Category Archives: CS1: Maple Group

Before I could make a definite decision between both LMS, I would have a couple of questions to ask Benoit and his head of department.

Questions and concerns

As a teacher, I firmly believe that pedagogy and student learning should always come first which are primary criteria for evaluating technology use in education (Nel, Dreyer & Carstens, 2010).  Therefore, my first question would be for Benoit: What teaching and learning strategies will be put forward in the course?  The answer to this question would help me evaluate the potential of both platforms.  If socio-constructivist strategies are to be used, the need for an LMS that would allow synchronous and asynchronous communications would certainly be beneficial.  Collaboration tools like wikis and blogs would also be important.  Would one platform offer more flexibility than the other for a wider variety of teaching strategies? (Coates, James & Baldwin, 2005: 27)

My second concern is time.  As I have developed online courses in the past (both design and content), I know that it can be very time consuming.  Therefore, it would be best to choose an LMS that Benoit could be most efficient with and have support along the way.  Solely based on this criteria, I would have to say that Blackboard could be a good option, especially since Benoit is familiar with WebCT (which is similar).  The wide IT support offered for Blackboard users will also be most useful and timesaving when comes the time to upload content in the LMS.  It would also be important to know, since Blackboard is the University’s official LMS, if templates or guides are available to help Benoit develop the course material.  Working with models or templates can significantly contribute in reducing his workload allowing him to focus on the pedagogy rather than the technical aspects of the course. (Coates, James & Baldwin, 2005: 22)  Without being able to answer these questions, it is difficult to estimate how much time Benoit will need to develop his course.  Based on my experience in the field, I would say that it will most likely take him a whole term to design the course and develop content.

My last concern and question is in regards to ease of use. What LMS will students be more comfortable with?  According to Bates (2014) SECTIONS model, students should spend no longer than 20 minutes learning the technology in order to concentrate on learning rather the technical issues related to media and technology.  If Blackboard is the official LMS for the University, would students be more familiar with its functionalities then with Moodle’s?

Choosing between both LMS

Before making a choice, Benoit will have to find answers to the questions mentioned above.  Then, considering key factors like the teaching strategies he wants to use, the time and IT support that is needed to develop the course and the ease of use of the LMS for both teacher and student, he will be able to make a decision.

References:

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

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

Nel, C., Dreyer, C., & Carstens, W. A. M. (2010). Educational technologies: A classification and evaluation. Tydskrif vir letterkunde, 35(4), 238-258. Retrieved from http://www.ajol.info/index.php/tvl/article/download/53794/42346

• 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)

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.

Without (reasonable) access to the Help Desk, do I have the confidence and intuition to take on learning Blackboard Learn?

If I was in Benoît’s position, I think one of the first questions I would ask myself is to judge my ability to take on such a task. Often when I am introduced to a new type of technology, I like to google it and watch related videos on Youtube to see what others have to say about it. There are numerous tutorials available. I don’t know if this would be the case with Blackboard Learn but this is a starting point that I often use.

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.

If Benoît teaches a 13 week course, I assume that compiling each week of the course would take 2-4 hours. The range takes into account the length of time it takes him when he first begins developing versus once he has put together a few weeks, I assume that with time he would become more comfortable and perhaps quicker. The range could also comes into play if some weeks of the course, such as the first week, require less building or have less (or more) content.

Total time to development (average) 39 hours, but considering the range development time could be as little as 26 hours and as much as 52 hours.

Benoit could invest a bit of time exploring each platforms website. Getting a feel for what each has to offer, what learning tools they offer to develop a course, sample courses and what supports are offered by each if problems do arise.

Looking at the SECTIONS framework he could ask:

S-tudents- What features does each program have that would meet the learning needs of his students? How will the learning needs of his students change in an online delivery of the course? Will the demographics of an online course be similar to the students in his face-to-face class? What are the options for personalizing the delivery of the course to meet a variety of student learning styles? Do his students have access to this type of learning system? Have these students taken other online courses? Are they familiar with other platforms?

E-ase of use- Benoit has knowledge about the technical support levels available through the school’s IT department. He would need to discover; How closely aligned is the design from his previous experience WebCT Vista to the new platforms? Since both platforms have been used at his school, he could investigate with other instructors if the programs have been reliable. How long did it take other instructors to set up their courses? What were common complaints around the structure of the courses? Depending on the type of learning objects he plans to use, how can each support this i.e. video vs. text?

C-ost. Moodle is an open sourced platform so therefore comes at no cost. Is there any other associated costs i.e. data costs? Blackboard is provided by the school. What are the per student or per course costs associated with it? Cost will likely be more of a factor for the school than for the instructor.

T-eaching functions and media selection- Do the design options support the learning activities he wants to develop? Does each allow for multimedia options? How adaptable are the design elements if he wants to adjust his design as he goes or in future courses?

I-nteraction- What types of interactions does he want his students to undertake? Which platform offers the widest range of options? Which options most closely match his objectives for interacting with his students? Between students? How will the students interact with the materials?

O-rganizational- It appears that the organization has supported both options. He may want to know how this course will be used after its development? Will he work in collaboration with other  instructors to develop the course? Will his online course be used by other instructors in the future? What are the organizations long term plans for LMS? He has been using a LMS that has been discontinued, what is the likelihood that this could happen again?

N-etworking- How will communication outside of the course be managed? How much social media will be used in the course? Do the students have other face-to-face opportunities or does the community of learners need to be established through online networking opportunities?

S-ecurity and Privacy- Where is course information stored? What security measures does each platform use to protect its students?

Guestimating how long it will take to develop the week is very difficult. So many variable go into this calculation. Depending on what type of learning activities are used, how much is already available, how specific the design style is i.e. graphics or instructor produced videos, etc. will largely contribute to the time it takes.

Using the ADDIE framework;

Analysis

Design

Development

Implementation

Evaluation

The Association for Talent Development reports between approximately 40-150 hours per hour of instruction depending on the complexity and whether a template is used. (If I understand this correctly) In order to calculate how many weeks it would take, we would need to know the length of a typical instructional course. 

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in digital age, Chapter 8. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

Kapp, Karl. M. & Defelice, Robyn A. (2009) Time to develop one hour of training. Retrieved from: https://www.td.org/Publications/Newsletters/Learning-Circuits/Learning-Circuits-Archives/2009/08/Time-to-Develop-One-Hour-of-Training

Benoît should ask himself, “How much time will this course take to set up and maintain outside of the usual duties associated with teaching a course?”. Within this question there are really two: one about the initial set up and the other about maintenance, not only for the semester but in future iterations of the course as well. Whichever way he goes, this is a big decision, because, as Coates, James and Baldwin assert, “commitment to one system can mean exclusion from others” (2005, p. 32) and this could entail excluding access to “large libraries of learning objects” (p. 31). An important distinction between Blackboard and Moodle is Blackboard is a commercial system while Moodle is open source.

This question is in no way meant to discount the question of student learning. From what I know (which is admittedly limited at this time) of the two LMSs, they offer similar platforms for asynchronous and synchronous communication, accessing learning resources, and assessment, given that the teacher and/or technical staff know how to use them.

It sounds like his initial learning curve with Moodle will be steeper because he has no experience with it, as opposed to Blackboard, which he will have some facility with through his experience with WebCT. In this setup phase, Blackboard might be easier, assuming Benoît can, against the odds, access the often inaccessible HelpDesk. But Moodle may be easier in the long run, despite him probably needing more than his available 5 hours in the first week or two. It seems that, once up and running, it will be easier for him to update, correct errors, or add new content in Moodle.

Coates et al. mention access, cost and quality (p. 23) as 3 factors to consider when choosing an LMS. Access is better on Moodle, the cost is free on Moodle, and (I am assuming) paid for by the institution for Blackboard, while the quality is probably similar. That gives a slight edge to Moodle, considering the first category.

Lastly, and contrary to my warning above about this being a “big decision”, Benoît should read Stella Porto’s article and consider that fact that his students may be working less and less within the confines of the LMS, instead choosing their own “customized toolboxes” (Porto, 2015) of information from social media and the web at large, in coming semesters.

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

Moodle. (2016). Retrieved from: https://moodle.org/

Porto, S. (2015). The uncertain future of Learning Management Systems. The Evolllution: Illuminating the Lifelong Learning Movement. Retrieved fromhttp://www.evolllution.com/opinions/uncertain-future-learning-management-systems/

Like Benoit in the case, I am personally not familiar with either platform from the viewpoint of the instructor, but am familiar with other platforms that aid in designing online learning experiences.

The primary question that Benoit should be asking himself is “What are the overall learning goals for students in this online course and how does this technology serve those goals?”. Every other subsequent question that he may ask himself before making a choice should support his answer to that initial question. This question defines the purpose of technology selection as well as its application. Additionally, his own instructional design will play a major role in whether or not these goals are realized (Coates, James, & Baldwin, 2005).

Subsidiary questions that Benoit could ask himself might include:

• How will students demonstrate their understandings?
• How can summative and formative feedback be provided through the system?
• Does Benoit have robust enough troubleshooting and support skills to fix any issues within the course himself (if using Moodle)?
• When considering Bates’ (2014) SECTIONS model:
  • Students: Do students need any extraneous software to access the course? Is it device agnostic?
  • Ease of Use: Assuming both products meet learning/teaching needs, which is easier to use? Does Benoit or his students require training?
  • Cost: Benoit may not be paying for this with money, but with time. Which would be less taxing in terms of time invested? Is it best to endure red tape with support vs. no red tape, but no support either?
  • Teaching function – What would Benoit like to include in the body of the course? Which technology makes this available?
  • Interaction – What kind of interactions does Benoit want to promote? Between student and content? Student and teacher? Student and student?
  • Organization – Does the technology provide affordances that fit Benoit’s style of organization?
  • Networking – Can students network between one another and with Benoit to enhance their learning experience?
  • Security – Is the technology secure and respectful of student privacy (including assessment and evaluation)? 

Regardless of the amount of questions that Benoit could ask, he should always be returning to his purposeful question of student learning goals. This will keep him on track and in consideration of the primary stakeholder in the learning process: the student.

Because I’m a proponent of the no-red-tape route, in this case, I’d probably choose Moodle. I like holding more autonomy over how I design and implement courses, and I would frequently network with colleagues who use the tool, and use their own design and application experiences in order to improve my own.

How many weeks would this take?

I’m unsure here – it truly depends on the level of skill and efficiency with technologies for Benoit. I would say that he would need at least a week to tinker with the technology and to learn its affordances and constraints.

Following a gain of familiarity, I’d give at least a month (4 weeks) for development and curation of digital sources. If he has to create his own media content, I’d tack another 4 weeks onto that preparation time. Benoit should also be prepared to invest time into the ongoing design and maintenance of the course throughout the 13 weeks of semester that his students are enrolled, in order to make improvements as necessary.

References

Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in digital age, Chapter 8. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/

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