LMS - Recorded Sessions

In my earlier post, I outlined areas for discussion in regards to using an LMS. I thought I would move the topic of discussion to the top to highlight what we are discussing and what is left to discuss. For today, I want to discuss the use of Recorded Sessions.

• Recording Live Sessions for review
• Progress Reporting
• Course Content Delivery
• Homework Assignments
• Group Projects
• Gradebook use and distribution
• Direct Parent Communications
• Enhancing Teacher Preparation Skills (and Instructional Design)
• Delivering Media
• Assessments
• Community Building
• Reaching Non-Participants (from your class)
• Assisting with Absenteeism
  
• Substitute Teacher Prep (thanks Dr. Karl Kapp

I thought this would be a great place to start seeing that we just finished a holiday here in US (Thanksgiving). All of us need a vacation, including students. But, we all know that jumping back into school again after a long break can be tough for some students. I should also say, I am not talking about assigning homework over break. That is a subject much different than providing learning resources for students to use as needed.

Imagine the last class before a long vacation. We work very hard as teachers to keep the students engaged. But, is there more we can do?

Using only a portion of a plan period and one of many Virtual Classroom tools (Wimba, Elluminate, or Bb's proprietary tool) available within most LMS's, teachers can record, in their own voice, a presentation highlighting the class content. Using Elluminate Live, a building block for Blackboard, a teacher can quickly setup a session, record the session and distribute the link to everyone in their class. The session can include voice, video, uploaded PowerPoint presentations, web tours, and various other shared applications. Teachers can even embed quizzes and send out files to all who view the session (within the recording).

The benefit to the student is that before returning to class, simply reviewing the recorded session can reinforce the live session and serve as a way for them to recall the content accurately (vs counting on them remembering the class or using just their notes).

As I write this I can think of several questions teachers may ask regarding recorded sessions including:

• Do I make reviewing the session an assignment?
• Do I offer credit for reviewing the sessions?
• How do I know the time I put into this is worth the effort?
• How do I know if the students gain anything from the recorded session?
• Do I track how many students view the recorded session?
• I think this activity is a great idea, how can I promote the use of the recorded sessions?
• How often should I recorded sessions?
• Should I record my live class presentations?
  

This topic alone could take some considerable time to fully discuss here! So, I would love to hear your thoughts.

In summary, I do believe recorded sessions can be incredibly powerful for students. As I am writting I am thinking this would be a great place to insert some data and research. So, check back over this week. I will be adding some value to this post with insights from others.

LMS Success Story

This video really highlights the benefits of certain LMS features (and more broadly the use of an LMS in schools). This happens to be focused on Blackboard. Feel free to think outside of just Blackboard. This could be Moodle, Angel or any other similarly featured LMS.




The beneficial take away is the video's focus on teachers and students. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Day!

Today will be a day off from posting.

I wish everyone a happy day!

Learning Management System

LMS's. Purely for use in virtual schools - right? Well, give this some thought.

In your brick and mortar school, are you looking for ways to connect parents and teachers? For example, how many tools do you currently have in place that allow parents to quickly have access to all of the homework assignments? That one is tough -- I will wait while you count......

Ok -- so, now you have counted. You may have come up with a few. So, I would love to hear them. Post a comment and let me know. HOWEVER, even if you do have some tools, are they centralized, easy to distribute, easy to archive, easy to secure?

This is just one example of the great conversations to be shared regarding the use of LMS's in ANY school system, virtual or not. I've put together a list of topics that I will cover over the next several weeks regarding LMS application to some really complex school challanges.

• Progress Reporting
• Course Content Delivery
• Homework Assignments
• Group Projects
• Gradebook use and distribution
• Direct Parent Communications
• Enhancing Teacher Preparation Skills (and Instructional Design)
• Delivering Media
• Assessments
• Community Building
• Recording Live Sessions for review
• Reaching Non-Participants (from your class)
• Assisting with Absenteeism
  
• Substitute Teacher Prep (thanks Dr. Karl Kapp)

Although these ideas can be applied to any LMS, my experiences come from using Blackboard. I found a similar posting on their site. You can see their brochure at: (pdf) Blackboard School Central.

To kick this off, my focus will be on use in a brick and mortar school. I never assume however that Virtual Schools make the best use of an LMS. I think in reality, they have the same struggles and can apply the same thinking as I will discuss for B&M schools. But, they have slightly different stakes, audiences, partnerships, contracts etc. that have to be considered. So, we will come back to Virtual Schools over the course of these conversations.

Welcome!

Welcome!

I didn't realize how hard it would be to create a title for my blog. I actually really struggled. I read some ideas, looked at some other sites, etc. I kept coming back to the question, "What am I trying to tell everyone?"

For the past 16 years I have been involved at some level with Education Technology. More recently, my focus has been on virtual learning in the k-12 arena. Spending the majority of my time working with teachers in virtual schools and helping "Brick and Mortar" teachers increase the results of classroom instruction, my goal for this blog is to focus on the real need for expertise in the area of preparing and supporting teachers.

So, back to the name. My thoughts revolved around ways to combine what I plan to discuss; Virtual Education, Creative Education and Traditional Education. I came up with Virtical Education. Is it the catch phrase of the future? Never to sell my ideas short, we will find out.

Mark