What Planning Tools Should I Consider in an LMS?

Video Transcription

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you are having a wonderful day today. Today, we're going to be looking at what planning tools you should consider as you begin selecting a learning management system.

For today's lesson, I've chosen a quote by Marshall McLuhan which states, "We shape our tools and thereafter our tools shape us." It's really important that as you look at various learning management systems, you look at those planning tools because once you choose those, those are going to help shape the way you plan as a teacher in your classroom. By the end of the lesson today, you should be able to identify the user and course management tools within learning management systems that are going to impact your selection.

So let's take a look at a number of those user management and course management tools. It's really important to note that good learning management systems are going to contain a number of different management features that teachers can use. So let's go ahead and look at what some of those are that you should be looking for as you choose your selection.

First and foremost, the user management tools that you should look for are the ability to create user accounts. You want to make sure that you have the ability to create accounts for different roles and then enroll those accounts into the proper classes or groups. What this means is you want to see that there are ways to have teacher accounts, student accounts, parent accounts and administrator accounts, and that each individual account has access to the information that they are going to need as they use that learning management system.

You're going to want to see that these are teacher created and managed, meaning that the teacher is the one that is able to assign what that teacher is able to access as well as what different students can access. And then with in those student accounts, can you group students in your classes, so that each one gets different tools that they will need they continue to learn.

Finally, you're going to want to look at certain elements of student management when we look at those user accounts. Is the student able to create their own account or maybe have several options for that account creation, so that the student can access certain information that they are going to want to get a hold of?

Another element you're going to want to look at when it comes to user management tools is the ability to develop groups or what we call organizations. This allows the teacher to create groups for different students in their class, perhaps allowing that some students in one group will get certain pieces of information while other groups will get other pieces of information, so that those learning objectives can really be tailored to individual student needs.

You're also going to want to see that there is the ability to import or export that user information. You want to know that you can easily add to the learning management system any of that information that you need in there, as well as the ability to export it out, so that you can share out that information with others.

There are also a number of course management tools that you're going to want to look at. First and foremost, you're going to want to look that you have the ability as the administrator or the teacher to create that course content or import that course content from other areas. You want to know that there is a certain level of personalization, so that you can make sure that that course content really fits your needs.

Also, you're going to want to see that teachers are able to enroll students in that K12 setting. Most often, it is the teacher who is the one that's doing the enrollment, but you also want to see that it's possible that students may enroll themselves. When we talk about things like MOOCs, or massive open online courses, you want to see that there's a variety of options for enrollment within that class, so that you are getting not only the students that you want to ensure are taking it, but also you open up the opportunity for other people to engage in the content.

Now that we've reached the end of the lesson, you are able to identify the user and course management tools within a learning management system that impact the selection. Before we're done, I'd like to take just a moment for reflection. As you think back on the various planning tools that you should consider in a learning management system, what do you think would be the most difficult element in selecting those planning tools when you begin the process? Feel free to pause the video for just a second to think about your response to that reflective question.

To dive a little deeper and learn how to apply this information, be sure to check out the Additional Resources section associated with this video. This is where you'll find links targeted toward helping you discover more ways to apply this course material. That's all we have for right now. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.