For the past five years, I have been working as a Learning Solutions Manager with Pearson Canada. In this role, I work closely with post-secondary instructors to help integrate our technology products into their courses. When I first started out, we were primarily offering online homework/assessment tools, so my role was primarily to train faculty on how to use our technology. However, over the past two years there has been a significant increase in the number of online and blended learning courses. This increase has led to a change in my interactions with instructors as they are now looking for more than just assessment tools. With the move away from the traditional lecture, faculty are looking for additional content and activities for students to access online. They are also looking for new media and tools to deliver this content. This now means I must take on a consultative role to review the course objectives and then match up our resources to fill in the gaps. This also means reviewing the LMS they are using to ensure that our products will integrate and to avoid any unnecessary duplication. The goal is to offer a complete learning experience for the students that is delivered in a straightforward and easy to follow format.
To be become a more effective consultant when it comes to the delivery of online and blended learning courses, I must develop a better understanding of the tools that instructors will be utilizing. This starts with developing a thorough working knowledge of the major LMS products. In this course, I would like to focus specifically on Moodle and Connect as they are being used by a number of institutions in my area. Having a better understanding of the LMS capabilities can offer two main benefits. The first is that having an idea of the different ways an instructor can deliver content through the LMS and what limitations exist. This will help me formulate a vision of how our content will be displayed to the student throughout the course. The second benefit is that I will better understand the technical capabilities of the LMS, specifically communication, assessment, and media production. This understanding will help avoid the duplication of tools and I can focus on filling the gaps.
The other area I would like to explore in more depth within this course is Social Media tools. Currently, I do not see many instructors utilizing social media within the delivery of their courses, whereas their student’s usage is increasing. Unfortunately, at this point in time I am not sure which specific social media tools I would like to focus on. Having said that, I would like to focus specifically on how instructors can evaluate different media tools and match them up with their course objectives. Having this knowledge can help me become more effective in my professional life in two ways. Firstly, I can have discussions with faculty about the social media tools currently being used by their students outside of their coursework. We can then evaluate whether or not these tools can be effectively used within the course to deliver the learning outcomes. Secondly, this understanding can help me to make recommendations to our media developers within Pearson. We are quickly changing from a printed textbook company to one who delivers educational technology products and services. We have focused a lot of time on the needs of the instructors teaching the courses, but we need to improve our understanding of the student’s needs.
Finally, as has been the case in the other MET courses I have taken, I am really looking forward to interacting and learning from everyone in the course. Having so many educators in the courses offers a great perspective into their ideas and challenges when it comes to educating students.