Daniel Blyth, Michael Verhaart, Eastern Institute of Technology, New Zealand
mverhaart@eit.ac.nz

Blyth, D. and Verhaart, M. (2007, December), Features of Online Learning Management Systems.  Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology Vol. 5, Issue 2. ISSN 1176-4120. Retrieved from

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the features needed in an online Learning Management System (LMS) that will ideally produce the best learning experiences for its users. Features, or their lack thereof impact directly on the e-learner's educational experience. In combination with a system’s usability, they could make or break a student’s commitment to a course. In the pursuit of determining relevant and required features in an LMS, this paper looks at the needs of specific users. Typical users include learners, administrators, management, and tutors. It is the learners however with their particular psychological needs and varied technological competencies that are the key target for any LMS. Therefore this paper focuses on identifying their needs, as a means to discovering features needed (by the LMS) which will facilitate and promote a rich learning experience for them. Popular current offerings of online LMSs in New Zealand are also analysed to identify the features available from both learner/user perspective and management perspective - such as reports/statistics, and usability features. A number of pedagogical issues are discussed within the context of features available in New Zealand’s popular LMSs.

Keywords

Learning Management System, learning experience

1. INTRODUCTION

Thanks to the widespread availability of web technologies, today’s learning environment offers students the ability to learn - and in some situations, fully complete courses using an online learning system. As well as promoting choice of how, when, and where potential students can study, online LMSs offer lecturers distinct opportunities but also problems when compared to traditional classroom delivered courses. For example, course materials may need to be adapted to suit the online environment and the particular LMS in use. Whilst a typical LMS lends support to a range of media, converting and recreating existing materials can take considerable time and can lead to situations where the online LMS is under utilised. Young and McSporran, (2004) state that it is widely recognised that it takes significant time to create and administer online courses.

The target audience should dictate what and how course content is organised and presented, and hence the features that will be required of the LMS to “deliver the goods”. Will the LMS’s online content replace a classroom delivered course, allowing distance learning, or will it be utilised to create a blended learning environment? Will it simply be used as a notes and information repository to supplement the classroom delivered course? Does it support the pedagogy currently used? The commonality amongst the various ways of utilising an LMS is that the focus should be on the needs of the student. This paper seeks to identify learner needs through investigating learner types, psychology, and roles, in order to determine the best features to implement in an online LMS.

2. LEARNER TYPES AND ENVIRONS

Ideally, an online LMS could be fed its information in a manner not technologically taxing or structured, then interact and deliver its learning experience appropriate to all learner types and environs. This is not technically feasible currently, and if we look at what delivery methods are utilised by human instructors across the spectrum of learner types, we see that it is also unrealistic for an instructor in a classroom setting to deliver the course content in a manner which exactly fits all the learning styles in the room i.e. Linguistic/Verbal, Spatial/Visual, Bodily Kinaesthetic, Logical/Mathematical, Musical, Interpersonal, intrapersonal (Gardner, 1983 cited in Waters, 2001). Some excellent middle ground is commonly achieved by instructors however through the use of multimedia elements (audio, video, graphics), group discussion / problem solving, instructor interaction, and individual exercises. Typically an online LMS will be required to serve a learning experience to some or to all of the following domains:

• Blended Learning,
• Information Repository,
• Distance Learning,
• Special Needs.

If online learning management systems are to support these areas, then inbuilt features allowing the tailoring of courses to suit these domains should be expected. LMSs such as Blackboard and Moodle provide collaborative tools like email, chat, discussion forums, virtual classrooms and reflective journaling features (Corich, 2005). To encompass also the variety of learner types, possible required features might include support for: Different ways to present information, use of multimedia, knowledge construction, and evaluation. There are also non-functional requirements which become important as the learner is required to deal with the various graphical interfaces of the LMS as they navigate through their learning domain.

Table 1 groups proposed requirements, listing possible LMS features which may facilitate effective teaching. Some of the features listed lend themselves to direct implementation by the technologies used in LMSs, whilst others would require further expansion into activities or media. For example, navigation, layout, forums, quizzes, and collaboration requirements can be realised through the built in functionality of LMSs available today whereas audio and video media would require development in a multimedia type application before being linked to or embedded within the LMS.

Table 1. Possible LMS requirements

3. PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS OF THE LEARNER

Dr Heidi Schweizer, a developer and instructor of online courses summarises the research base of psychiatrist and learner researcher Dr William Glasser to find four psychological needs that mankind is continually trying to fulfil. These needs are;

1. Belonging,
2. Freedom,
3. Power,
4. Fun.

Research demonstrates that if we can create a learning environments which is needs satisfying, then learning is optimised (Schweizer, 1999). Peng (2002) also sees a link between psychological /emotional factors and the learner’s performance. In face-to-face learning situations, the instructor is responsible for and can impart a culture which supports and encourages student learning. However, the naturally occurring individualist climate which exists where a student is studying alone with an online LMS may struggle to provide means for satisfying these psychological needs.

Having identified the needs we can look for technically feasible and appropriate features that could be implemented in an online LMS to fulfil them. Table 2 proposes some features for each of the identified needs.

Table 2. Possible LMS features based on the psychological needs of learners

4. PHASES OF ENGAGEMENT

In face-to-face learning there is a familiarity of setting and classroom culture. The room typically has four walls, desks, an instructor, and students. A student quickly becomes familiar with this setting - often from their first days of schooling. The student also soon learns about classroom etiquette and levels of participation required, all due to this multi-sensory, shared learning environment. Enter the online LMS: What is the culture of this new environment? What are the ‘rules’ and roles that need to be played out by the participants to achieve the maximum learning benefit? Also, do we presume all the learners will be computer savvy, or know how to navigate what may be a new or unfamiliar LMS?

Conrad and Donaldson (2004) contend that a student’s role as an engaged online learner develops over time, with interaction and collaboration in particular not being intuitive “...to many adult learners who have been educated in a predominantly lecture-based environment” (Conrad and Donaldson, p. 9). Further, they describe an engagement framework which identifies some roles (newcomer, co-operator, collaborator, initiator/partner) that need to be adopted by the learner in order to become successfully engaged in the LMS community. The analysis of these roles and of the processes identified as being required to achieve them allows for the identification of features that an online LMS should possess. Table 3 summarises these findings.

Table 3. Learner roles and proposed LMS features

5. FEATURES OF EXISTING OFFERINGS

Popular online LMSs in use within New Zealand institutions are Blackboard, WebCT, and Moodle (Corich, 2005). It is prudent to look at the features currently available in these systems, as a means to allow comparisons to be made with the features identified earlier in this paper. Table 4 summarises features available in Moodle (Moodle Docs, 2006), Blackboard (Blackboard Inc, 2006), and WebCT (Seminar of WebCT, 2006).

[Note: WebCT was acquired by Blackboard during 2005 with the merger being completed in early 2006. Blackboard states that it plans to continue developing and supporting both products, with a view to making them interoperable. However they have also stated that over time Blackboard will consist of the best features of both applications. This may result in the long term demise of WebCT, but in the short term features and interoperation with other applications could be improved. Branding name changes of WebCT products have already occurred, bringing them under the Blackboard umbrella.]

The information in Table 4 allows some common characteristics to be drawn out including features suitable for student collaboration; i.e. discussion forums, group work, chat, virtual classrooms, and features which can promote individual student participation; i.e. quizzes, Wikis, and blogs. These features align with a social constructivist approach to learning - where students are able to construct their own understandings and meanings in a social context (Stacey, 2002). Indeed, the original developer of Moodle - which was developed as an open source alternative to Blackboard, claims that Moodle uses constructionist referents to model the engagement of participants with course content and with each other (Dougiamas, 2000). The relevance of this should not be understated; moreover any vehicle used to aid the delivery of a course should support the pedagogy in use.

Table 4. A summary of features in existing learning management systems

 Looking at LMS features needed from an administration point of view, Evangelisti (2002) believes that an LMS must allow administrators to: Manage user registration and profiles, define roles, set curricula, assign tutors, author courses, and manage content. Most importantly, he states that all features should be manageable using automated and user-friendly administration screens.

All three of the LMSs researched provide these features as well additional tools for managers and instructirs in the form of statistical and reporting functions, assessed tests, and of individual student activity tracking.

6. CONCLUSIONS

Assessing the psychological needs of the learner, determined the four needs which require fulfilling in order to achieve optimised learning (belonging, freedom, power, and fun).

To create a sense of belonging features such as profiles, group work, chat, forums, email, and feedback mechanisms are recommended. With respect to promoting a sense of freedom to the student, the online LMS naturally gives freedom of pace, place, and time. Other features contributing to freedom are: Allowing information to be presented in a mix of media types, links to explore topics, and the creation of polls. Promoting a sense of individual power to the learner requires features such as discussion forums, group work, peer reviews, and interactive material. Again by the virtue of its design, an LMS is in a ideal position to facilitate seamlessly self directed discovery learning. Fulfilling the need of fun requires the LMS to support features like quizzes, social forums, games, and competitions.

The online learner experience is one that changes with time. Not all learners will be familiar with the online LMS they will utilise, and they will also adopt different roles over time as they become successfully engaged in the LMS community. Analysis of the four roles identified (newcomer, co-operator, collaborator, and initiator/partner) identified LMS features needed to promote and support the roles. For the newcomer, interactivity, social forums, chat, profiles, and intuitive layout are recommended features. As the learner progresses to the role of co-operator, features which promote idea sharing (i.e. group assignments), peer reviews, and critical thinking are recommended. To allow advancement to the collaborator and initiator phases, the use of group work, forums for debate, Wikis, and student created forum topics and activities are required. The ability to present individual and group work online also promotes these roles.

Students learn more effectively when the information is delivered to match their learning style. The span of learner styles dictates that the LMS should provide for common multimedia elements (text, audio, images, video, animation), collaborative features such as forums and group assignments, and knowledge construction features such as reflection, glossaries, and research.

An effectively implemented and utilised online LMS needs more than just adequate feature support. Carefully implemented course content and pro-active interaction from its learners and instructors are also needed. Although this paper has not focussed on how to construct and implement the content, the research indicates that a large number of features need to be utilised by the instructor when developing courses. This, as mentioned earleir, can take quite some time, as a process of technology adoption needs to take place. Thus the availability of a suitably trained e-learning advisor could be seen as a necessary role to aid and enable teaching staff at educational institutions to design and implement course content in the most effective manner, both for their students and for the LMS.

References

Blackboard Inc. (2006). Blackboard Learning System [Brochure]. Washington: Blackboard Inc
Conrad, R., & Donaldson, J. (2004). Engaging the Online Learner. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass

Corich, S. (2005, December), Let’s Get Ready to Moodle. Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology Vol. 3, Issue 3. ISSN 1176-4120. Retrieved August 22, 2006 from http://www.naccq.ac.nz/bacit/0303/2005Corich_LMS.htm

Dougiamas, M. (2000). Improving the effectiveness of tools for Internet based education. Retrieved August 5, 2006 from http://lsn.curtin.edu.au/tlf/tlf2000/dougiamas.html

Evangelisti, D. (2002). The Must-Have Features of an LMS. Retrieved July30, 2006 from http://www.learningcircuits.org/2002/mar2002/evangelisti.html

Moodle Docs. (2006). Retrieved July 30, from http://docs.moodle.org/en/Features

Peng, L. (2002). Applying Learning Style in Instructional Strategies. Retrieved August 7 from http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/brief/v5n7/default.htm

Schweizer, H. (1999). Designing and Teaching an On-Line Course: Spinning Your Web Classroom. Massachusetts: Pearson Education Company
Seminar of WebCT CE6. (2006) Retrieved August 8, 2006 from http://www.vtc.edu.hk/webct6/WebCT%20CE6%20Funstion%20Highlight.pdf

Stacey, E. (2002). Learning links online: Establishing constructivist and collaborative learning environments. Retrieved August 6, 2006 from http://www.ascilite.org.au/aset-archives/confs/2002/stacey.html

Waters, J. (2001). An Intelligence that Civilizations Have Continually Suppressed.
Retrieved May 2001 from http://www.humboldt.edu/~jlw47/anintelligencesupp.html

Young, S., & McSporran, M. (2004). Facilitating successful online computing courses while minimising extra tutor workload. Retrieved August 3, 2006 from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=980015&dl=GUIDE&coll=ACM&CFID=15151515&CFTOKEN=6184618 

Copyright © 2007 Daniel Blyth, Michael Verhaart
The author(s) assign to NACCQ and educational non-profit institutions a non-exclusive licence to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The author(s) also grant a non-exclusive licence to NACCQ to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web (prime sites and mirrors) and in printed form within the Bulletin of Applied Computing and Information Technology. Authors retain their individual intellectual property rights.

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