Learning Management Systems

Before reading and watching about the Learning Management Systems (LMS) assigned for our homework, I had already got familiar with this educational environment for my hand-on project presentation. Nonetheless, the video material presented by Stephen Downes provided a more general view and comparative perspective on LMS and PLE (Personal Learning Environment). The first difference that he mentioned is that LMS is used by an educational institution or corporation and provides a repository of content and services. Individual learners can access this management system and obtain the content, perform various tasks, have discussions, conduct online conferences with each other, etc. In contrast to this, in PLE the learner is the center and he or she can access content from different sources, like Google Docs, Facebook, iBook, and others. In short, as Downes mentions the difference is that LMS is centralized, whereas PLE is decentralized.      

I could identify two types of LMS. One is the Collaboration Management which can stand alone from LMS, and when someone doesn’t have access to LMS, he or she can join the collaboration. Another type is called Federation when two students access their LMS different from each other and these two systems then join a collaboration system. However, one disadvantage here is when someone wants to join the system, he or she will be locked out. The PLE network is different in that it connects individuals instead of LMS and here individuals are directly connected to each other by sharing resources, messages and other ways, and they are not required to join any LMS. If in PLE the learner is responsible for the management of his data, in the case of LMS when the learner leaves the institution, all their data remains there.

Although there is this disadvantage, I am sure that the organization of learning through LMS would be a great step forward for our Armenian reality. For example, Moodle is an alternative to online learning solutions whose modular design makes it easy to create new courses, adding content that will engage learners.
            Moodle is an ideal online learning solution for the following reasons:

·         Easy creation of courses from existing resources

·           Course content which can be re-used with different learners

·           Active learner involvement

·           Enrolment and learner authentication which is simple yet secure

·           Online learner and teacher management features

·           An active support community to help solve problems and generate new ideas

·         Affordability

 Activities are at the heart of a course management system. Moodle was designed by an educator and computer scientist, with “social constructionist” principles in mind.  A constructivist perspective views learners as actively engaged in making meaning, learners who can analyze, investigate, collaborate, share, build and generate based on what they already know, rather than what facts, skills, and processes they can parrot.

My exploration of the Moodle form the teacher’s position gave me a lot of practical experience, and I believe in the near future I will implement this online environment in my language classrooms.

 

Mobile-Assisted Language Learning

These days it seems mobile phones are used everywhere by everyone; maybe more than any other technological device. This prompts us educators to find ways to take advantage of mobiles and use them in language learning.

Very often instructors ask the students to turn off their phones before the class starts not to get distracted by them. Surely, this is still necessary, but there are certain ways to use mobiles for educational purposes. I discovered a number of educational reasons for using them in the language classroom.

Thus, students can use the notes feature to collect everyday language and send their notes to the teacher. This helps to break the boundary between class time and daily activities. Students can use the camera feature to take pictures of text. Through the voice recorder, learners can record conversations outside the classroom. Another useful technique is to use the text messaging feature to reinforce vocabulary learning. This function can also encourage learners to improve their writing skills. They can start with shorter texts and then expand them into essays. The challenge for educators is to encourage that type of writing from which students can learn the language.

I found the technique of tandem learning rather encouraging for interaction. This is when two students learn each other’s native language by exchanging text messages. Mobiles can also be used for microblogging on Twitter and social networking. Through this device a lot of listening and reading materials can be distributed.

Despite certain problems connected with mobiles, such as lack of access, noise and disruption in class, cost, increased teacher workload, mobile-assisted language learning can serve as one supplementary means to boost motivation and enhance language learning process.

Distance Language Learning

One of the greatest opportunities provided by technology is the Distance Language Learning. In this learning environment both Ts and Ss differ from their classroom counterparts in terms of the roles they assume, the way of interaction, and the attributes and expertise required of them. My vision about the distance Ts’ and Ls’ roles was reinforced by the articles “Towards an Understanding of Attribute and Expertise in Distance Language Teaching: Tutor Maxims” and “Independent Language Learning in Distance Education: Current Issues”.

When I put the Ts’ and Ls’ roles on the continuum from traditional teaching/learning to the distance education, I can see the multiplied roles of Ts and Ls in this remote environment. Thus, the article by Cynthia White et.al showed the findings of 3 studies, one of which revealed that e-tutors’ roles include collaboration skills, basic technology knowledge, interpersonal communication skills, and knowledge of the distance learning field. The second study conducted with novice Ts who “learned distance through distance” implies that direct experience of distance learning is useful but not enough for professional development and awareness raising.

I found the third study useful in terms of identifying all the roles and competencies of an e-tutor. Among the roles are content facilitator, metacognition facilitator, process facilitator, advisor, assessor, technologist, resource provider, manager, designer, co-learner, and researcher. The competencies are related to pedagogy, communication, discipline expertise, and technology. I think this identification of roles and competencies can be useful in forming expectations about the roles of an e-tutor and identifying the gaps which need training. Besides, the tutor maxims listed in this article are really necessary along with recognizing the above mentioned roles to enhance the quality of e-tutoring and e-learning.

The second article by Cynthia White gave me some insights into the current issues of distance education and the Ls’ roles. Obviously, in distance education Ls are involved in self- management and environment management. They have to make numerous decisions and take on some of T roles. However, there are certain issues here connected with the isolated study context, less availability to provide immediate feedback and assistance, more awareness on the part of the L, and new kinds of skills and motivation.

To address these issues, Ross Paul and Anderson and Garrison debated one stating that learner independence can be fostered through high-quality materials and the other arguing that it can be achieved through collaborative experiences. In my opinion, a course could be effective if it provided a mixture of both approaches. What I found really important is when Ls develop effective interface between themselves and the learning contexts, and a new view of what it means to be a language learner.

I believe that if there is a triangulated evidence of Ts’ roles, and context of delivery, which includes support services, organization structures, feedback opinions, opportunities for interaction and so on, the e-learners are likely to achieve effective learning.

I tried to complete these by completing the online assessment questionnaire and doing the language learning course. While the questionnaire helped me gain understanding of the skills necessary for e-learning and build up expectations for the course, the course itself helped me make numerous decisions about my own learning, and this is an essential factor to argue that distance learning is a great means to foster learner autonomy which is a crucial criterion for effective learning.

 

Open Educational Recourses

It is true that we are entering a world in which we will have to acquire new knowledge and skills on an almost continuous basis, as the world is changing at a rapid speed. To address the problem of growing global demand for lifelong education, the Open Educational Resources (OER) Movement was put forth in 2001.

Throughout this course I learned a lot about the educational potential of the Internet as a global platform that has vastly expanded access to both formal and informal educational materials. The so-called Web 2.0 has blurred the line between producers and consumers supporting multiple modes of learning. The article titled “Open education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0” by John Brown and Richard Adler, was a new revelation for me. I got familiar with the idea of OER and its role in the modern world. I think, this new movement is a very necessary development for providing lifelong learning opportunities, as it provides open access to undergraduate and graduate level materials and modules for more than 1,700 courses.

One significant feature of the Internet is fostering social learning which focuses not so much on what we are learning but on how we are learning. I agree that knowledge is not a kind of substance transferred from teachers to learners, but it is the understanding of content which is socially constructed. My teaching experience has taught me that one of the best ways to learn something is to teach it to others.

Another aspect of social learning is the opportunity not only to learn about the subject matter, but also to learn to be a full participant in the field. The traditional Cartesian educational system can very well characterize the Armenian educational system where students spend years learning about a subject and only after receiving this explicit knowledge they start getting the tacit knowledge of how to be a professional in a field. In contrast, the open source communities follow John Dewey’s perspective of “productive enquiry” which views learning as a process of seeking the knowledge when it is needed to carry out a particular task.

Although these extended connections were not developed to serve educational purposes, there are a number of examples of study groups which have been created to help students benefit from social learning. Such examples are the Terra Incognita project, the Harvard Law School course called “CyberOne: Law in the Court of public Opinion”, the Digital StudyHall, and others. The role that I see in these types of informal learning is that they can coexist with and extend traditional education. Some other examples of e-science and e-humanities communities, such as Faulkes Telescope project, Hands-on-Universe project, or Bugscope project, enhance the social leaning which creates a participatory architecture where participants learn about learning.

I strongly support the new demand-pull approach, in contrast to the supply-push approach, as the former provides students with access to rich learning communities built around a practice where understanding is formed through active, passion-based learning, and fosters lifelong learning that extends beyond formal schooling. As the article concludes, ‘this is a major step toward creating a 21^st-century global culture of learning to meet the demands of our constantly changing world.’

In the podcast about OER, Cable Green and Joel Smith speak about the challenges of access, impact, and sustainability, and how to deal with these challenges. They mention that the ultimate goal of OER is to increase the number of educated people and increase the quality of education they are getting. To meet the challenges of this movement, it was decided that having open licensed content is not enough; there should be data analytics to collect assessment data for the improvement of the quality of OER. This can also guarantee the accuracy, the completeness and the context of the content which is very important for the individual learner. OER needs to provide an instructional strategy, interactive exercises, and comprehension checks to provide effective instruction. High quality open content can be achieved if it is analyzed and revised on a regular basis, if it is useful and appropriate, and if it is shared, as sharing can bring better things; there is always someone outside who will find the gaps and fix them. First of all, we, educators should be responsible for providing this quality.