School in a Virtual Shoebox Using A Learning Management System in Your School

Changes “Students today depend upon paper too much. They don’t know how to write on slate without getting chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of the paper?” - Principal’s Association, 1815

Changes “Students today depend too much upon ink. They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil.” - National Association of Teachers, 1907

Changes “The Internet is not a great tool for teaching. The Internet pales in comparison to the hype surrounding it. People think that children can think of any topic and pull up a wealth of information on it, but that is not the case.” - The Monterey County Herald, 1999

Changes To be fair, do you know when Google was founded? September 1998 Now it’s a verb meaning “to use a search engine on the Internet.”

Online Learning “…by the year 2016 about one-quarter of all high school courses will be online and by the year 2019 about one-half of all high school courses will be online.” “…online and blended learning grew by forty- seven percent between and ” (From the Sloan Consortium Report on K-12 Online Learning)

If you are an educator you probably have heard all the talk about… 21 st Century Technology …Learning Management Systems

Popular Learning Management Systems  Moodle  Blackboard  Desire2Learn  WebCT

What is a Learning Management System? Online learning tools that can be used for a varying range of purposes. Valuable for administration, documentation, tracking, and reporting of course work. Web-based – “anytime, anywhere, any pace” access to learning content.

Learning Management Systems: Integrate technology Meet the differing needs of both learners and educators Safe environment that is username/password protected

The Internet offers another place where learning occurs. Thus, educators have the challenge of moving from teaching within walls to teaching with no borders.” (Johnston, 2007, p. 21)

So as educators we need to determine… How can we move our teaching methods into the 21 st century? How can we incorporate 21 st century skills in our classroom? How can we teach 21 st century communication skills such as and instant message in a safe environment?

Benefits of Using a Learning Management System

“Communication” Tools Featured in a Learning Management System  Discussion forums  Instant Messaging  File exchange  s  Online journals and notes  Real time chat  Videos  Individual grade and progress reports (to allow learners to view assessment results.)

“Productivity” Tools Featured in a Learning Management System  Bookmarks  Orientation  Searches within Courses

“Involvement” Tools Featured in a Learning Management System  Group work  Self Assessment  Learner Community Building  Learner Portfolios  Able to customize course, activities, assessments and learning for diverse learners  Promotes collaboration and critical reflection.  Simple, efficient, low-tech browser interface, basically, easy to use.

“Course Delivery” Tools Featured in a Learning Management System  Course Management (Announcements and Calendar Tools)  Online Grading Tools  Learner Tracking  Automated Testing and Scoring  Quizzes  Course evaluation and surveys  Learner messaging and notifications

“Curriculum Design” Tools Featured in a Learning Management System  Accessibility  Course Templates  Ability to customize course, activities, assessments and learning for diverse learners  Customized Look  Instructional Design Tools – Incorporate Flexibility  Content Sharing and Reusing

Legal/Ethical Considerations  Code of Conduct  Conditions of Use  Copyright/Intellectual Property  Privacy  Equitable access and opportunity  Security

Possible Uses of an LMS  Collaboration with others in the school, the district, across the country, or around the world  File sharing and posting of podcasts, video clips or other content  Organizational tool for meetings/conferences  Uploading important documents/agendas, etc.  Interactive writing feedback from teachers and peer review/evaluation of student writing  Use the chat feature to facilitate online discussion or review  Use wikis and blogs in a safe environment

Remember… Anytime, Anywhere, Any pace!

If you need additional help ALWAYS REMEMBER…

Joan Greene-Fisher Education Specialist, Technology Alabama State Dept. of Education