LMS

When first learning about an LMS, my first thought as a primary teacher was Seesaw! We connect, communicate and assess with it. My students love, use and understand it. However, I know for a fact around here that Seesaw stops at 5th grade. One of my former students mentioned they wish they still had it. Jenny Quarles would say that an LMS has the "potential of supporting students over their whole K-20 career with personalized learning experiences such as an LMS is powerful." I have always wondered what they use at the next level. As for an official LMS, we use Moodle at my building. It provides us PD opportunities, weekly schedules, photos and important dates. We can pretty much find what we need on Moodle. Our principal also post quotes or advice or positive affirmations, which really do help moral! If there's ever a question about the week, you can hear many teachers saying "did you check Moodle?"
However, we are not allowed to use Google Classroom at the elementary level in my District. I believe it has something to do with the district not having control over which Google features are available for each account. Basically, the students have access to email, and that can bring many hiccups I guess. From what I have read and understood, Google Classroom is a great resource for higher grades. Even high school and college. 
The alternative that our District has provided us with is Microsoft Teams. I have not looked into it as much, because A) its brand new, B) I have heard it is harder to use BUT C) the students do not have an email access. Also, Microsoft Teams is apart of Microsoft 365 which is on the district's radar because it is already paid for. If the district believes it would improve our teaching, they will give us more information about it and hopefully provide training or PD sessions about it. I am excited to learn more about it. Next year we (teachers) are getting Windows Surface Pros, so any training will be necessary!

Resource: Quarles, J. (2017, October 31). The critical role of the LMS. Retrieved June 13, 2018, from http://smartbrief.com/original/2017/10/critical-role-lms?utm_source=brief

Comments

  1. LLLJune 14, 2018 at 6:37 AM

    Jaime,
    Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the use of Google in your classrooms. I can see where it would benefit students to be able to continue with a type of programming that they are used to, such as with Seesaw, but could also see where this might transition in their education journey based on their needs changing as students. The use of email is another consideration that I had not thought of. It would be beneficial to have one location to be able to communicate with students. I really like the way Moodle is being used in your school. I had not thought of this space being a general communication space for teachers and am very fond of the positive affirmations and team building that this can support. We do use Moodle to communicate faculty and student Information in addition to it being our LMS for courses (with "classes" set up for specific groups of faculty and each student program, for example). These forums are used to communicate information, like an electronic bulletin board or shared file system, but I think it would be great to incorporate the communication piece as well to promote connectivity, collaboration, and respect. It seems that you have a lot of good resources available to you with the Microsoft (MS) technology being integrated into your district. I am fond of MS tools and devices and have found that learning to use them is like anything else - it takes time and guided instruction! I hope that you are able to have some time with your peers to explore these resources further for integration into your classrooms. We may as well use what we have to its fullest potential!
    Thank you for sharing,
    Lauren

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJune 14, 2018 at 9:02 PM

    Jaime-

    I have heard so much about Seesaw in this class that I was getting excited to use it in my middle school classes. You say that it ends in 5th grade but I wonder if it could still be used in 6th grade at least? This is something that I will definitely look into!

    It is very interesting to see how different schools use tools to communicate, in your case Moodle. I like the student side of Moodle and when exploring different LMSs it was my first choice; however, I didn't think it was very user friendly. What are your thoughts on that?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jade WunderJune 14, 2018 at 9:14 PM

    I have developed a recent love for SeeSaw. I continue to find new ways to use it in my kindergarten classroom. I was not aware it stopped in 5th grade. This saddens me because I know my students as well as other students in my building love it's features. The parents love how they receive direct and instant posts of their children's work. I am going to have to investigate this more. I have not heard of Microsoft Teams. I will have to explore this. Very exciting news you are getting Pros! It always feels like Christmas when teachers get new devices for their classroom.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Jade WunderJune 14, 2018 at 9:14 PM

    I have developed a recent love for SeeSaw. I continue to find new ways to use it in my kindergarten classroom. I was not aware it stopped in 5th grade. This saddens me because I know my students as well as other students in my building love it's features. The parents love how they receive direct and instant posts of their children's work. I am going to have to investigate this more. I have not heard of Microsoft Teams. I will have to explore this. Very exciting news you are getting Pros! It always feels like Christmas when teachers get new devices for their classroom.

    ReplyDelete

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