Ok, my brain hurts after all of the reading for this week. But the different perspectives on how a CMS\/LMS may impact my pedagogy, class design and class management were very thought provoking.<\/p>\n
The two community colleges where I teach online both use Blackboard as their CMS. For all of these years, I have been content with that platform and I had never even considered using an alternative LMS until this week. I’m not sure if I even have the choice where I teach. But I am now thinking about the hard and soft landscapes that Eric Robertson described in his video, and I am asking myself if there is anything that Blackboard does not do that I really want to do on my classes. I appreciate that Eric mentioned that instructors should consider not only what’s available but also what will maximize their strengths. Perhaps another CMS would better enable me to let my real teaching style come through.<\/p>\n
I readily admit that I was a novice when I first began teaching online. There were no classes offered about how to use the various technologies or about how to transfer pedagogical practices and philosophies to the online environment. And even as I’ve become more of a seasoned online instructor, I can still observe more lack of Web 2.0 know-how than I’d like to see in myself. You would think this would motivate me to learn more about the technologies available to me to improve my online teaching, but one of the sentences in Lisa’s article describes me well: “They [online instructors] want speed and ease of use rather than more features.” Yep, that’s me!<\/p>\n
At the same time, I firmly disagree with the statement in Lisa’s article that “Novices happily use the high-tech CMS as a glorified copy machine”. Though I am guilty of uploading Word documents and .pdf’s into my online classes and writing text in the designated WISYWIG boxes, I don’t feel that this has undermined my teaching. I believe what’s important is finding a happy medium between the overuse of Web 2.0 and not taking advantage of what the various technologies have to offer. I don’t want to overwhelm my students with too many bells and whistles and bog them down with all of the instructions I would need to give them. Some features would definitely detract from the objectives I’m trying to achieve in my courses. But I am very open to adding features that will enhance the online education experience for my students. Just this morning I was given a demo from my classroom textbook’s publisher explaining their own LMS, and I definitely discovered aspects that I could incorporate into my own CMS!<\/p>\n
On the other hand, I am resistant to incorporating some new features because I get so frustrated with technical problems that often result. Case in point: It’s been a week now that I can’t read any of your blogs nor can I access my own blog on WordPress! Anthony Ginger at MiraCosta is working on this, but for now I have to type my blogs into my iPad. Also, I still have not been able to figure out how to get my webcam and microphone to work. I may have to call in one of the Geek squad to come and figure this out. That or I might just take a sledgehammer to my computer! I really don’t want to put my students through this kind of frustration by making them use all sorts of tools when some of them are just learning how to navigate through Blackboard.<\/p>\n
It’s interesting that Ko and Rossen outline the bare basics of classroom management while the three articles discuss how modern online teaching transcends these elements. After all is said and done, I believe a happy medium between the linear “cognitive-behaviorist” approach and the “connectivist” approach benefits students most. As the three generations article explains, “Learning in connectivist space is, paradoxically, plagued by a lack of connection. In connectivist space, structure is unevenly distributed and often emergent, with that emergence seldom leading to structure that is optimally efficient for achieving learning goals.” As with everything we are learning in this POT class, the essential question is will this feature, function or CMS\/LMS enhance or detract from my teaching and goals for this class?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I discovered a site that describes numerous class management software programs. My apologies, but you may have to copy and paste the link.:-(<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.capterra.com\/classroom-management-software\/<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ok, my brain hurts after all of the reading for this week. But the different perspectives on how a CMS\/LMS may impact my pedagogy, class design and class management were very thought provoking. The two community colleges where I teach … Continue reading