Tag: LMS

EC&I831, eduMOOC, Higher Education, Learning Community, Learning Technologies, Open Education, PLN, Virtual Communities, Web Design

#mtmoot Opening Keynote: Digital Pedagogy to Engage

Laura Pasquini

This morning I will be joining the Mountain MoodleMoot at Carroll College in Helena, MT to share some thoughts and ideas around engaged digital pedagogy. Our learners are connected; however  I think more educators and instructional designers need to support our students in developing effective learning skills to navigate this new culture of learning. For those of you interested in following along, be sure to tweet with hashtag  #mtmoot, check out my slides (below), and feel free to scope out the digital handout http://bit.ly/mtmoot12 I compiled for this session.

 

Today’s learners operate in a world that is informal, networked, and filled with technology. Connectivity and digital access is an increasing need for our students and a vital requirement to excel beyond structured learning environments. Our learners are now able to interact with information, learning materials, and peers from around the globe. There is an increasing need to expand and enhance our learners’ involvement in learning technology to support engagement in online learning environments.

With the emergence of collaborative, online tools, educators can take advantage of multidimensional and engaged participation to reach their learning outcomes. Social media creates a space where “everybody and anybody can share anything anywhere anytime” (Joosten, 2012, p.6). Educational paradigms are shifting to include new modes of online and collaborative learning and student-centered, active learning to challenge our students to connect curriculum with real life issues (Johnson, Adams & Cummins, 2012). As a new generation of learners begin to create and share content, educators need to understand how to effectively utilize social web resources to impact in instructional practice create a culture of online participatory learning.

Emerging technology platforms and devices are beginning to disrupt education as we know it. To coevolve and positively impact learner success, it is critical that instructors and instructional designers consider how digital pedagogy can support learning outcomes. This keynote plenary will share ideas and suggested practices to develop a richer learning experience and thrive in the changing digital learning frontier.

References

Johnson, L., Adams, S. & Cummins, M. (2012). The NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition. Austin, TX: The New Media Consortium.

Joosten, T. (2012). Social Media for Educators. San Francisco, CA: Wiley/Jossey-Bass.

Higher Education, Learning Technologies, Open Education

LMS/LCMS Review

Laura Pasquini

There are many Learning Management Systems (LMS) software that are available to purchase or as open-source content to best support online learning environments. I am currently exploring a few different options for a piece I am researching/writing about. I welcome any contributions to this topic: experience, recommendations, research, reviews, etc.

One of the first few LMS systems I used as a student was Blackboard. Often higher education institutions prefer to purchase commercial software for a university-wide learning platform. Other platforms include: WebCT, Angel, PeopleSoft (now owned by Oracle), Confluence, etc. These domains assure assistance and ‘security’ for the university, however how do faculty, staff & students optimize these learning environments.

In my later years of work & education, I have been introduced to open-source LMS platforms like Moodle. There seems to be a bit more flexibility in sharing information, opening up the classroom broadly and engaging learning.

Other LMS/LCMS platforms to review:

Here are a few reviews & articles for various LMS:

I am interested in expanding this list for both commercial and open-source LMS/LCMS platforms. Please share any that you have liked (or disliked), and why.