Learning Management Systems

Picture end of the year craziness, and then all of a sudden it's over.  Students are gone, grades are turned in, and summer has arrived . . . well sort of.  Are you ever "off the hook" as a teacher?  My mind is always thinking of new and better things to try.  Just because something worked last year with last year's group of kids does not mean it will work next year.  If it did work, is there a way to make it better?  One of the things that drives me crazy as a teacher is disorganization with the distribution and collection of papers.  Even if everything goes smoothly on my end, there is bound to be a student who is absent or lost their assignment and needs a new copy.  Argh...  Well let me introduce you to Learning Management Systems (LMS).

According to wikipedia, "A learning management system is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of electronic educational technology (also called e-learning) courses or training programs."  If you have ever taken an online grad class, you have probably used an LMS such as Moodle or Blackboard.  Through the LMS, an instructor can post content, resources, discussion boards, polls, quizzes and assignments.  Some LMS can be synced to your gradebook so that when an assignment is turned in, the instructor can record a grade and provide comments right there in the LMS.

You might be thinking, "I don't teach an online course." or "I do not have time to set up a website."  (Or it may just have been me thinking these thoughts as a new teacher.)  Well after five years of teaching, I was willing to give it a try and I won't go back.  Two of the most popular, free LMS available to educators are Edmodo and Schoology.  Although some people would argue that Google Classroom is not an LMS, it is comparable so I will introduce you to all three.


Edmodo is sometimes referred to as a school Facebook.  The look and feel of Edmodo resembles Facebook, which has appeal for students.  The first year I used Edmodo, I used it solely as a place for uploading in class notes and assigned practice or homework.  I trained students to check Edmodo for work when they were absent.  If a student needed to make up an assignment that they did poorly on, I had them look up the notes on Edmodo.  Slowly but surely I was able to teach my students responsibility when it came to their learning.  I also was able to eliminate the piles of old worksheets that were lying around my classroom.  Here's a pic of my first Edmodo group:

Edmodo has a lot more to offer than just a "wall" to post to.  My second year I experimented with writing and administering quizzes on Edmodo.  Edmodo also offers a feature called Snapshot.  Using Snapshot, I was able to select standards that I wanted to assess my students over.  Snapshot created a multiple choice quiz over these standards.  Once my students took the assessment, I was provided with data analysis and additional practice resources based on my students' weaknesses.  Some people who look for a LMS for the ability to create and collect assignments within that system.  The two years that I used Edmodo, my students did not have reliable access to a computer or internet so I did not experiment with that feature.

There are a couple features of Edmodo that I do not like.  Once files or posts have been uploaded, they cannot be rearranged.  This makes finding old posts tedious and sometimes frustrating.  There is also not a good place for a discussion board.  The discussions take place pretty much like they do in Facebook and are added to the "wall" along with all other posts.

I was hopeful that I would find a new love for Edmodo when I learned about the PNL aspect of it.  My district offered a class over Standards Based Grading a couple summers ago and all of our assignments and discussions were posted to Edmodo.  This week I also learned that you can follow "topics" to connect with other educators.  I started following a couple topics related to teaching high school math, but was disappointed.  Most of the posts were educators asking questions or seeking help, not posting their own cool resources.  I guess I wasn't surprised.  I am not someone who posts to Facebook and I don't read a lot of people's posts; why should I be surprised that I would not like "School Facebook" posts.  Well, there are other LMS.


My experience with Schoology is very small, so let me introduce you to Schoology with this short video:

Since so many people like Schoology, I thought I should give it a try.  I created an account, joined a class and explored its features.  To get a better feel for Schoology, I decided to create my own Schoology class.  (Check it out by going to Schoology and joining my class DWKX-PRX6).  Within Schoology I was able to upload material and organize it into a resource folder, assignments, quizzes, or discussion posts.

One of my favorite features of Schoology is the discussion forum.  I just taught my students how to match real life scenarios to corresponding graphs.  I posted a discussion question with three graphs and asked students to create their own scenarios for the graphs.  As a facilitator of the discussion, I am able to see the progression of the conversation.  I can note who comments on who.  I can also select one student's name and view every place they have posted.  This makes assigning grades for the discussion simple.  Aside from the discussion board, I really like the organization of Schoology.  Students have a running list on the right side of their screen with upcoming assignments for all of their Schoology courses.  As a teacher I can rearrange and organize materials in any order after I post them to Schoology.  For someone just trying to learn Schoology, this is a nice feature.

One downside I noticed with Schoology is the inablity to add comments when I uploaded a website or YouTube.  I share quite a few websites with my students.  I had to create everything as an "assignment" if I wanted to add comments about what students were to look for or do in response to the website.  As a math teacher, I know that some math work is difficult to complete on a computer.  Usually I am more concerned with students' work than their answers.  I am not sure what issues I would face by posting websites as "assignments" if I did not intend for students to turn anything in online.

Well if I were to pick between Edmodo and Schoology, I would pick Schoology for its organization features and discussion boards.  Although organization and the management of all sorts of crazy random papers lying around my room is key for me when picking a LMS, I believe the greatest benefit comes when multiple teachers in your school use the same format.  Students are more likely to use the LMS and you as a teacher will spend less time teaching students how to use the LMS.  This is why I switched and use Google Classroom.


Google Classroom is currently only available for Google Apps for Education users.  This last school year, all English, math and some science and social studies teachers in my district got a class set of chromebooks.  With chromebooks, we were encouraged to use all things Google.  Well that was easy because I love Google!  As this post is getting very long, I will spare you and only share my thoughts on Google Classroom at this time.

Google Classroom has been a place where I post notes and extra practice for students who are absent.  This year I have experimented with creating assignments that students turn in to me on Google Classroom.  I love that Google Classroom is connected with Google Drive.  I am able to make a template of an assignment and share a copy with each of my students.  Students are then able to add their work and then resubmit it to me without messing with formatting issues.  Students have also created videos or Google Stories online and then are able to submit their assignments to me through Classroom.  All assignments are automatically organized and saved to my Drive.  I am able to monitor who has turned in an assignment and who I need to check in with.  Google Classroom is improving every day.  A couple weeks ago Google adjust Classroom so that I could create an assignment or post and then determine when I wanted it to be published.  This is nice because I have some students who complete assignments as soon as they get a text notification instead of waiting for my in class specifications.  Here's a quick look at one of my classes on Google Classroom:

Learning Management Systems can make your life as a teacher easier and add to your students' educational experience.  Explore Edmodo, Schoology and Google Classroom for yourself.  Pick one to try and encourage a colleague to try it as well.