- How might Benoît go about deciding whether to go with Moodle or Blackboard Learn? What questions might he ask himself? Come up with one specific question; be sure to explain why this is an important question.
According to Daniel (2003), access, cost and quality are the three most common reasons why universities choose LMS platforms (as cited in Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G., 2005, p. 23). If this is the case, Benoit should ask himself, “Which LMS platform best covers all the criteria in Bates’ SECTION model?” Some questions he might ask himself are: Do the students require a compatible device to work from or will the LMS platform be universally accessible? How reliable is this LMS? How much will it be in terms of startup, maintenance and IT help? What instructional strategies does he plan to use? What kinds of interaction will be most useful for his students?
Since Benoit is comfortable with WebCT and its design mode, he initially could be drawn to this (Blackboard) at first but this might not necessarily be the best choice for him.
- How much development time (in weeks) would you estimate Benoît would need to develop Business Writing, the online version? Be sure to explain how you came up with this number.
Benoit estimates that he could be spending up to 5 hours each week on creating and designing his online version of the Business Writing course. How long is the course? In that 5 hours, how much can he accomplish with the design? How many pages, assignments, activities, forms of assessment will he be needing and creating? It’s hard to say exactly how many weeks he will need due to the unknown variables. I think we need to know more information from him to determine just how many weeks he will need.
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
Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in digital age http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/ (Chapter 8 on SECTIONS framework)