NMC Summer Conference
June 15, 2011 - June 18, 2011
Madison, Wisconsin hosted by University of Madison - Wisconsin
Time Slot: Friday 06/17/2011: 2:30pm-3:45pm
Conference Session Description:
Has your IT department put your LMS on lockdown? No RSS. No notifications. Forced emails. Teaching in a course management system can be stifling, but is it worth the hassle to abandon convention and strike out on your own? This session demonstrates how courses can be designed outside traditional LMSs to help students learn using more relevant real life tools. Courses can be designed for mobile use and to maximize social tools popular today, thus giving students lifelong skills they can take with them after college. What do your students take away after using your LMS for 4 years?
Presentation Format and Plan:
I plan to begin with a short presentation on why some faculty find LMSs challenging - present a list of the features that could be improved upon. I will engage participants by doing some quick polling using mobile devices to find the biggest culprit in the most popular LMSs. I will then demo two classes that were designed outside an LMS using WordPress 3.0 (multi-site) and BuddyPress, and show how these sites utilize social tools to build community and connect learners to each other and outside resources. I will invite participants to log in as users and experience the course both on mobile devices and laptops if they have them.The final part of the presentation will include explanations for why and how I transformed parts of the course and data on student retention and satisfaction.
LMS Challenges:
Using Blackboard Learn, Release 9 with Wimba Create, Google Scholar, SafeAssign, Campus Pack (a set of makes Web 2.0 tools including wikis, blogs, and podcasting available to every course and every user at your institution.) Self and Peer Assessment, SoftChalk v6 Publish, Course Portfolios. - Standard features: Gradebook, Testing/Surveys, Announcements, Discussion boards, Email, and Content management.
- This is not a complain about Blackboard session, but more of a presentation on how I managed to develop my own LMS using open source programs and free web based tools to better meet my needs of teaching online.
What I needed:
- A better way to engage students in course content
- A better way for students to engage with each other
- A better gradebook
- A mobile accessible course site
- A better blogging and discussion platform
- A better email system (html messages)
- Better RSS integration and email notifications.
- Better integration with online book publisher content (McGraw-Hill Connect) - Although Blackboard & McGraw-Hill just signed a partnership to make this better, but I needed something two years ago.
- An easier way to manage the course calendar - sync with existing calendars, notifications.
Some of the features I wanted are built into Bb, but they either didn't work well or our district has them turned off. For instance, our district had RSS turned off for student blogs and all notifications were turned off as well. In addition, part of the problem with our LMS is not necessarily the LMS itself, but our IT department's lock down mentality.
- What LMS do you currently use?
- How would you rate it?
- What would you like to do in your current LMS that you can't do now?
Demo of ENG101, ENG102 & ENH295
- ENG101online.com using Wordpress, BuddyPress and the Achievements plugin.
- Activity Stream - keep track of student participation.
- Built in Chat - Automatic on Main page
- Member Profiles - time stamps, avatars, profile questions
- Private and Public Groups - Separate Discussion Forums/Wall for Updates/Messaging
- Send individual or class notices - Notification via email.
- Student Blogs - Journaling and ePortfolios.
- Gamification with Achievements - Badges and points for Awards and Events. An award is given by a site admin, whereas an event is unlocked automatically when its criteria are met.
- ENG102online.com uses Wordpress (no student blogs or social networking features)
- Connect Composition integration
- Mobile Accessible
- Email Subscription for Announcements
- Comments/Questions on Announcements
- Tweet on Post - Students can follow on Twitter
- ENH295online.com uses Wordpress with student blogs (no social networking features)
- Threaded discussions that are easier to read, follow and reply. Avatars attached to comments.
- Multimedia Presentations using Google Sites, wikis, blogs or web pages
- Weekly Podcast - Can subscribe in iTunes or Feed Reader (Google Reader)
- Find anything via Search
Participant Experience
- Visit course on mobile device
Resources
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