There is a difference between reading about the selection process for a learning management system and participating in a group of colleagues to produce a rubric to assess the systems. When reading about the selection process, it can appear to be straightforward – list the desired features in grid, compare the systems you want to assess and conclusion will be apparent.

Not so when you attempt to apply this method in a real scenario. The process of developing an assessment tool is as important as determining in the end which product will best suit your needs.

In order to assess the needs of the institution or learning project, first, a committee must be assembled. The committee should understand the technological constraints or affordances of the systems being assessed, and the costs, so often it is the IT and administrative personnel who decide on which LMS to use. However, those who will be directly using the system – instructors and students – should also be included in the selection process. As Wright (2014) notes, often this is not the case. IT specialists tend to buy the systems before consulting with all stakeholders.

The instructors must understand the complexities of their demographic target. As the LMS is addressing learning content delivery, are your students children or adults? Where are they physically located? What access to technology do they have as far as computing and Internet access? Who will pay for this and what is their budget for both acquisition and ongoing maintenance?

Learning Management Systems have a number of integrated features, not all of which may necessarily be used. Most learning management systems have a lot of common features, and Lai (2013) notes that features only vary slightly between systems, so knowing how to distinguish them can be challenging.
Additionally, although instructors and students will be using the LMS, they often are not experienced with teaching in an online environment and are unfamiliar with when and how (of if) any of the features should be used. Knowing how to incorporate best practices into an online learning environment takes more than knowledge of the technology but also how to translate good teaching practices that would otherwise have been incorporated into a F2F environment to an online space. The best online space with all the dazzle of new features will not compensate for poor teaching practices (Pina, 2014; Lai, 2013). Lai (2013) also explores the question, from the instructor and student perspective, of how the LMS will pedagogically enhance student learning and illustrates the levels of frustrations that both groups have with using the LMS. Having instructors who have experience building online spaces and teaching in them should be included in the decision process.

References:

Lai, A., & Savage, P. (2013). Learning Management Systems and Principles of Good Teaching: Instructor and Student Perspectives. Canadian Journal Of Learning And Technology, 39(3),

Piña, A. & Bohn, L. (2014). Assessing online faculty: More Than Student Surveys and Design Rubrics. Quarterly Review Of Distance Education, 15(3), 25-34.

Wright, C. (2014). Selecting a Learning Management System: Advice from an Academic Perspective. EDUCAUSE Review, April 21, 2014. Accessed June 11, 2015 at: http://www.educause.edu/ero/article/selecting-learning-management-system-advice-academic-perspective