Learning management systems

Learning management systems are gradually becoming an indispensable part of not just higher educational institutions, but also schools and even educational centers. High prices might really be justified by convenience, accessibility, endless storage capacity, and many more benefits.

Hennigan and Main (2023), define learning management systems (LMS) as platforms used for tracking, management, and course delivery, both online and offline.

The list of LMS currently available is endless, and below is the list of best LMS by Forbes (Hennigan and Main, 2023):

·         CYPHER LEARNING LMS: Best for Ease of Use

·         TalentLMS: Best for Small Businesses

·         Absorb: Best for Enterprise Businesses

·         iSpring: Best for Quick Support

·         Docebo: Best for Corporations

·         D2L Brightspace LMS: Best for Educators

·         Blackboard Learn LMS: Best for Higher Education Institutions

·         Canvas LMS: Best for Ivy League Schools

·         Moodle LMS: Best Open Source Platform

·         Edmodo LMS: Best Free Option

Let’s have a look at Canvas Instructure and Moodle. Canvas is gaining more popularity as more universities are choosing it as their LMS.

The reasons for choosing Canvas are endless features, streamlined work, and a simple user interface (John, 2014).

Despite its relatively high cost, Canvas provides a wide range of opportunities for teachers, students, and institutions. Students access the timetable, lectures, and seminars, watch videos and submit assignments all in one place. They are also able to view their grades, feedback, and announcements, notifications are sent to students once new information is posted. Teachers have access to exactly the same features, as well as grade/attendance reports and statistics. Institution representatives can retrieve reports and statistics on attendance and academic performance at any time.  There is a parental mode where parents can view the grades and attendance of children.

As Canvas has Big Blue Button integrated, the courses can be taught online, offline, and in hybrid mode.

When it comes to integration, the majority of tools can be integrated with Canvas. At our university, we use Turnitin which automatically checks the plagiarism rate once students submit their assignments on Canvas.

A few other advantages of Canvas could include a dashboard, with all the tools, i.e. attendance, announcements, calendar, subjects, assignments, etc., including your recent activity (Learning, 2020).

There are both web versions and mobile applications that students and teachers can access, however, in our practice, we had a few cases where students failed to submit their assignments through an application, which could be considered a disadvantage.

Another drawback is probably the need for a stable internet connection. Slow internet prevents from using Big Blue Button or uploading content.

Moodle has been on the market for much longer. In Uzbekistan, in particular, the majority of state universities have been using it for a few years now.

It has a very easy user interface too, it has a group forum feature that Canvas, I believe, does not have.

Assignments/grading/feedback sections are very similar to those of Canvas, however, a great benefit that Moodle has is a grade book, where you are able to see all the grades of one particular student.

Many students find Moodle interface easier to use than Canvas or other LMS (Beatty and Ulasewicz, 2006).

I do not have much experience using Moodle, the only drawback I noticed is that system was much slower than Canvas, and shut down a few times.

 

References

Beatty, B. and Ulasewicz, C. (2006). Faculty Perspectives on Moving from Blackboard to the Moodle Learning Management System. TechTrends, 50(4), pp.36–45. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s11528-006-0036-y.

Hennigan, L. and Main, K. (2023). Best Learning Management Systems (LMS) – Forbes Advisor.

John, R. (2014). Canvas LMS course design : design, build, and teach your very own online course using the powerful tools of the Canvas Learning Management System. Birmingham, England: Packt Publishing.

[online] www.forbes.com. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/best-learning-management-systems/ [Accessed 13 Apr. 2023].

Learning, R.W. & (2020). Canvas for Schools — Rating, Pros, and Cons. [online] Medium. Available at: https://remoteworklearning.medium.com/canvas-for-schools-rating-pros-and-cons-df17c57e609b [Accessed 13 Apr. 2023].