Answer: Thinking about instructional design, how does each tool benefit the learner by aggregating and presenting material in a cohesive manner? Are there drawbacks to the tools you researched? When I couldn't get the link to the OpenSesame article LMS/LCMS/CMS to open, I did a web search for the article and somehow came across a site called Lessonly . The tool seems to be a really good paid version of a CMS. Lessonly  is a self-proclaimed "anti-LCMS" — equivalent to a LCMS "but with more capabilities." Although  Lessonly  is marketed as a tool for employee training, I believe it has great features that would make it a great tool for online learning as well. As far as creation and hosting of content, cool features include the ability to: capture information in various formats (.doc, .ppt, .pdf) and share it with enrolled users across devices or operating systems create and assign quizzes create feedback loops — this includes the use of video feedback,...

Create:  Select content to upload to the course shell. This process has proven to be much more difficult and frustrating than any of my previous experiences with online learning and posting assignments for students. As I stated in my last post, I worked with the free version of Moodle and found ways to create posts to share with students. (In my blended classes, I use Google Classroom). I figured out how to upload content to make it available to students as well. But I couldn't quite figure out how to upload the content in such a way that the Digital Citizenship tutorial was truly interactive like the demo version. By sharing the html links, I gave my "dummy students" access to the bare bones of what was shown in the demo, but it lacked the interactive components. This has proven to be very frustrating. Through my previous experience with my current LMS, Google Classroom, I'm very proficient with sharing links, files, and resources with students. Many of these thi...

Answer:  What are the options for grade reporting? Are there various levels? Which levels remain most valuable for the online instructor in regard to student performance? I shared in a previous post that I had selected Google Classroom as my chosen LMS. This was because my district is a Google Apps for Education (now called GSuite for Education) district. However, for these last two activities in Navigate, I decided to try out Moodle as well. (Not the best experience, by the way... Information overload). In a pre-populated teacher demo, and walked through a list of things you can do as a teacher . There were several features I thought would be useful (once I eventually learn to use them) such as establishing and assessing course competencies as well as checking for student progress by looking at activities completed. These are two features that I believe would prove very helpful in my standards-based, blended classroom. I really liked the idea of being able to define "compet...

Answer:  What are the most relevant features offered within an LMS?  Which features directly relate to effective online instruction?  How might you use these features in the online classroom environment. Instruction in any format -- online or traditional -- is only as effective as the communication that takes place during the process. To ensure lasting learning, communicati on must be a part of the learning process. Students must communicate what they have learned to their instructor (assessments OF learning). Students must communicate with others about their learning during the learning process (metacognitive and formative assessments FOR learning). Therefore, the most important and relevant tools within an LMS are those used for communication. Examples of these tools and their uses are briefly outlined below. Discussion Boards and Forums are helpful ways for students to interact with one another as they promote self- and peer-assessment, critical thinking, a...

Answer:  What trend that will make the most impact on digital learning over the next five years? How do you foresee this trend impacting online learning? Will this trend be a learning fad or will it become an essential part of online learning in the future? Explain. I believe that the MOOC movement will prove to have the most significant impact on digital learning in the next five years. I believe we will begin to see two major trends: An emergence of more organizations (educational institutions and for-profit businesses) that offer MOOCs and  Learning Management Systems. A growing disparity between large, well established schools and the local community college. MOOCs & LMSs: In an article I read for this unit about the intersection of MOOCs and LMSs, a clear trend was noted among some of the "big brands" in online learning, namely Coursera and Canvas, as well as Blackboard. These companies that have built their reputation as LMS providers seemed to have cross...

Answer:  Which LMS is best?  How does the selected LMS meet the needs of all stakeholders, including administrators, students, teachers and faculty, instructional technology, development, support, and parents? How does the selected LMS align with the initiatives, growth, and technological needs of your organization? I believe that the best LMS option for my classes would be Google Classroom, followed by open source Moodle, with all it's cool plugins, as an alternate. I know that Classroom was not really listed in the module, but it is listed by PCMag as one of the leading LMS for 2018 . Classroom meets the needs of all stakeholders involved in my personal situation. We are are GSuite for Education district, with every employee and student having a GSuite account. Among the plethora of benefits is single sign-on for all users' apps, including Gmail, Calendar, Drive (document storage), apps for creating content (Docs, Slides, Sheets, Forms), and Classroom. We are also almost ...

Create:  Using the information from this lesson, create a digital resource that highlights the various roles in a learning management system. Below is a poster I created that describes the roles within a LMS.