OLTD 504-Critical Challenge Question

In my opinion a LMS should be interactive by offering Universal Design for Learning

(UDL) lessons and assessments to appeal to all learning styles. I liked Philip Long and
Ed Crawleys view of the Conceive, Design, Implement, Operate (CDIO) process. This
process focuses on developing the learning environment and I am intrinsically motivated
to make the learning environment suit my learners needs. An LMS should be a one
stop educate and learn tool that includes: a welcome page, calendar, units, lessons,
glossary, contact information, gradebook, blogs, chats, venue to meet synchronously, a
place to upload assignments, and receive feedback.
A LMS should have a welcoming page that sets the stage developing a sense of
community. Ideally, this page should introduce the educator and provide an overview of
how to navigate the system. The introduction could be an avatar or educator guiding the
learner through the LMS with Voki or a screencast respectively. At first I was shy to
create a screencast but after my learners told me they appreciated my videos I decided
to create more screencasts. I tell my learners that I am learning and appreciate their
feedback on my screencasts. From creating various videos I have also discovered it is
easier to manage may brick and mortar class of grade 7-12. My learners who are
upgrading also appreciate the screencasts for they view the videos and then come into
work with me when they can. By overcoming my insecurity of publishing my bush
woman voice to screencasts I have helped my learners. This lesson has reminded me
that my job is about my learners not my insecurities.
From my limited experience, I find that a Learning Management System (LMS) like
Blackboard is not set up to engage the at-risk or extrinsically motivated learner. To
create an effective LMS a variety of specialists like curriculum developers, special
education teachers, IT and subject specialists, should work together to create the ideal
LMS. The specialists that developed BCLNs Moodle have created lessons that account
for UDL. Moodle is easy for the learner to use but time consuming for the educators like
me (limited technology skills) to learn. This LMS is diverse in the way it can be
formatted, the options (assessments, themes, language, privacy, calendar), and plugins.
After working with Moodle, I discovered that this was not the LMS that I would choose to
utilize. This is because as a learner, I liked the functionality and layout of the Canvas
LMS. From reading my colleagues comments in the OLTD community, I am inspired to
try Canvas this summer primarily because of the helpful customer service. With that
said, I hypothesis that Canvas would be my chosen LMS if I chose not to use my NonLMS. Open Source is another LMS of note. For new educators like me the pros of
using an open source LMS include: access to pre-made lessons, there are no costs
associated to the educator or learner, textbooks are free, wide variety of subjects and
grade levels. For example, I stumbled upon a perfect open source Math Essentials Q1

for my grade 7 learner. My learner enjoys the interactivity and independence of Math
Essentials and the Q1 matches the grade 7 Prescribed Learning Outcomes (PLO). One
negative of using an Open Source is the time required to match required PLOs with the
learning outcomes of the open source.
My personal preference was creating a Non-LMS because I focused on my learners
needs. My learners inspire me to be a better educator. They remind that it is good to
know that I dont know and that I should continue to increase the tools in my tool box to
meet their needs. While previewing the OLTD wiki I was having fun clicking on the
reviewed resources to see if I agreed with the review (yes, I did agree with all of the
reviews). I had downloaded Symbaloo and added the Non-LMS resources that I would
use with my learners.
In building my Non-LMS, both my distance and f2f learners needs were considered. I
found the abundant resources, my colleagues offered, full of potential to help my
learners. My distance learners have challenges accessing reliable internet and during
the winter months internet is intermittent. Thus, I liked the power of Zaption, Screencast-o-matic, and Jing so that my visual learners can view videos (post recorded)
without an internet connection.
As for my f2f learners, who enjoy hands-on work, the numerous interactive services
(TedEd lessons, Zaption, Question Pro) were engaging. Although, I was intrigued by the
tools my colleagues presented and my non-LMS build had to meet my following PLOs:
Non-LMS tools will

Be learner focused by incorporating UDL or differentiation

Be engaging by being intuitively easy to use
Be motivating by appealing to their interests

Both LMS and Non-LMS systems can help me develop courses where learners learn
the best way for them as long as I keep their needs in the forefront of my design and
follow my inner beliefs of individualized learning.