What Planning Tools Should I Consider in an LMS?

Video Transcription

Hello everyone, and welcome. I hope you're having a great day. In this lesson, we will look at some user and course management tools that you might find in learning management systems that just might impact your decision when it comes time to make a selection. So let's get started. The first tool we'll look at is the ability to create user accounts of different roles, and enroll these accounts into the proper classes or groups.

This really maximizes the effectiveness of the entire system. It behooves any organization to have a central place for all its users to go even though the users have different restrictions and privileges. Once the accounts are created and they are placed into the groups that you want, you'll want to be able to manage them. Another option may be for the students to do that themselves. There are several options for account creation for you to explore.

Here are some reasons why you might want to create groups or organizations within a learning management system. Special educators who need access to IPs, different departments within a school, various organizations within a district, for example, teachers unions, custodial staff, teacher assistance, or parents.

Student users may also have reasons to create groups. For instance, at the secondary level, students may be working together on a project and need to access the same documents at the same time. Another tool that is extremely valuable is one that makes it possible for user information to be imported and exported. This is a huge time saver for administrators and administrative assistants when culling through mounds of records and data.

There are two very important course management tools that you'll definitely want to investigate. First, a system that allows the administrator or teacher to create course or content that can be imported from other sources. This prevents instructors from having to reinvent the wheel. Furthermore, that capability allows for the instructor to provide instruction tailored specifically for that individual or that individual group.

Secondly, although teachers at the lower levels are most often the ones to manually enroll students in groups or classes there are features on learning management systems that allow students to also do it themselves, particularly for massive open online courses, or MOOCs.

So let's summarize this short but informative video. We introduced user management tools and course management tools. And here's today's food for thought. Which of the features mentioned in this video are most important to you?

As you reflect on how this new information can be applied, you may want to explore the additional resources section that accompanies this video presentation. This is where you'll find links to resources chosen to help you deepen your learning and explore ways to apply your newly acquired skill set. As always, thanks so much for watching. Have a great day.