View Assignment #1 here. Alternately, the assignment is also attached at the bottom of this reflection.
Completing Assignment 1 allowed me to reflect on how far I have come in the MET program. When I initially read the scenario, I thought the details of the Le Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie Britannique ’s needs were quite vague. I was surprised at how methodically I started to look through the scenario. I seemed to come up with more questions than I could answer at first. The fact that I had so many questions stemmed from the prior knowledge I had gained in my other courses.
Working together with my team members was a pleasure. We worked systematically to introduce, dissect, pull apart and consider the Le Conseil case study. Our group seemed lucky to have numerous areas of expertise so as we had narrowed down the LMS needs of our case study and started to build out the rubric for our four topic areas each team member was able to contribute in a meaningful way.
We later learned after an email to Natasha that the questions that we had unanswered in our case study were ours to interpret as we saw fit. I was worried, at first, that parts of our case study that were unknown may create an unsuitable rubric. But on further reflection, I realize that the challenge of the assignment was to work within the gray areas by teasing out the unknowns using cited sources and the team’s knowledge.
The readings that we incorporated into our decision-making process, précis and paragraph were useful to my overall understanding. I found the Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. article beneficial as an overview to LMS. The speculations about the future of LMS given by Spiro and Porto provided a contrast to the overview. I did not entirely support these speculations, but I do think that the potential future of LMS could look similar to what they state. Particularly, the desire for online environments to have connections to social networks and social media sites
I was responsible for building the usability section of the rubric. Although I don’t feel that I am an expert in this area, I could rely on experience that I have had personally and professionally using and building LMS. The rubric columns were relatively quick to fill across the row. I kept two key points in mind while drafting the wording of the levels: the confidence/ lack of experience of potential users and the language barriers.
Assignment #1 extended my thinking in many ways. The collaborative group work was a highlight and needed a sounding board for examining the case study thoroughly.
References
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
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