Course Management Systems and Learning Management Systems

I decided I would look up information about course management systems and learning management systems and I learned that there are all sorts of different discussions and debates about both. They have mainly to do with the administration of these systems as well as what the instructor can do in them and how much they cost.Sometimes, they are combined together!  Let's focus on how to use them and how they benefit the learner. As a teacher/faculty member I am more interested in what I can do with them. So today I would like to focus on why we should use them and how.

My Class is in a classroom - I teach "face to face" - the old fashion way! Do  I need a system for that?
First of all, let's address the traditional style of teaching. You come to the class, you teach, you assign HW and dismiss. The hardest part is the preparation part, that is, if you are a good teacher! What we do in the classroom is the easy and fun part! During the course of a class you may give dittos or handouts. You also may have spontaneous or planned discussions, interactive sessions of some sort and lastly you may have a time set aside for demonstration or pure lecture. What you do depends on teaching style, learning style and topic.

These online systems can be used to post HW assignments, powerpoints or word docs if you want to share them with your students and you can post them prior to class. You can allow students to view them prior, or you could set up blackboard to "release" them during your lecture, or after your lecture. These days,  many students come to class with some sort of mobile device, phone, laptop, ipad/tablet they are all used in addition to the paper notebook. Students like to open up your files and follow the lecture this way. You can post discussion boards and have students discuss readings (to see if they are doing them) and have to students journal (using blogs or some journaling device) about what you did in the classroom. Students can submit assignments to you electronically, so no more walking around with bags of paper that you have to grade. And if the students can be mobile with their devices, so can you! You can grade and read on the run!

Benefits:

• By uploading your files to Blackboard (BB) you can teach your students to be prepared for class. If they review the notes ahead of time, then discussions can be more interactive. 
• I found that it forced me to have my lectures done in advance. No more "winging" it, however it also allowed me to redesign my classes so that I could do more interaction with my students. Lastly, it kept me on schedule within my lecture.
• Having the HW posted electronically and even submitted electronically reduces the paper that I have to hand out...a big savings to the Universities I worked for. In addition, no excuses are tolerated for not having work done. "I missed class" or "I didn't hear that" doesn't work
• Easy to post rubrics, and to reuse the good ones! I have found this benefit is tremendous for both the teacher and the learner. Now they know what I expect so I have received much better products! Plus it reduced the number of questions.
• Discussion boards are useful because they helped me monitor who was reading and who was not. Many students who are not comfortable with discussions in class are more comfortable with virtual discussions

Concerns

• Initially, I was concerned that students would not take notes or even attend class if I did this. However, one work around to that is not to post everything you are going to say. In fact poweroint should really just be an outline - not pages of information on slides.
• Investment of time - there is a learning curve to the programs. What can you do about that? Well all the universities and colleges now have courses or quick training classes that faculty can attend to learn their program. In addition, many schools have Instructional Designers or Educational Technologists...people who assist you in designing and using the space in these systems. Look around, you can find it! The initial investment of time can be costly, however, having the ability to copy stuff from semester to semester is invaluable and a HUGE savings of time.
• Some faculty, I found, were just copying the same stuff from semester to semester - not updating their course. I was embarrassed by this and frustrated. Here is a news flash, those people would do that in the traditional classroom environment too! Same handouts and same course materials would get used. I mind my own business and choose what I know is good to reuse and what I need to update. For me, having the ability to update while in the lecture has been a great success.
• I am great at typos, and sometimes I don't see them...until I am in the middle of my lecture! What's the work around! Find the student who will test things for you prior to the lecture, some are great at editing! I have a student name Jody who is an English Teacher changing careers. She is always helping me find my mistakes! I tell the classes to look for them and to raise their hands when they see them. Sometimes in my boring lectures (due to topics not me!!) I will purposely insert the mistakes, just to keep the class awake and paying attention. The only way to make sure you have no typos or grammatical errors is to complete your lecture within plenty of time prior to class, and to review and edit....review and edit and then, to do it again!

My class is hybrid or online
Well, than why are you asking this question? Your students will not see you at times or at all! You need to use these systems to communicate content, to monitor progress and to create interactivity in the virtual world. You can use it to not only upload lectures, but to give access to videos, recordings, interactive using social media tools and more.

I use these systems to make my online classes more than the students reading my notes. I give them a voice - using blogs, wikis, discussions. I assess them using online quizzes and assignments. These assignments and quizzes enable me to post explicit directions and instructions as well as to grade and record the grades easily. I use all types of media, images, videos and audio files are integrated so that I can appeal to all senses.

Conclusion
I think I have discussed enough reason for you to check out these systems. Look for the people that your university has put into place to assist you. Find a friend who is a strong user already and look at how they use it!! Next I will specifically write about Blackboard. I will give you some design tips for your class and some tips in the efficient use of BB.

How Do you encorporate Technology into the Classroom? I don't have time...

Recently, I was in a discussion with someone and we were discussing /teacher resistance to adding technology to their classrooms. The person I spoke with, commented that many people feel that technology will save them time. He suggested that technology is just a tool, and that it doesn't always save time.


So there it is folks...the truth is out....whoever told you that technology saves time...they lied. What are you saving time for anyway.? What? Do you want to have a life!!! By the way, technology doesn't always save paper either....

My hope is that this blog, will be a tool to help faculty, teachers, librarians or anyone who has to integrate technology into their academic life, mainly for pedagogical reasons, but even for organizational reasons. WAIT! Stop the presses! How is that different than the other sites that are out their reviewing software! Well,  instead of reviewing software after software, I would like to choose a tool and come up with discussions on the best methods of using that tool in the classroom. I am hoping that other people will see this blog and comment ...either requesting information on a technology or telling me their story!  Remember, when we use the term pedagogical in education, we are referring to instructional strategies, or the best use of instructional strategies. Combine that with technology and you have a information literacy pedagogical method...huh? Information literacy has to do with understand information sources. But it is  not just understanding information and its sources, but knowing or understanding which sources are the best to use - and knowing which information resources we still need to find.  Mash that with pedagogy and technology and we are looking at which technology can enhance our teaching strategies and how do we find new strategies and technologies. OR if we think of this in a student centered mind frame, what technology can we use to appeal to all of our student learners. Which will enhance our instructive methodologies so that our students strongest learning abilities are enhanced beyond their wildest dreams!

So how do we start?
The first step to learning anything new is to figure out what we don't know, recognize that we don't know everything, and to figure out what we do know!  Some of you feel inadequate, some feel frustrated and some are just looking for something new!! That's ok!! If you realize that you don't know everything, then that takes the burden off your shoulders that many of us carry...it's ok not to know everything, really!!! Even if you are an educator! In fact one reason I like to teach, is because I like to learn more, nothing helps facilitate that more than teaching does!  One reason I like to work with people about technology is the more I teach technology, the more I learn about technology.

So what do we know?
Well many of us know how to use word or a word like product (any mac users? Do you use Pages?). What do we know how to do in word processing programs? We know how to do page numbers, how to bold, italicize and underline. We also know how to do tables and other complex functions!

What other software do we know?
We also know presentation software. We use powerpoint, or keynote and we can bold, italicize and underline in that as well. We can look around the screen, many of us know how to do animation and more. 

What does this really mean?
That means, we know how to investigate software, and get functions going. Don't worry, if you have to play around with a software to figure it out, you most likely cannot break it!! Have you ever really broken your computer? But how do we investigate anything...by reading! Of course! I will try to give you resources that will help you keep track of the latest and greatest....this way you can help me find new technologies.

If you don't know how to use powerpoint, don't worry, soon I will talk about presentation software...and I will post it on the web...This is the first article of many.

What's next?
I have just finished my general introduction to this blog.  My next topic is going to be how to use course management system to enhance your online course content as well as traditional in class experiences. If anything, course management systems can help store files for you for the semester. We will discuss what things all course management systems have in common. I will use two or three examples Blackboard, Moodle and perhaps Sakai. If you have a request...let me know. My next blog posting may be interactive....so look for the words, pics and videos...The lesson from today's blog, is don't stress...you do know stuff!! And...keep reading. (For some reason, people think technology means less reading...I don't think it means less anything!)