TOOLKIT for a non-LMS build…

With so many useful and interesting tools and resources available to teachers to
create online courses, it is now entirely possible to create a non-LMS online
course. New and exciting apps are being introduced regularly, and sometimes it’s
hard not to get distracted by the shiny new tools that hit the market. For me,
deciding which tools to use for a non-LMS build comes down to several things:

 Does the tool help or contribute to student learning?

 Is it user-friendly for teacher and students?
 Is it cost effective?
 Do students have ownership or control of the data and content they create using
the tool?
by Allison Burt  Can it be used on multiple devices?

Good stuff. With these questions in mind, the search for the perfect tools to create a non-LMS
online course is on. Get ready! The possibilities are endless!
Pretty freaking good!

Amazeballs!!

Tools to build community and inspire discourse…

Google + Community is a great and free way to create a group and/or forum for a course where students can interact
and share ideas and content with one another. I like that there is an option to make the group private so just students in
a particular section or course can view and/or contribute to the community being created. However, students will need a
Google account to join the community, so teachers will need to make sure that each student and their parent/guardian have signed
a consent form that acknowledges that their personal information will be disclosed, stored, and accessed outside of Canada.
Google + allows students to ask questions, help one another, and share content, including links, images, videos, etc. Teachers can
participate and post, as well. I would also use Google + as a place for course announcements. While I have grown to love Google
+ for interacting with others, there are some frustrating issues, such as posts getting buried quite quickly as newer ones are added
or commented on and searching for previous posts can be time-consuming, even with the search option. One of the best features
is that Google + can be used easily on multiple devices, and a Google + app can be downloaded for mobile devices making it
even easier to use.

Looking for an easy way to conference with students? A non-LMS build must is a way to conference with students
individually, in groups, and as a whole. Zoom allows both audio and video conferencing and with a free download
option, it’s a win-win for teacher and students. Teachers could use the Zoom room to meet with students and to
tutor. As a distributed learning teacher, I would use it for office hours for students to drop in to ask questions and
get help. Zoom also allows opportunities for synchronous seminars or webinars where students can actively participate with their
teacher and/or with their peers in whole or small group breakout sessions. Students have options to join with or without video,
and can turn off their video at any time during a session. The screen share option is a great feature for the teacher and students to
share their screens with one another for mini-lessons, presentations, or feedback on assignments/projects. The Zoom room can
also be recorded for students who may miss the “real-time” sessions. Unfortunately, the free version only allows for 40 minutes
of meeting time at a time. However, Zoom’s pricing for other meeting plans are quite reasonable. Students can join a Zoom
session using any device, and teachers can use passwords for their Zoom room to allow for privacy. Students do not need a Zoom
account to join a meeting, but will need to create an account if they would like to host their own Zoom sessions. Another great
feature in the Zoom room is the ability for students to chat with the entire group or to direct their messages only to certain people
in the room. Overall, an amazing conferencing tool!

Google Drive is by far my preferred way to collaborate and work on documents online with others. Teachers
can create documents (Google Docs), slides (Google Slides), and spreadsheets (Google Sheets) and share
them with students for viewing, commenting, copying, or collaborating. I like that documents can be made
public or private (shared with just one or more people) depending on the settings the creator selects. Students
working in groups on an assignment or project can use Google Drive to collaborate on the same document in real time, making it
much easier to track changes and keep up to date with the latest version. While I don’t love the fact that the data is stored outside
of Canada, this hurdle is easily remedied by ensuring that students and parents/guardians sign an informed consent form that
explains the risks and how their data will be stored. Another great feature of Google Drive is the ability to access and edit
documents on any device.

Twitter can be used in many different ways to communicate and collaborate in an online course. I would create a
Twitter account for each course I was teaching, or create one professional account and use hashtags for each course.
Here are just a few ways a teacher can use twitter for their non-LMS build: make announcements, remind students of
due dates, share interesting links related to the course, share assignments (links or images), create a twitter chat around a topic in
the course, facilitate discussions, ask questions, direct message teacher or peers for help, research using hashtags, create or take a
poll…the possibilities with this small but mighty technology tool are truly endless. I love Twitter so much for both my personal
and professional activities, but there are some potential issues. Twitter is a very public space and some students may feel
uncomfortable contributing or creating content on Twitter. One work around is to have students create a disposable account that
they only use for your course. This way students who already have personal and/or professional accounts that they don’t want
associated with the Twitter activities in your online course can keep their brand separate from your course. Or for students who
don’t have an interest in using Twitter regularly, the disposable account can be used for the purposes of your online course and
then deactivated after the course is completed. The character limit (which has been increased to 280 characters) can be viewed as
a pro or a con. I actually miss the 140 character limit that Twitter used to have.

Teachers will want to ensure that students have the option to informally connect with you or each other using a
messaging app, such as WeChat. For students who have become accustomed to mobile technology, WeChat is the
perfect app for communicating with their teacher and/or their peers. Users can send text messages, photos, files,
stickers, as well as audio and video messages. In addition to being an easy and quick way to discuss something of
concern to do with your course, it’s also a fun way to build community with your group. The group chat function allows for an
entire class or smaller chat groups to connect with one another for support or to share ideas. There are privacy settings, too, to
ensure that only certain users are part of the group chat you have created. One very serious drawback to WeChat is how the users’
data is stored. There has been some controversy over how much of WeChat’s data is being monitored, collected, and used by the
Chinese government. Owned by Tencent and subsidized by the Chinese government since its beginning, the concerns about
surveillance and privacy seem plausible.

Padlet is a fantastic tool for online teaching. Teachers and students can use it to brainstorm, share resources and
links, get feedback, collaborate, and more. Each “sticky note” on a Padlet board can contain text, audio, photos,
documents, or links. Students can add to the Padlet board from any mobile device or computer, making it versatile
and easy to communicate and contribute to class activities. In terms of security and control, the teacher has lots of
options for making the Padlet private or even password protected. Students do not need an account to add their ideas to the Padlet
board, nor are there any restrictions on how many times a student/teacher can contribute to an existing Padlet. However, Padlet
has recently just announced that it will no longer offer Padlet as an unlimited free app. This makes me pretty sad since the
potential of this app is enormous in a non-LMS build. While the basic free plans allows account holders to create three free
Padlets, the paid plans ($99.00/year for teachers) allow for unlimited creation of Padlets and access. The cost is a bit steep
compared to other education apps, and the impact of its new fees on the tool remains to be seen. Padlet would have been five
stars before it introduced its fees.

Tools to provide content, interactivity with content, and organization…

Weebly, an online website and blog builder, would make a fantastic dashboard for a non-LMS build. The home page
could serve as the starting and launching point for all of the units/modules, as well as contain introductory material
such as course outlines, FAQs, a calendar, etc. I would also use Weebly to hold most of the course’s content and files
(separate pages for each unit/module), as well as a tool for students to create blogs and/or eportfolios. Weebly for Education also
allows teachers to add an assignment form to their pages, so students can upload their assignments to the course website, too.
Weebly has an amazing free version. I have five Weebly websites that I use for a variety of purposes and I have never felt the
need to upgrade to their other accounts. And Weebly can be used across all devices, including mobile devices. Again, if you ask
students to upload or create content on Weebly, you will need to have students and parent/guardians sign an informed consent
form that informs them of the risks and where their data will be stored and used. The reason I love Weebly so much is how easy
it is to use. The drag and drop tools and wide variety of templates to build your website/blog/course really help people new to
technology feel comfortable with their build and they really are quite pretty. In addition, the content that you can add is almost
endless: text, images, videos, documents, links, slideshows, embed code, maps, surveys and much more!

It's hard to beat Google Calendar for a non-LMS build of a course. Not only can you create a public course
calendar for everyone to see or even edit if you open the permissions, you can have separate private calendars
for other aspects of your life (family, work, school, etc.). I would list important course and school events and
due dates on the public course calendar. For asynchronous students, the Google Calendar could be used to
create a pacing guide for each student if they wished to have one, and would allow teacher and student to make
changes, as needed. Students can access Google Calendar from any device and you can embed your Google Calendar into other
websites, like Weebly, ensuring that students have access from the dashboard you are using for your course. Hard not to like this
one!

Canva is great for creating creative content. Students can use Canva to “show what they know” by creating
posters, infographics, presentations, magazine articles, flyers, cards, letters, menus, brochures, to name just a few!
They even have templates to dress up your Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram posts! The free version allows for
lots of creativity and flexibility, but teachers or students who want access to more pictures or images, or to easily
resize their products will need to upgrade. The free version has been more than enough for me as a teacher and a student, and you
can even upload your own photos or images from other sources to use in your designs and products. I love how Canva can be
used on different devices and how easy it is to look like you are a great graphic designer. Designs can be downloaded as PDFs,
PNGs, or JPGs, as well as shared with others for viewing and/or editing by email or by link. Designs can also be shared via
Twitter or Facebook or embedded on any other platform that allows embed code. I have run into issues with the free version in
terms of how many pages you can add to a presentation you are creating; however, using apps that merge PDF documents has
been an easy workaround without having to upgrade to a paid version.

Tools for assessment…

My views on assessment have been shifting considerably in the last few years, and my focus now is on ways for
students to share the story of their learning, as opposed to tools that allow me to crunch numbers for a percentage.
The most powerful way I’ve seen teachers and students share that story of learning is through an eportfolio. In my
non-LMS build of an online course I would have students create an eportfolio that both student and teacher could contribute to.
This is easily done by having students invite you as an editor to their course eportfolio. Having both the student and the teacher
contribute to the story is important when also using the eportfolio as a reporting function for parents. I think it’s also a great way
to show/demonstrate learning in a standards based classroom. For example, the teacher and students could use a collaborative
document (Microsoft Word Online or Google Docs) that lists all of the curricular competences for the course and link their
eportfolio posts to the standards as evidence. Students could also use Weebly to create a showcase eportfolio that they can add to
throughout their school years and beyond. Students and teachers can use a wide variety of formats for formative, summative, and
self-assessments, including blogs, video and audio, rubrics, photo/image demonstrations, documents, and other files. As stated
previously, Weebly is very user-friendly and creates nicely designed pages for a student website. Unfortunately, there are privacy
concerns with the servers being in the United States.

Microsoft Office Forms in Office 365 is a great tool for quizzes. It allows for many different question formats
including multiple choice, true/false, ranking, short answer, and long answer, to name a few. I really like that
quizzes can be shared with students in a wide variety of ways: give students a link via email or text, create a QR
code, embed in a class website or learning platform, etc. You can even share and edit quizzes with colleagues. I
also like the “live” responses as students complete the quiz, and information can easily be downloaded for marking
or analysis. I’ve just started using Microsoft Office Forms and have used it mostly to conduct district surveys. Easy to use and
free for all teachers and students in my district!
A last minute shout out…
I really need to give a shout out to Scholantis which is used in my district. Although I would (and do) use some of
their tools in a non-LMS build, I don’t see myself using it for a central organizing mechanism for my course
although it does have that capability. Scholantis, when used with Office 365, can provide a powerful vehicle for
teachers to create an online course and would have all of these features at a teachers fingertips: class website, media
content integration, document collaboration, easy uploading for assignments, blogs, eportfolios, a calendar, etc. These are some
powerful features for communication, collaboration, community, organization, content, and assessment (all of the things you
want in an online course). The data is stored locally, so teachers do not need to worry about FIPPA concerns with their students
and an entire school could use it to provide consistency and continuity. BUT…and this is why I didn’t include it in my non-LMS
build…it’s really not that easy to use for teachers or students. Yes, you can learn how to use the features, eventually, but in
comparison to other options out there, it just doesn’t compare for ease of use or in its design/template features. While it can also
be used across devices, there have been issues with their app. As a company, they do work hard to listen to teachers and its users
and respond to issues and needs. I look forward to seeing how this company grows with more and more schools/teachers starting
to use these tools on a more regular basis.

Conclusion…
An online course must adapt to new technology in order to make
“…learning contemporary, relevant, and engaging,” which is why a non-
LMS build for an online course is an attractive option for teachers
(Pugiliese, 2012). With all of the advances being made with applications,
using non-LMS tools to supplement or replace an LMS is a rather
painless endeavour and can help teachers keep up to date with new
technology without sacrificing function or intellectual rigour. Indeed,
allowing students to go outside of the LMS for their learning can lead to
more authentic engagement with the course content and outcomes, and in
many cases can help students exceed the outcomes of the course.

While teachers should regularly test and use tools with their students to
keep things interesting and fresh, it is very important to keep in mind that
the tool is not the focus. Ultimately, WHAT the teacher and the students
are doing to improve or enhance learning with the tool is more important
that the tool itself.

Teachers should strive to use tools that give students opportunities to

communicate, create, and collaborate with one another to enhance their
learning. This connectivist approach to a non-LMS build can create the
conditions for communication and co-creation of knowledge. As
Pugiliese (2012) has pointed out, “[a]t its core, education is essentially a
process of communication.” How well are your technology tools helping
students communicate, create, and construct knowledge?

References…
Ferriter, B (2017, March). Technology is a tool – v3 [digital image]. Retrieved from
https://www.flickr.com/photos/plugusin/40677909531/in/dateposted/?utm_content=buffere08e5&utm_medium=social&utm_sou
rce=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

Pugiliese, L. (2012, January/February). A post-LMS world. EDUCAUSE Review, 47(1). Retrieved from
https://er.educause.edu/articles/2012/1/a-postlms-world.