Summary:
The article
told seven things districts should consider when choosing a learning management
system (LMS) for their schools. Along
with each suggestion was a list of questions to ask (either themselves or the
LMS representatives). Ed-tech experts
give their tips based on their own experiences and the experiences of
others.
One
suggestion was to lay out what is wanted from the system and how it will fit
into the teaching and learning structure of the school and/or district. The article explains that there needs to be a
discussion about goals to ensure that a LMS is really needed. Some systems offer more bells and whistles
that may be needed but may not be.
Another suggestion was to include a mix of people in the decision making
process. The district’s IT experts,
administrators, teachers, and students should be asked to give input. They also suggested piloting the LMS if
possible. While this could be difficult
for some districts, it could provide very useful feedback. A fourth suggestion was to play an active
role when viewing and exploring LMS product demonstrations. Company representatives may tell you all the
cool things that can be done, but it’s more important to ask questions based on
the school/district’s specific needs. The
next suggestion was to talk to other schools about their experience with the
LMS. It is best to search out these
districts on your own rather than getting a list of suggestions from the vendor
directly. By talking to other schools,
the district can find out strengths and frustrations with that particular
system. The sixth suggestion was to
consider the complete cost to own the LMS, not just the price of the
product. When using a LMS, districts need
to consider costs for: professional
development, support, repair, maintenance, hosting fees, and any network
upgrades or hardware. The final
suggestion is to make sure the LMS company is a good fit for the district. Once the district has made a choice, they
will be working with that company for many years. It is not cheap or easy to switch learning
management systems once you’ve implemented one.
Districts will want to be sure the company that is chosen seems to be
sticking around and is easy to get into contact with. The most common LMS companies are: Agilix, Blackboard, Desire2Learn, Epsilen
LLC, Moodle, and Pearson Learning Solutions.
Reflection:
I first
heard about learning management systems in a breakout session at the ICE
conference last year. The breakout
session was about a district that was implementing 1:1 technology in their
schools and the person presenting was in charge of helping teachers use this
technology within their curriculum. She
shared many different tools that were used during the literacy block, and Haiku
LMS was one of them. For this article
posting I decided to do some research on learning management systems and decide
if there was something I’d be able to use in my classroom with the Chromebooks.
While this
article seemed to focus more on what a district needs to consider when choosing
a LMS for the whole district, I still found useful information that I could use
for myself. Most importantly, it made me
question whether an LMS is really what I want in order to meet the needs of my
students. I’ve spent some time searching
for sites that would work best at the elementary level. I did not care for the layout of Edmodo and I
felt it was a little too advanced for what I was looking for. I think one of the best suggestions was to
try using the LMS. I looked into Haiku,
as it seemed more geared for elementary and was what the presenter at the ICE
conference suggested. As I’ve been
creating my pages, it’s helping me see first hand what I like and don’t
like. My original needs for using the
system was for the use of discussion boards.
What I like about the LMS is that I can include lots of other
information for students. As I was
working it, I realized it could be very beneficial for parents as well. In the past I created a class website using
Sites on Google. I like the idea of
using Haiku instead because I can use it for some many more things. Then, it’s one site that the students would
go to and then can access many other things from there.
The real
test is going to be when I try to implement the LMS with my students. I’m not 100% positive it will be easy for
them to access and use regularly. I am
planning to try it with a few students at first to decide if I feel it’s worth
the time and effort to fully implement it into my class.
Ash, K. (2013, June 12). 7 Steps to Picking Your
LMS. Education Week Digital Directions, 25-27.
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