WEEK #5 Summary and suggestions
LMs evaluation introduction
Welcome to week 5 of our LMS evaluations. This week’s focus was on customization of the Homepage and ensuring it is easy for student to figure out where to start. One of the most common reasons for dropping an online course is being unclear where to start. This means we need to make sure that the new LMS we choose makes it easy for the instructors to make a good first impression. I am sure that you have heard the saying, “There are no second chances when making a first impression” or something similar. That is what this week is all about; how to make a good first impression. As always, I will close out the page with my suggestion for the week based on this topic.
LMS 1 - D2l lms evaluation
CREATE A NEW CUSTOMIZED COURSE HOMEPAGE
Customizing the homepage in D2L was very easy and intuitive. The options were presented by clicking into the course admin section. From there, you simply click on the Homepage option and you are able to access a variety of widgets. There are many different options available here including the ability to drag and drop the widgets around on the page. This is a very powerful feature and will allow our courses to look and feel different, which will address the associate dissatisfaction with the boring copy and paste look of our current courses. |
CREATE "START HERE" INFORMATION ON HOMEPAGE
Creating a “Start Here” page is crucial in making a good first impression and D2L makes this easy. From the Content page, you just click to add a new module. This module will need to include key information for the course, including; (1) How to get started and how to find various course components, (2) An introduction to the purpose and structure of the course, (3) Etiquette expectations, (4) Course and/or institutional policies, (5) Minimum technology requirements, (6) Prerequisite knowledge, (7) Minimum technology skills, (8) Self-instruction by the instructor and (9) How the learners will introduce themselves. These are all part of the QM Rubric and are essential to creating an effective online course. Once the page is created, a link to the information needs to be available on the Homepage. The simplest way to do this is to add an announcement in the News section. |
CREATE NEW WIDGET WITH CONTACT INFORMATION
One of the most common questions asked by students is, “How can I reach my instructor?” That is why adding a Widget to the Homepage with all of the Instructors information is necessary. D2L allows this by having a very simple Widget creation tool. To access the tool, you must first access the Course Admin page and select Widgets. From here, there is an option to create a custom widget. The Custom Widget functions the same as the other HTML pages, allowing for information and even images to be added. |
CUSTOMIZE NAVBAR
The ability to customize courses is very important as we continue to expand our reach and continually evolve our learning strategy. There are many options available in D2L and in order to help the student know what they can and cannot within the course the facilitators will need to ensure that these are updated. To update the Navbar, simply access the Course Admin section and then select Tools. This will allow you to edit which options are available to the students. |
POST AUDIO MESSAGE IN NEWS TOOL
The addition of multimedia to online learning courses allows facilitators to easily add a human element. Creating a recorded introduction is a great way to remind students that there is a person behind the course materials. Adding audio is simple in D2L. When you are creating a News posting there is an option at the bottom to add either a prerecorded audio file or to record an audio file directly in posting. While I like the ability to record directly in the posting, it lacks an editor function. This could make it difficult since you have to get the entire message correct, all the way through. |
lms2 - Canvas by instructure lms evaluation
CREATE A NEW CUSTOMIZED COURSE HOMEPAGE
Canvas provided several preset options for customizing the homepage. This is very helpful for facilitators without the time needed to truly design a course homepage. To customize the homepage to one of the preset options, simply click homepage and then click choose home page. This will give you the option to choose from the preset homepage designs. If you would like to customize the homepage, you will need to write HTML code and create an entirely custom HTML page. While this can be done, I do not feel that the majority of our Facilitators will be able to do this. |
CREATE "START HERE" INFORMATION ON HOMEPAGE
As I discussed in the earlier section, Canvas is limited in the options for a homepage so adding the Getting Started information was not as simple as adding a widget to an existing page. Instead, I had to create an entirely separate page and then choose the page as the Homepage. This did not make for a great look and I would have to spend some significant time creating an HTML page with more visuals and determine how to pull in the announcements and other sections. |
CREATE NEW WIDGET WITH CONTACT INFORMATION
As mentioned in the previous sections, Canvas does not have a built in Web part/Widget page style. This means that I was unable to add a widget with the facilitator’s information. Instead, this information would need to be added as an announcement or a page, which would not meet the guidelines set in QM. This will need to be a consideration as we will need to invest time and money in HTML page creation. |
CUSTOMIZE NAVBAR
Canvas made it simple to customize the Navigation. There is a link on the left nav that provides you with access to all of the customizable options. Once you click on the link the settings page allows you to easily drag and drop the options you would like to disable. This is a great feature within Canvas and the navigation is very intuitive. |
POST AUDIO MESSAGE IN NEWS TOOL
As mentioned earlier, posting multimedia allows the facilitators to add a human touch. Adding Audio is very simple in Canvas. When you are creating the announcement just click to add a file and upload your recorded audio message. This process could be made easier by having an integrated audio recorder within the LMS. |
lms weekly recommendations
Based on this week's activities D2L is the preferred option for our new LMS system. D2L allowed me to make multiple customizations to the homepage and that is where the first impression is made. Canvas did provide some options to update the homepage but they were very limited and the only way around this would be to have a custom code written. The item that really set D2L apart for me was how easy the custom options are. Each option was easily implemented by clicking through easy to follow steps. This will help with user adoption and encourage our facilitators to customize their courses.