LMS and Teaching online

Hi! It's me again 😀

In the previous post I have shared some of the difficulties I have faced as an educator. However, I haven't mentioned about the advantages of teaching online, which I find prevailing over negatives. As one of the most important positive features, I would like to say that teaching online gives a great opportunity to deliver educational content and facilitate learning through digital platforms and technologies, such as online learning management systems (LMS), which I want to elaborate on in this post.

A modern Learning Management System (LMS) is a software application designed to deliver and manage educational content and resources online. It provides a platform for creating and delivering online courses, managing student enrollment. Moreover, it also engages with students through online discussions and feedback, and assesses student progress through digital assignments and assessments. Online teaching can be conducted asynchronously, allowing students to complete coursework on their own schedules, or synchronously, where students and instructors meet in real-time through online video conferencing. With the increasing availability of online learning platforms and technologies, teaching online has become an increasingly popular option for education at all levels.

Some key features of modern LMSs include:

1. Mobile responsiveness: LMSs are designed to work on multiple devices, including desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones.

2. Personalization: LMSs can be customized to meet the specific needs of learners and instructors.

3. Social learning: Many modern LMSs include features that allow learners to collaborate with each other and with instructors, such as discussion forums, chat rooms, and video conferencing.

4. Multimedia support: LMSs can support a wide range of multimedia content, including videos, audio files, images, and interactive simulations.

5. Analytics and reporting: LMSs can generate detailed reports on student progress and performance, which can help instructors identify areas where students are struggling and adjust their teaching accordingly.

Therefore, there are several benefits of teaching online, including:

1. Flexibility: Online teaching allows instructors to work from anywhere and at any time, giving them the flexibility to balance their work and personal life.

2. Accessibility: Online teaching allows students to access the course materials and participate in class discussions from anywhere in the world, as long as they have an internet connection.

3. Cost-effective: Online teaching eliminates the need for physical classrooms and other resources, reducing the overall cost of education for both students and instructors.

4. Personalization: Online teaching allows instructors to personalize their teaching approach to meet the individual needs of each student, providing a more tailored learning experience.

5. Increased engagement: Online teaching platforms often provide tools and features that can enhance student engagement, such as interactive quizzes, multimedia content, and discussion forums.

LMS and Assessment

Assessment is a process of measuring and evaluating learners' knowledge, skills, and abilities. As everybody knows, assessment can take many forms, including quizzes, exams, assignments, projects, and simulations. 

LMS and assessment are closely related as an LMS provides a platform for conducting assessments and tracking learners' progress. An LMS can be used to create and deliver assessments, store assessment results, and provide feedback to learners. The assessments can be designed to measure learners' understanding of specific topics, gauge their progress, and evaluate their overall performance. The LMS can also provide analytics and reports on learners' assessment results to help educators analyze learners' strengths and weaknesses and identify areas that need improvement. Besides, An LMS can offer adaptive assessments, which can modify the difficulty of questions based on learners' responses. This can make assessments more engaging and challenging for learners, as well as help identify areas where learners need more support. 

Here  are  some  platforms  that offer  adaptive  assessments: SmartSparrow, Knewton, Edmentum, ALEKS. These adaptive learning platforms allows educators to create and deliver adaptive assessments and personalized learning experiences. It offers a variety of interactive question types, multimedia support, and gamification features.

Therefore, I may conclude, that a modern LMS is a powerful tool that can help educators deliver high-quality online learning experiences to learners of all ages and backgrounds.

References:

Papanastasiou, E. (2014). Adaptive Assessment. In: Gunstone, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Science Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6165-0_3-4

https://blog.heyhi.sg/benefits-of-online-teaching-teachers/

Jackson, P. W. (1968). Life in the classroom. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.