Saturday, August 1, 2009

Learning Management Systems

A Learning Management System (LMS) is defined as "a software application or Web-based technology used to plan, implement, and assess a specific learning process." (TechTarget, 2003).

These systems, such as Blackboard and Moodle, provide teachers or instructors with a way of providing course content, monitoring participation by individual students (with forums etc) and a way to assess student performance. LMSs also provide students with the opportunity to participate in discussions and video conferencing with their teacher and peers. All of these features are centralised for easy access by students and teachers alike.

Although the implementation of LMSs offers flexibility for both teachers and students, I personally prefer the interaction of a classroom where a teacher can physically interact with their students and provide the necessary information for their education. However, there is definitely a place for these learning systems (perhaps for upper secondary students who may want to study extra subjects that are specific to their chosen career path). In a primary school setting, teachers could perhaps use a learning management system as a place to keep their planning and assessment but then use more interactive means to supply their students with necessary knowledge and skills.

Reference:

TechTarget (2003) Learning Management System. Accessed 1 August 2009 on the World Wide Web: http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid182_gci798202,00.html

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