I was tasked this week with investigating and researching three Learning Management Systems that are available online. According to Ryan Ellis, a Learning Management System (LMS) can be described as "a software application that automates the administration, tracking,
and reporting of training events." I checked out CourseSites by BlackBoard, Edmodo, and Collaborize Classrooms.
CourseSites is BlackBoard's free LMS. A school could use BlackBoard's services and websites for a fee, but an individual teacher can use CourseSites to manage up to 5 classes for free. Each course can have up to 500 MB of data which can include videos, documents, and other file types. This could be a little restrictive, but can be adequate for most classes. They also allow login with Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Windows Live, or Yahoo. This can make login simple and easy to remember for students. They do not allow parent accounts, but you can have parents view courses as guests. There seemed to be a lot of different video tutorials and a few on-demand webinars available for training. This could be a nice option for a lot of teachers as BlackBoard is a popular LMS for many schools and colleges, meaning that some teachers and students would already be somewhat familiar with many aspects of CourseSites.
Edmodo is a free LMS. One of it's most interesting features is Snapshot. Snapshot will create formative micro-assessments based upon available standards. These can be taken by the students online, and Edmodo advertises them as one of the keys to what makes them special. They also tout their mobile tools, and unlike CourseSites, teachers have unlimited space for files. They also have parent accounts, where parents can login to see their child's grades and progress in the class. They have a number of free video webinars available for training. In addition, your school can hire Edmodo to do online or in person training with your staff for a fee. Edmodo looks like a well put together site with a lot of options for teachers. I am intrigued by the Snapshot tool, and would love to investigate what it can do in more depth.
Collaborize Classrooms call themselves a private online discussion platform. In a video I found on their company website (Democrasoft), they discuss the need for students to enter into discussions in a new format. By discussing things online, students avoid some of the trappings of the classroom. They no longer have to compete with those students who tend to monopolize the conversation. Those too embarrassed to speak up in class can share their ideas with a keyboard instead. I like the idea of their vote and suggest question format. It gives students the opportunity to share their ideas and discuss their value. Teachers can also integrate videos and other files and have access to a gradebook application. There is also some kind of portfolio builder for the students that can be easily shared. I had some trouble accessing the site with Google Chrome, but could get in a look around with Internet Explorer and on my Android phone. I wish I could say that the issues with Chrome weren't such a turn off for me, but as my preferred browser, if there are issues, I'm going to quickly lose interest. However, I do like the theme of the site overall.
My school has used a system called Edline. I was never really happy with it as an LMS. We have now contracted a company called Whipple-Hill to create an LMS for us this year. Based upon the brief look we were given in the Spring, it looks very intriguing, and I am excited to see what it can do for me. Of the three sites I visited this week, I would probably be most interested in CourseSites, as I am somewhat familiar with Blackboard already.
