WEEK #3 Summary and suggestions
LMs evaluation introduction
Welcome to week 3 of our LMS evaluations. This week’s focus was on grade book settings, assignments and setting up quizzes. As you will see in the explanations and screenshots shown below both systems worked very well for these important options. This week I have included videos explaining the process for checking the assignments as a student, including the importance of doing this. The features discussed below are most important for the facilitators and should be weighed heavily as they all have a direct impact on user adoption and ease of transition for the facilitators.
LMS 1 - D2l lms evaluation
CHANGE "GRADEBOOK" SETTINGS. CREATE ELECTRONIC GRADEBOOK CATEGORIES & ITEMS
D2L was very intuitive and provided many easy mass-editing options. It is clear that this system has been developed with the teacher in mind as it relates to the development of grade books and the process for grading. The only drawback that I encountered was the need to create each item individually. It would have saved time if there were a built in copy and paste option for items that needed to be created for each week. |
CREATE DROPBOX ASSIGNMENTS, TURNITIN.COM, AND GRADING RUBRIC
D2L provided a very easy to use option for creating “dropboxes” for assignments. D2L did not require third-party integrations like google docs. I really liked the feature of automatic plagiarism check by simply checking a box. This made the process of turning in work and grading work very easy. It also eliminated the additional step of using Turnitin.com in conjunction with D2L. The Rubrics process was also very easy to use. I would have liked some example of generic rubrics to start with. This would really help with newer faculty or those who are not very familiar with this process. |
CREATE QUIZ QUESTIONS IN QUESTION LIBRARY
The quiz options within D2L were very straightforward and easy to use. The option to create questions in a question bank is very important as you develop course curriculum and quizzes. Specifically quizzes that check for understanding. The questions bank feature makes it very easy to create cumulative quizzes, which are essential in promoting retention of the information being taught. I especially liked all of the quiz question types and the ability to add additional answers was very simple. D2L covered all of the types of quizzes we currently provide to our students and included a few new options that we are not currently using. |
CREATE ELECTRONIC GRADES FOR QUIZZES, CREATE QUIZ, MODIFY QUIZ SETTINGS, AND ADD RANDOMIZING QUESTION SET TO QUIZ
There were several option for quizzing within D2L. Many of the options available are not ones that we currently use but are definitely ones that we should begin using. Specifically, the ability to provide a random set of quiz questions would be very helpful for the close workstations and would definitely prevent students for looking at their neighbor’s screens. Additionally, the ability to easily link quizzes to existing grading options is very helpful. This prevents the need for the facilitator to grade the quiz and then record the grade, eliminating the possibility of human error. |
QUALITY CHECK AS DEMO STUDENT AND GRADING
As I discussed last week, D2L allows you, as the facilitator, to add a “Demo” student to do quality checks and make sure that the features of the class are functioning as expected. This feature is very helpful for newer facilitators and people who are still learning the system (like me). As you will see in the video below, I originally posted a quiz and forgot to check the box for the questions to be added to the quiz. Had I not completed a quality check, I would have missed that error and several students would have had a very frustrating time trying to complete the quiz.
As I discussed last week, D2L allows you, as the facilitator, to add a “Demo” student to do quality checks and make sure that the features of the class are functioning as expected. This feature is very helpful for newer facilitators and people who are still learning the system (like me). As you will see in the video below, I originally posted a quiz and forgot to check the box for the questions to be added to the quiz. Had I not completed a quality check, I would have missed that error and several students would have had a very frustrating time trying to complete the quiz.
lms2 - Canvas by instructure lms evaluation
CHANGE "GRADEBOOK" SETTINGS. CREATE ELECTRONIC GRADEBOOK CATEGORIES & ITEMS
The gradebook feature in Canvas is not super intuitive. There were a few times when I found myself looking through the instructions to figure out how to change a setting and how to change a setting that was set-up in the initial phase of creating the gradebook. Additionally, the categories were somewhat elusive at first and then once I began to understand the logic of how the system was set-up I began to move more quickly through the needed tasks. This could be a point of concern as we consider which LMS would be best for our organization. Candidly, little annoyances like this are ones that can cause trouble during the initial rollout and leave people feeling less than optimistic. |
CREATE DROPBOX ASSIGNMENTS, TURNITIN.COM, AND GRADING RUBRIC
Dropbox assignments were moderately easy to set-up. The biggest point of contention I had with the process is that I could not figure out how to set-up automatic submission for plagiarism checking. Assuming that Canvas does not have a built in integration with Turnitin.com (or a similar program), this will add an additional step for our facilitators and increase the possibility of human error when transferring the information. This could also lead to confusion for the students. Each additional task that we have them do for an assignment increases the possibility that something will be missed. |
CREATE QUIZ QUESTIONS IN QUESTION LIBRARY
As I mentioned in the D2L Quiz question bank review, a question bank is a very powerful tool for creating a deep understanding of a topic. Canvas has done a very nice job with the question bank for quizzes. The items are easy to add and there any many different question types to choose from. Canvas also featured several different options for providing feedback to the students. You are able to add feedback for wrong answers, correct answers and general feedback. This feature is very helpful when the quiz is designed as a learning tool. |
CREATE ELECTRONIC GRADES FOR QUIZZES, CREATE QUIZ, MODIFY QUIZ SETTINGS, AND ADD RANDOMIZING QUESTION SET TO QUIZ
Creating grades in Canvas was a bit cumbersome at first but now that I have been using the system for a while, I am beginning to understand the way the system is designed to link between items. This linking can be very helpful in creating curriculum. The quiz grades were automatically linked to the gradebook, which makes it very easy for the facilitators and prevents the possibility of human error when recording the grades. Additionally, one feature that I really liked in Canvas quizzes is the ability to provide partial credit for quiz questions. This is a great way to keep students motivated and to allow the facilitators to see if the students have a partial understanding of the concepts. |
QUALITY CHECK AS DEMO STUDENT
As I discussed last week, Canvas does not have a built-in Demo student feature that allows you, as the facilitator, to see the course through that lens. Therefore, I created a separate account to see the class through my student’s eyes. In the video below, you will see that I was able to complete all of the assigned tasks as a student. This ensure that I did not make any mistakes in the way I set-up the assignments. This feature is very helpful for newer facilitators and people who are still learning the system (like me).
As I discussed last week, Canvas does not have a built-in Demo student feature that allows you, as the facilitator, to see the course through that lens. Therefore, I created a separate account to see the class through my student’s eyes. In the video below, you will see that I was able to complete all of the assigned tasks as a student. This ensure that I did not make any mistakes in the way I set-up the assignments. This feature is very helpful for newer facilitators and people who are still learning the system (like me).
lms weekly recommendations
Based on this week's activities D2L is the preferred option for our new LMS system. Both systems allowed me to complete the tasks needed to evaluate the quizzing and gradebook options; however, D2L was more intuitive and easy to use than Canvas. As I am progressing through the weeks, I am beginning to see a trend with the two systems. D2L is more intuitive and Canvas is more sleek and modern. The reason that I am choosing D2L for this week and last week was when considering the diversity in our training staff I feel D2L will make more sense to more people.