Becoming Digital (Part 2)

Let's move the ball a little forward and reopen the discussion in terms of the venerable learning management system (LMS). Learning online has changed little since university professors began creating HTML pages for classes back in the early nineties. You may not agree with this reference, but it's a fact-of-life. The tools are more sophisticated, e.g., WebEx vs. green screen chat rooms, but if you're willing to take the 60,000-foot view, a tool is still a tool, with a fresher interface, slicker code, but the underlying concept remains little changed.

The LMS remains an enigma, a black box that confuses the clear majority of teaching faculty. Yes, learning management systems are in use everywhere, not just in the schools, but also in industry, government, the military, etc. The "digital learner" has used some form of a learning management system since early childhood. They were called computer games back in the day, think Reader Rabbit, but these learners have had their hands-on computer-based learning, since birth. Recognizing this reality, can, if we're willing to think sequentially, provide us with a roadmap, to not just using the LMS, but using it effectively.

The LMS is overwhelming to those that use it to teach for several reasons: fear, complexity, and the time required to learn the software, etc. However, over the years, I have come to realize that what is often "overlooked" is a simple fact that we were taught one-way, i.e., the lecture, which for us becomes our blueprint for how we teach, technology be damned. Do you see where I'm going with this? I'll bet you do! We learned by sitting in a classroom listening to the teacher. So, now there is a generation of, let's call them instructional designers and technologists that are attempting to take THAT model and FIT it into the technology. This is, let's record the instructor and fit it into the learning management system, which for me is a huge mistake! In education, it seems that every 15-years or so, we revamp curriculum's to fit the latest craze; does this ring a bell? Rather than going down a rabbit-hole of foolishness, what if we approach the use of the learning management system differently?

Teaching with a learning management system is within the reach of anyone that needs to teach any subject. Yes, it is software that we need to learn to use. Yes, it takes time to learn how to navigate the menus. Yes, there are numerous tools that don't, at first glance, seem appropriate to our discipline. But, if we're willing to approach its use systematically, it is within our reach. Competency in using the tool requires us to take the time to think about a concept that we need to teach, seek advice on which tool would help in teaching that concept, and practicing with the tool, before implementing it in a course. That is, become competent in a tool or tools; not all the tools, just the tool needed to do the job.

So, how does the teacher become both "digital" and "competent" when instructing a learner that is erroneously perceived to be "digital" and "competent" using an LMS? Effective use of a learning management system is within reach. There is a sequence to teaching digitally using the LMS and it’s a simple sequence. That sequence goes something like this: storage, collaboration, interpretation, engagement, access, and evaluation.

More To Come . . . . .