Monthly Archives: July 2015

“It is becoming increasingly clear that merely introducing technology to the educational process is not enough to ensure technology integration since technology alone does not lead to change” (Carr, Jonassen, Litzinger & Marra, 1998). Therefore, choosing an LMS that promotes an effective learning environment requires exploration and analysis of some of the options that are available. It is necessary to decide on which one best fits the needs of your organization, your own teaching style as well as students learning style. Becoming fluent with educational technology means teachers must go beyond mere competence with the latest tools (Zhao, 2003). It is also necessary that digital tools enhance the ability to create an interactive and learning environment for students.

I used the program emaze.com to create a digital story that represents my experience exploring and analyzing various Learning Management Systems for the purpose of constructing an online course.

http://www.emaze.com/@ALWFWIIO/the-lms-gallery

Enjoy!

Laurie

References

Carr, A. A., Jonassen, D. H., Litzinger, M. E., & Marra, R. M. (1998). Good ideas to foment educational revolution: The role of systematic change in advancing situated learning, constructivism, and feminist pedagogy. Educational Technology, 38(1), 5-14.

Zhao, Y. (Ed.). (2003). What teachers should know about technology: Perspectives and practices. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

I enjoyed working on Assignment 2 – Creating an Introductory Module for an online Calculus 12 for several reasons. It was highly beneficial to work with a partner, receive peer reviews and suggestions from other classmates, and be able to connect digital design to educational theory.

To successfully deliver an online course, housed in a Learning Management System, it is essential to put the necessary time in the preliminary planning and designing of course that will hopefully engage students in an interactive learning environment. To build our Calculus 12 course, we were guided by three central pedagogical frameworks of learning 1) creating a student-centred learning environment (SCLE), 2) creating technology that is sound in pedagogy, content and knowledge (TPCK), and 3) incorporating collaborative tools to foster a social learning environment. Therefore we based our design elements, course structure, digital tools and communication tools that reflected our desire to achieve these goals.

We also made the decision to create a Moodle course that featured both of us as teachers of the same course. Often instructors can be overwhelmed with the ratio of students to instructor when courses are delivered online and the time it requires to communicate with all the students on a one to one basis. We thought by team-teaching a course, it would provide more opportunities for greater numbers of students to participate. After reading Trinh’s case study, it became apparent that one teacher is unable to handle a course load of 150 students, using multiple communication tools within a 24/7 availability time frame. However, if Moodle courses are shared by a group of teachers who offer different office hours, it may be more manageable.