Learning Management Systems - Are you missing the obvious?

OK, its POP Quiz time: What percentage of Charter Schools has a LMS in place?
Hint: This is not a FaceBook (Like My Status) related question!
Answer: I have not a clue, but my guess is not many.

I don’t know entirely what seems to be driving the LMS conversation lately, but over the past few months we’ve heard a great deal of discussion regarding it. This past week I spent significant time trying to understand the concepts, the key players, and the benefits.

If you are a Charter School administrator, you really ought to know about Learning Management Systems. It is something that will improve the quality of instruction and make life better for our front line teaching staff. It will also provide benefits to administrators as well.

A Learning Management Systems (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, and reporting of training programs, classroom and online events, e-learning programs, and training content. I suppose you could (and maybe have) used a collection of three ring binders for this purpose, but as we continue to digitize things, a computer based version of this process will probably be in your future.

A slight variation of this definition would include content, as in a system that helps create the content upon which all of the management described above depends. A content concentric system would be labeled a Learning Content Management System (LCMS). For purposes of this article, I refer to both.
Are you considering a Learning Management System? It’s a great idea and here are some suggestions that might help.

But before we get started, there is the obvious. Is your learning environment driving the requirement for an LMS or is it the other way around? If you are considering an LMS for the sake of the LMS technology, you have it all backwards.

The overriding consideration in your LMS evaluation should be the curriculim. If your curriculim is elearning oriented, your staff technically inclined, and your coursework primarily digital, then this could be a very good idea.

If not this could be interesting, to say the least.

Start with a candid evaluation of your ecosystem

Why are you evaluating a LMS?  Where do you start? Are your teachers clamoring for it, or is the conversation being driven by an ambitious sales rep? Do you see the vision of a successful implementation or is this just the latest “Hot” idea brought to you by your IT providers?

Your schools mission and curriculum emphasis will be one of the core considerations. While possible, it is a little more challenging to manage the performing arts in a digital world. But technology driven schools will benefit greatly.

One criterion would seem obvious, but may not be. You might first want to evaluate how much of your course content is eLearning capable, or at least presentable in a digital format, versus traditional learning. In other words, if you conduct most of your instructional hours with chalk boards, or whiteboards, paper, pencils, and other traditional education tools, the relative value of a LMS is diminished.

Start with a candid evaluation of your faculties approach to their teaching profession. Are they young and tech savvy teachers, or more mature and technology resistant teachers? Do they embrace the existing Information Systems with great enthusiasm, or do they reluctantly check their email because they are required to do so.

If you want a sure fired rebellion on your hands, try to implement a highly automated LMS system into an environment where technology is chaotic, unreliable, and underutilized.

Think clearly about the investment of time and resources you are about to make

In the world of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, a close relative to LRM, there is a 70% failure rate for project implementations. The reasons are varied but boil down to steep learning challenges, lack of training, and failing to plan. And there is a universal tendency to underestimate the volume of keystrokes required to input all of the data points needed to make the system operational.

Here is a short list of data sets you will need to create:

·         Student Records

·         Faculty Records

·         Course Materials (the largest set)

·         Calendars and schedules

·         Grading Criteria

Additionally, you will need to create a secure connection to your states Student Information System to synchronize grades, attendance, and state mandated reporting. If your LMS is incapable of doing this, it will require a significant duplication of effort.

Course materials are by far the largest data set that needs to be created and it is an ongoing creation cycle, so think not only about what you already have (and in what format it exists), but also consider what authoring tools are available for content creation.  I would recommend biasing your LMS selection to one that utilizes common authoring tools used already by your staff, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.

Furthermore, most multimedia content is delivered by an internet browser and you will need to accommodate all types of users. For example, Apple devices (like iPads ) have great difficulty with media created using Adobe Flash and you may need to provide accommodations.

Choose the LMS that integrates best with your existing infrastructure

The most common network security model in a Charter School, especially those with older students is an Active Directory environment. Active Directory provides access control, user management, and group policy modeling. An LMS based upon Microsoft technologies (such as SharePoint) will use the active directory information to automatically propagate your student and faculty listings. This elimination of re-entering hundreds of records is significant and recurring.

There are other significant Microsoft solutions that will interact with your LMS. Three common programs are your Outlook based email, Lync 2010 messaging systems, and SharePoint.

A robust email system used both by the staff and students is extremely important and will serve as the transport medium for much of the learning outcomes. Please review previous posts about Microsoft Exchange email, it is very relevant to your LMS.

Because we communicate differently with  each other based upon our presence (or availability), if you are using Lync 2010 for internal messaging, you will also find it very helpful to have a LMS that incorporates the advanced messaging features found in Lync 2010, including Live Meeting services which can be used to actually record lectures for replay.

And SharePoint is the technology or framework which several of the most popular LMS systems use.

If your school operates with an Open Source architecture, an Apple environment, or other  non-Microsoft  technologies, there are fewer automated ways of connecting student and faculty records into your LMS. And this may influence your decision one way or another.

Consider using a pilot program to work out bugs and implementation issues

All of the LMS vendors I spoke with recommend identifying a core group of “early technology adopters” to serve as a catalyst for and trainers of other staff members. While this is a good idea, I recommend one addition step.

Don’t try to roll this solution out school wide, unless you have high confidence in your implementation team and a good track record in large technology projects. Instead create a pilot program led by your “early adopters” and go through an entire grading cycle with a small highly motivated and well trained group.

This pilot program will assist in identifying software design shortcomings, configuration challenges, and other deficiencies that will otherwise be multiplied many times over. Worst case scenario, the program gets scrapped with only minor expense and inconvenience.

By leveraging your pilot program experience you will improve the odds of success in a school wide rollout.

Evaluate the total costs associated when comparing LMS vendors

There are generally two models used to buy LMS Software. The more common method is based upon a yearly per user cost or subscription. The other model is a perpetual software license, with a required annual maintenance contract.

Evaluating those two options is not particularly difficult, but evaluating the total implementation costs can be. Put a pencil to the following costs to come up with a total figure:

·         Data conversion, entry, or import into the LMS

·         Course material creation, conversion, and licensing

·         Hardware and software required to support the LMS and content management

·         Initial setup, configuration, and training

My experience with decisions based entirely upon financial reasons is that they are not thoroughly vetted. After considering all the suggestions listed above, finances will likely become less crucial to the decision.

Summary

A Learning Management System might be a huge improvement for your school. And I hope nothing in this article would discourage you from considering it. But unlike some of the banks on Wall Street, your school is probably not too big to fail.

Evaluate objectively, think clearly about goals and outcomes, be realistic about the investment of time and resources it will require, and then choose the system most closely aligned with your existing infrastructure. Be conservative about the rollout by doing a solid pilot program and be sure to evaluate the total cost, if the choice between systems is down to financial considerations.

If you would like some help sorting out the issues, please contact us.