Course Management Systems
In the continuation of the series, “The World Is Changing” we will now take a look at Course Management Systems (CMS).
This article was a collaboration between Brynn Spillar & Scott Ford
Introduction
Course Management Systems (CMS) is a suite of software programs and tools that allow instructors to communicate with students and conduct many traditionally in-class activities on-line. Components of CMS typically include gradebooks, student activity logs, online lessons, and assessments. In short, it is a virtual environment for learning.
There is a variety of course management systems available today. A widely used commercial course management program is Blackboard/WebCT, and a popular open-source version is Moodle. A common concern for all course management systems is how well they incorporate collaboration and conversation. Are students connected to and involved in their learning community? This paper will explore the benefits and pitfalls associated with Blackboard/WebCT and Moodle, from the student perspective; as well as the issue of collaboration in all course management systems.
History of Blackboard
Blackboard and WebCT are commercially available course management systems. These are the two large commercial course management systems currently on the market.
Blackboard was founded in 1997. In 1998 it released its first program, an online learning application developed at Cornell University. Recently, Blackboard purchased WebCT. “Blackboard is used by more than 70% of the U.S. colleges and universities named to the Forbes.com Most Connected Campuses’ List. As of June 2006, the Blackboard empire includes over 12 million users in over 60 countries (Bradford et al, 2007).”
Benefits of Blackboard
Blackboard provides a portal for students and professors to communicate and transfer information in a variety of ways. Blackboard also offers flexibility; students and professors can work and communicate from different locations at different times. Some of the features available in Blackboard are:
- Support for Multiple Courses with One Log-In
- General Announcements
- Built-In Email Client
- Automatic Calendar and Reminders
- Discussion Boards or Forums
- Chat Rooms
- Assignment Drop Boxes
- Feedback for Assignments
- Tracking of Student Progress
Blackboard Difficulties
Three difficulties facing Blackboard today are the learning curve for new users, the ability of the program to work on many different computer systems, and the cost to Universities and in-turn to students.
Although the program is user-friendly, the learning curve is probably the biggest challenge facing new users of Blackboard. Becoming familiar with the layout and design of a new program can take time and patience, especially for those who are not particularly comfortable with new technology. If a student does not know a feature is available or does not know where to look for a specific item, learning and communication can be greatly diminished.
Another common difficulty associated with Blackboard, as with most software, is the struggle for the program to work seamlessly across platforms and on a multitude of systems. The equipment students and faculty use varies greatly and maintaining a program that can satisfactorily work on a wide array of systems can be difficult.
Cost is also a major concern associated with Blackboard. With concerns of rising tuition costs, how much are universities willing to spend on technology? As these technologies begin to appear in K-12 education, they will certainly not be able to afford the high-cost software. New open-source technologies are emerging and, as this paper will demonstrate, may offer a lower-cost alternative.
What is Moodle?
Moodle is both an acronym as well as a verb all on its own. Moodle stands for “Modular Object-Orientated Dynamic Learning Environment”, as a verb it means to lazily wander/meander through something, doing things as it occurs to the individual(Cole & Foster, 2007). Both descriptions are perfect to describe Moodle, and as will be discovered later on in this essay is something that makes Moodle different then other Course Management software programs a on the market.
History
Moodle’s creator was an Australian named Martin Dougiamas, a computer scientist and educator. Having been a WebCT administrator, Dr. Dougiamas felt that there was something missing in current CMS. He planted the seeds of Moodle. There were two main ideas that would lead Moodle down a path untaken by any CMS. The first principle was to keep Moodle open source, the second was to base Moodle on Social Constructivist pedagogical principles.
A quick explaining of the term open source might be needed at this point. Open source software means: it is free to use, it can be modified and redistributed. In order to redistribute the software the user must 1) provide the same license to others 2) cannot remove or modify the original licenses or copyrights 3) must apply the same license to all children of the original code.
Why it is different than the other types of CMS
The two main key differences between Moodle and other CMS, like WebCT and Blackboard is that Moodle is open source. Anyone can use the software, and if they have the required technical know-how, can modify the programming code to personalize it for their needs. The second main difference between Moodle and WebCT/Blackboard is that Moodle is based on a teaching pedagogy: Social Constructivist. Because WebCT/Blackboard and other commercial CMS software are built by engineers, there is a tendency to design to programs around the tools as opposed to teaching pedagogy.
Features of Moodle
Moodle is easy to learn, but can take years and lots of course design experience to master. There are many features for designers, teachers, students, and technology support personnel to experience. As this is not meant to be a comprehensive how-to on Moodle, this rest of this paper will focus on the general features available to the instructor and course designer.
There are two main areas which teachers/designers would use to add content to their course. Both of these areas can be accessed via the drop down menus: resources and activities.
Resource Options
The primary purpose of the resource area is to add materials to the course.
There are several options within the resource drop down:
- Insert Label
- This feature allows the designer to insert text, or images that can be used to help explain or break up an area.
- Compose a text page
- The course designer does not want to list all the instructional or materials on the front page of the Moodle course. With this feature the designer can create separate text pages that students can use.
- Compose a web page
- The designer can create web pages designed with HTML. The designer can embed videos as well as any other functionality commonly found on a webpage
- Link to file or web site
- There is nothing worse then recreating the wheel. With this option the designer can link to preexisting materials or store files on the Moodle serve and have students access the resource through this link
- Display a directory
- This allows the designer to not only insert content into the Moodle site through out the course, but also allows the designer to put a central storage area in a place where the student can access resources in one central area
- Add an IMS Content Package
- IMS packages are resources packages that are can be universally traded between online courses
Activity Options
Activity options allow the designer to incorporate activities, course work into their curriculum. There are several options within the resource drop down:
- Assignments
- This allows the instructor to assign and collect student work. Work can either be done off line and submitted, or within the Moodle lesson
- Chat
- In some instance the students and instructor may want to communicate in real time. With the chat feature the participants within the course can hold real time conversations
- Choice
- This creates a simple poll
- Database
- Although it creates a basic database, the uses within the course are only limited by the imagination of the course designer.
- Forum
- Instructors can post questions and allow students to answer. This is the most common form of asynchronous communication used in distance education courses
- Glossary
- This feature lets the teachers or students design their own course specific dictionary. In addition this feature can also be used to provide term definitions within the course itself.
- Lesson
- With some patience and creativity the designer can create online lessons.
- Quiz
- Quizzes can be used for online quizzes, exam reviews, online worksheets and even exams
- Survey
- Unlike the Choice feature, with this option the designer can create simple or complex surveys for students to answer
- Wiki
- Wikis are collaborative documents. Depending on the setting employed by the instructor the entire class, groups or single individuals can create online documents on any topic
- Workshop
- This is almost a collection of all the types of activities within one category. Although complicated to set up, when it works, workshops are a powerful Moodle tool.
Collaborative Learning and Course Management Systems
A common concern for all course management systems is how well they incorporate collaboration and conversation. Some researchers argue that course management systems limit the instructor because they provide a template for course development. This in turn limits the quality and quantity of collaboration an instructor can incorporate into a course. However, proponents of course management systems argue that much of the quality and quantity of interaction can be determined by the instructor’s layout of the course. According to Blackboard, instructors can incorporate forums in any area of the course they choose, as well as determine the different access students can have to modify or create forums (Payne & Reinhart, 2008).
It is also a concern to many constructivists that course management systems are too instructor-driven, rather than learner-driven. Thus, inhibiting the opportunities for learners to contribute, work collaboratively, and regularly interact with fellow students. A point made by Carla R. Payne and Cornel J. Reinhart in their paper, “Can we talk? Course management software and the construction of knowledge”, is that “BB (Blackboard) has created just about all the possible manipulations of student discussion data/postings possible.
While the quality and quantity of collaboration in a course management system is largely determined by the instructor, it certainly may be useful for instructors to be able to analyze how much collaborative learning students are engaging in and how connected their learning environment is.
Conclusion
Online learning has advanced dramatically within the last few years. While this dramatic growth and change has occurred, the world of e-learning, and distance education has still not reached it fullest potential. As broadband and high-speed Internet connections have penetrated more and more of the average consumers’ homes, the integration of live chat, video conferencing and multimedia is still in its infancy. Distance education and technology on its own is not a panacea for education. Designers must still rely on strong instructional design principles; otherwise, regardless of the mode of instruction, learning is doomed.
It is an exciting time for educational technologists and those who use distance education tools. With the advent of Web 2.0 where content is more important than coding web pages, and streaming media is no longer solely within the domains of large companies, the field of e-learning and distance education is ready to mature and cause a revolution in how we learn.
Need more information:
- Bradford, P., Porciello, M., Balkron, N., & Backus, D. (2007). The blackboard learning system: the be all and end all in educational instruction?. J. Educational Technology Systems, 35(3), 301-314.
- Cole, J., & Foster, H. (2007). Using Moodle: Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management System (2nd Edition ed.). Cambridge: O’Reilly.
- Payne, C.R.,& Reinhart, C.J. (2008). Can we talk? Course management software and the construction of knowledge. On The Horizon. 16, 34-43.
- Roach, R. (2006). Higher education software giants merge in multimillion-dollar deal. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. 23, 28-30.
- Blackboard
- Moodle
- Martin Dougiamas
- SiteGrounds (an excellent Moodle hosting company)
- Moodle tutorials
- Moodle takes center stage as the white knight of course delivery
