric and what we hoped to achieve. I really enjoyed working with this group and it was great to work with someone who works somewhere that had actually gone through the process of choosing a LMS before. This allowed for some great insight behind the procedures and practices that are followed in a real life situations and how a team is developed to choose a LMS. As such, our group was able to go through each and every part of our rubric with the selection team in mind to ensure we covered all areas that were necessary to cover.
It was also interesting to work with people from all around the world. Our group had people from Europe to New Zealand, with me, in between, from Canada. I was so grateful to have such accommodating group members that didn’t let time zone differences get in the way and it was great getting to know these people!
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The base of our LMS evaluation rubric, as proposed by a group member, is Bates’ SECTIONS model (2014). Tony Bates has developed this framework “for making effective decisions about the choice and use of media for teaching and learning” (Bates, 2014). Since this LMS would be used for teaching and learning, we wanted to create a simple, yet detailed rubric to evaluate each LMS to make the most effective decision for the UMP (Undergraduate Medical Program). We decided as a group that the SECTIONS model was a good framework to work with since it is a viable way to tackle decision-making when it comes to choosing a technology. Selecting a LMS is a complex process and there are many things to consider when making such an important decision. With this model, we are able to use the 8 core categories (Student, Ease of use, Cost, Teaching and Media Selection, Interaction, Organizational Issues, Networking, and Security and privacy) to reach every criterion necessary to evaluate when choosing a LMS.
Our group also found ourselves having a big discussion over the weighting of each point. When choosing a LMS some things are non-negotiable and mandatory to have from an institutions standpoint, some other points are desirable but not necessary. This had us really thinking about each element of the rubric. We had to go through, and think from an institutions perspective, to decide what we thought was mandatory to have.
Overall, I’m glad I had this experience to learn how much goes behind these types of selections. I don’t think, as a primary/elementary teacher, that I will ever have to use something like this but the learning process behind it is important to participate in.
Reference:
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/