The topic of our report is Learning Management Systems, and we are analysing the usefulness of Learning Management Systems in a post-secondary education. What do we understand when we hear the term LMS is an application that runs on a Web server and that is accessible via a Web browser over an Internet connection (De Smet et al. 2012). So LMS can be defined as “an on-line learning system that enables communication, the dissemination of resources, and the implementation of learning activities with the use of the educational features included in the LMS, all this to a group of learners within a secure space managed by a teacher while being accessible by any type of technological device connected to the Internet.’’(Stockless 2017). There are various types of LMS used in universities, such as Moodle, Pearson, K-12, Absorb, Matrix, Kahoot, and Eliademy. However, we are going to focus on the most common used in Canada and TRU: Moodle and Pearson. Making the most of secondary sources on hand, we are going to highlight main benefits and drawbacks of using Learning Management Systems in higher education and subject to the findings, review its effects on students and their learning.
Background:
Advancements in ICT’s in education sector led to emergence of Learning Management System during the 1990’s, to enhance changes in the traditional education system and present teachers and students a broader perspective of education. Learning Management Systems imparted teachers with a new way of teaching and assisted students in better understanding with the help of Moodle and Pearson. Pearson which started as textbook publisher in the education field, now is a big player in the education sector, especially in online learning. Moodle was developed on pedagogical principles for blended learning and distance education. Assessments about learning management systems, yield information on: acceptance of learning management systems in secondary school, factors affecting use of learning management systems, overview and future of learning management systems, which act as a base for our research and data sources.
Findings:
While taking into sight plenty of research papers and articles, we analysed the positives and negatives of implementing learning management systems (LMS) in general, and Moodle and Pearson as particular examples.
To begin with, the research conducted by Paechter and Maier (2010) LMS allows students to control their time because of online access to all of the course materials, so that the student can study independently and when it is convenient for him or her (Lai and Savage 7). Moreover, “the value of an LMS is demonstrated in its ability to meet administrative demands of universities and for increasing access to grades.” (Lai and Savage 7). According to Emelyanova and Voronina, based on the survey conducted among students, the advantage of using LMS while studying is that the professor can test students’ knowledge setting a time frame (282).
Nevertheless, there is always a second side of a coin, which we call negatives of the usage of LMS in post-secondary education. Lane (2009) states that as LMS is mostly for delivering information for students rather than for education. Moreover, LMS can lead to managing the ways of instructors’ teaching rather than assisting them in transferring their teaching styles into the online field, and “this may discourage instructor from creative pedagogy” (Lai and Savage 5). Furthermore, LMS without a doubt is a useful tool in assessing the progress and academic performance, however, the back side of it is that student’s achievement is seen to any LMS user, which amazes students in the value of the results received through such a system (Emelyanova and Voronina 282). The survey, conducted by Emelyanova and Voronina, showed the results presented in the Table 1 (284). It demonstrates that students are more pessimistic about getting a high grade through LMS than teachers while the percentage on getting a high grade is almost equal.
Table 1. Objectivity of Grades
However, the best way to estimate the value of learning management systems is to examine particular examples and its pros and cons. The most commonly used systems at TRU are Moodle and Pearson. Carrying out a research we noticed that Thompson Rivers University spent 1,228 thousand dollars on computer supplies and licenses including such learning systems as Moodle and Pearson and other (“Consolidated” 21). Starting with Moodle, we would like to note that the main benefit of using Moodle in higher education is that it allows students and professors to communicate online despite both time and distance (Wood 300). Moreover, Connie Ulasewicz is describing his experience with Moodle compared to experience with Blackboard learning management system in the article “Online Teaching and Learning in Transition: Faculty Perspectives on Moving from Blackboard to the Moodle Learning Management System”. The author indicates such an advantage of Moodle as the feature of online discussion (Ulasewicz 38). He writes that using Moodle, it became easier to hold a discussion as there were no “challenge of louder voices dominating a conversation” and every student could even upload pictures related to the discussed topic (Ulasewicz 38-39).
However, according to the Wood’s survey, most students (77%) believe that using Moodle by large groups at one time in order to do a test, for instance, often causes a computer crash, which subsequently engender students to fail the test (303). However, Ulasewicz points out one of the main disadvantage he and his students faced, which was inability to edit posts (42).
Another learning system we are going to evaluate is Pearson. It is commonly used among the whole world. Pearson is used by TRU students at courses such as Economics, Math, and Management. Nevertheless, the significant benefit of using Pearson to study is its flexibility and choice, which allows the students to pick where, when and how they are going to do their assignments. So, it offers students to develop a schedule convenient for themselves. Also till 2017 Pearson’s chief educational advisor was Michael Barber, who is considered as one of the single most influential educator on the face of the earth, which provides assures that education material provided by Pearson will be effective.
Plenty of teachers, students and even parents complain about the Pearson’s approach of controlling every educational step by its tests and online lessons. FairTest says Pearson has made 13 significant errors from 2013 to 2015, including scoring mistakes that prevented 5,300 students from qualifying for gifted and talented programs in New York City. The company mis-scored questions on Virginia’s Alternative Assessment Program for students with learning disabilities—leading to 4,000 students being told they had passed the test when they had actually failed it. (In each instance Pearson rectified the problem once it came to light.) Argues Schaeffer: “There’s been a higher percentage of reported foul-ups by Pearson than by other companies.”(Reingold 2015)
Conclusions:
According to all studying done, we can state that the main idea why to use LMS is to enhance educational system and to assist professors in teaching. From the research conducted, which showed both positives and negatives, and the findings we can draw the following conclusions about LMS:
¬ LMS assists in learning and can be productive in blended and distance learning.
¬ LMS provide students with a software that helps in betterment of their learning, but students cannot be completely be dependent on LMS for completion of studies.
¬ LMS helps teachers to communicate with students in an effective way and also track and monitor their progress and evaluate the results. That is only possible when teachers are completely familiar with information technology and can guide students thoroughly with the help of LMS.
¬ When we compare Pearson and Moodle, we can conclude that Moodle is more likely a better LMS than Pearson, as Pearson has made many errors over the period of time and students find Moodle more convenient than Pearson.
Recommendations:
Recommendations to TRUSU for implementing policy and guidelines would be as follows:
¬ LMS should be implemented in TRU for productivity in learning and better access to students regarding each course along with classroom learning.
¬ Use of LMS should be limited. Not everything related to the course should be on Moodle or Pearson. E.g. If Homework is needed to be completed on Pearson, the all other aspects such as assignments, case study should be covered in class.
¬ Teachers should be provided with guidelines on the use of LMS in their course, which guides teachers to not completely depend on LMS and encourage classroom learning as well.
¬ Students are needed to be made aware of the use of LMS as a part of their curriculum and not to spend time only on the software and not focus on other areas.