Final Reflection- Learning Management System Build (Canvas)
Get to Know Canvas
In the first few weeks of OLTD504 I was part of a group learning Canvas, a Learning Management System. We split up Canvas into three parts and each of us took one part to learn and then teach the rest of the group. In order to become familiar with my area of Canvas, I decided to create a simple framework for a course entitled “Getting to know Canvas.” The intention was to teach our group in a synchronous session but instead I decided to create and model an engaged learning structure, to start the process, and facilitate the group learning over a four day period. As a result, I not only gained a basic understanding of Canvas (Learning Management System), I deepened my learning by creating a structure to engage and teach my fellow participants these concepts also.
During this project I kept my attention on the Critical Challenge Inquiry Question: How can Learning Management Systems (LMS and/or Non-LMS) help me develop courses where students learn in the best way for them (teacher-structured/ personalized), while providing me with the tools I require for efficient and efficacious presentation, moderation, support, and assessment (for, as, and of learning)? Upon reflection, I also feel that the following learning outcomes were addressed while completing this project.
- Develop practical and technical skills in all phases of concept, development, design, implementation, etc.
- Plan learning opportunities most suitable to the strengths and challenges of a variety of environments
- Become familiar with common terms, definitions and elements related to online environments
- Demonstrate basic competency with design and implementation within a variety of online learning environments and tools
- Plan learning opportunities most suitable to the strengths and challenges of a variety of environments
It’s all about the details and structure, building an “out of the box” process that gets the student to actively participate and essentially do their own learning within the structure that's been created. In order to do this I used a blend of screencasted video, audios and learning challenges with “rewards” to support my “students” to learn the components in advance of the synchronous session. I set up a pre-quiz to assess the student’s knowledge level as well as a summative quiz to check both for learning and where the course could be improved. The synchronous session then became a venue for answering last questions and tying it all together.
My greatest “take-aways” from this project are:
- The greater the diversity of media and approach used to communicate with participants, the greater the interest and engagement. Media must be easily accessible using software that all students have.
- When developing courses using Learning Management Systems, or non-LMS, there must be redundancy built in so students can find information they need in a variety of locations.
- Navigation should fit a variety of learning and communication styles.
- The more an instructor can set up an environment that is interactive, that double duties as both a LMS and learning mechanism or process for the topic, the greater the success students will have.
No Learning Management System is perfect and the more we can create a flexible structure to augment the LMS with other structures, the greater the likelihood our students will learn to have a greater ability to function in a digital environment and tailor their own research and learning. They will have more satisfaction, learning, community, and responsibility towards their own education. They will also learn, integrate and be able to apply their learning in the subject area being taught.