There is a good discussion going on at Mike Bogle’s Tech Ticker blog about Learning Management Systems, which began with Mike going through a three-day Blackboard training.
As people divide along the issue of whether an LMS should be required in a college setting, this discussion has touched on whether such systems are a good idea. On the surface, it seems that trendy, tech-savvy people come down on the NO side, because they see LMSs as closed silos (a term I believe originated with Brian Lamb), trapping content rather than being sharing and open, while stodgy, fearful people come down in favor of having an LMS, and the worst of these want them required.
Of course, it’s not that simple. As I noted in comments on Mike’s blog, I am against the LMS at the gut level. I do not like the idea of content being trapped, or of instruction not taking advantage of the openness of the web for learning. I totally see the advantages of blogs, wikis, public participation discourse, the democratization of learning itself.
And yet, at this moment, I continue to use a CMS (sorry, I can’t keep up the term “LMS” — these systems are not meant to manage learning, but rather classes). At the moment, I use Moodle.
At MiraCosta (at least for now) we have one CMS (Blackboard) fully supported while the other two (Moodle and ETUDES-NG) rely on external hosts. We are not required to use any of them.
We have people who:
– don’t want to use a CMS
– do want to use a CMS, but are cool with what others do
– want our college to have only one CMS
– want our college to have only Blackboard
– want our college to have only Blackboard and everyone must use it
The ones who don’t want to use a CMS are seen as hopelessly trendy, achieving technological proficiencies reserved for only the few. Those who use one quietly are likely in the majority. Those who want us to have only one CMS present service arguments: it’s easier institutionally to have just one system. It’s easier for, well, management. So far, however, we have not confronted forces demanding that we use it, rather it’s a more subtle availability of services that guides our faculty toward using Blackboard. A number of faculty have assumed they are required to use BB — they have no idea it isn’t mandated.
From my perspective, the choice of CMS, and the choice of whether to use one at all, is a clear issue of academic freedom, particularly as such systems guide faculty into particular pedagogies. Countless times I have seen innovative classroom instruction translate into stodgy text-based crap because faculty faced with the CMS just start plugging in .doc documents. But that’s another story.
I began teaching online before there were such things as Course Management Systems, teaching myself HTML and downloading historical images from wherever I could find them, doing all grading by the “new” electronic mail. I refused to use our first CMS (Blackboard) until such time as it allowed me to change all its buttons so they could point to external URLs, making other websites and open tools usable inside the system.
As they have advanced, these CMSs have developed ever more features designed to “trap” our content into the system. But so long as they retain the ability to point to whatever you want on the web, we can sidestep the bear-traps and use the system as a mere shell, linking to wherever we want and having our students use more open methods of learning. That way, even if a system is mandated, we can completely subvert the process and retain the freedom to teach the way we want.
What’s out there on the web is not only more open, it’s more creative and can motivate students to higher levels of achievement. So why am I still using a closed silo at all? I use a CMS for the following reasons:
1. The gradebook.
Online gradebooks like Engrade may be an effective substitute. Some faculty are under the impression that FERPA requires all grades be kept private. Actually, only the final grade is private (the “grade on record”) according to the Supreme Court.
2. Copyright.
Despite wonderful progress such as the TEACH Act, it still appears to be necessary to “hide” copyrighted material behind a password, so that its Fair Use is limited to those enrolled in the class. The way around that, of course, is to only use my own or Creative Commons materials, or to get copyright clearance. My pedagogy makes such an undertaking unfeasible.
Those two things are all I need a CMS for, and I’m no longer sure about the first one.
Thus I come down on the side of, as usual, subversive methods developed in the interest of pedagogical integrity. I understand Mike’s concern that this may be a bit much for novice instructors, and I’m hoping the answer is to continue leading them to the web, encouraging participation in online communities, helping them realize the exciting things they can do outside the system, and showing them how to change those buttons.
Hi Lisa,
What a fantastic overview of the situation! I’ll be sure to point people to this post because unlike me you actually have experience using it in a live course with real students.
I’m constantly aware of one of the comments a CCK08 student made in frustration about “researchers who contemplate theory from their ivory towers without any grasp of how it translates to use on the ground.” This as much as anything is why I was hoping to see diversity in the discussion.
Your points about the many perspectives/stakeholders on the need (or lackthereof) of the LMS – and importantly WHY they argue what they do – is spot on too from what I’m seeing. Everyone seems to have their own views on the situation, which makes for a very diverse set of opinions and a complex discussion.
So for this reason, even if I had the sole decision making power to wipe LMS / CMS from the face of my institution I don’t think I’d do it. It seems quite clear that some people see them as important, and may in fact be doing innovative things with it. I’m also conscious of how much my disdain is biasing my views on the matter. So I think it would be unwise to listen solely to the likes of a nay-sayer like me – as you say, it’s very unlikely that I’m representative of the majority.
I think the critical issue is to increase awareness of the existence of alternatives – and what sorts of opportunities they provide to students and instructors. It’s a huge comfort that teachers like you exist who are willing to carry the torch and be an example of different ways you can engage in the online landscape.
Cheers,
Mike
Just wanted to say howw I have been enjoying this conversation. Haven’t really got anything else to say because you have pretty much summed up how I feel. As you say, Lisa, what I believe key to this argument is academic freedom – to choose what suits best at any given time.
As usual you have summed up my thoughts. The faculty here have been putting forward the academic freedom POV while trying to convince the administration not to force the faculty to use just one CMS. This argument has been brushed aside as elitist by the upper administration. I was heartened to see you put it front and center in your argument for diversity.
I agree…
Copyright
Gradebook
…they are the deal breakers.
B-ob
RE: Grades and FERPA–some administrators take a much more risk-averse view of FERPA than is really required by law. I was once called into an associate dean’s office because it was discovered that I was having my students peer edit each other’s work in a writing class. I explained that it was a common practice and even wrote up a memo citing Supreme Court precedent that it was okay for students to grade each other’s work. They (said they) ran it by the college’s lawyer, and he didn’t think the case applied. I was told not to do it any more because the administration thought that having students read and comment on each other’s work (but not grade it) violated FERPA and student privacy.
We’re not even allowed to give out grades over the phone (you never REALLY know who’s on the other end of the line!) much less over email. The only authorized way to communicate grades at my institution is either in person or through Bb. Of course, we don’t check IDs in class, so maybe in person isn’t sufficiently secure either. . .
Much as I dislike Bb, for my online courses, there’s really no way to get around using it for grades.
Precisely right (as so often).
I don’t use any CMS/LMS gradebook function – I just keep a spreadsheet (the google one does fine, or a desktop one). The second issue, of fair use materials, is where I thought I might end up having to use a CMS/LMS. But then I started using PBWiki, which has quite fine-grained permissions, and I have used it to deliver content to course participants only, much as I would have in Moodle. So for those of us who want to, breaking free of the silo is very possible. Not compulsory, of course. But possible.
RE: “Actually, only the final grade is private (the “grade on record”) according to the Supreme Court.”
Unfortunately, as is their way, the Supreme Court’s opinion is not nearly so clean cut. The only issue they decided in the one case to address the point was whether the grade on a paper before it is entered in a teacher’s grade book is covered by FERPA. They specifically refused to decide whether FERPA covered only final grades or also included teacher records of individual assignments:
“For these reasons, even assuming a teacher’s grade book is an education record, the Court of Appeals erred, for in all events the grades on students’ papers would not be covered under FERPA at least until the teacher has collected them and recorded them in his or her grade book. We limit our holding to this narrow point, and do not decide the broader question whether the grades on individual student assignments, once they are turned in to teachers, are protected by the Act.” OWASSO INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST. No. I-011 v. FALVO, 534 U.S. 426 , 436 (2002)
Thank you, Ted, for making me go back to the decision to remember why I think what I do about FERPA.
It was this:
Even assuming that a grade book is an education record, the score on a student-graded assignment is not “contained therein,” §1232g(b)(1), until the teacher records it. “Maintain” suggests FERPA records will be kept in a file in a school’s record room or on a secure database…
The reason folks interpret this as meaning the final grades only, is that our gradebooks, and the series of grades inside them, are not always kept for very long, even after they are “recorded”. The final grade is the only record the school itself has “maintained”.
In the case of a CMS, my classes are not always on the Moodle installation hosted by the college. Thus the institution’s connection to all but my final grades is even more tenuous. I could see how it might be interpreted differently when the college is doing the hosting and “maintains” everyone’s courses and gradebooks in storage indefinitely.
Ed, how do you get the students their grades when using PBWiki as your platform?
Lisa
Students get their grades on individual assignments when I email them back with comments. Final grades go via the Registrar’s database. And they can check with me in person if they want to at any time if they have questions about cumulative performance.
Lisa–
You make a good point, but on the other hand, because the issue of whether a grade must be kept in a permanent database or secure records room wasn’t necessary to decide the case, it’s dictum and not legally binding precedent–especially since the court specifically said they werent’ deciding the issue.
Just to play devil’s advocate: what if an institution requires faculty to keep course records for some period of time after grades are turned in to the registrar? For example, we’re required to keep graded papers and other ephemera from the semester for three years after the semester ends in case of grade appeals. Wouldn’t those course materials be records “maintained by . . . a person acting [an educational] institution”? Don’t most institutions have grade appeals processes? Is there any kind of requirement to keep individual assignments in case of appeal at your institution?
Don’t get me wrong, I think your interpretation is a better one, but I don’t think it’s at all settled in the case law. Given the risk aversion of many administrators (OMG–we might get sued!) and the generally conservative advice most lawyers tend to give their clients (OMG–you might get sued!), I suspect I’m not alone in having grade disclosure requirements that are stricter than what the Supremes suggested would be acceptable, even though Gonzaga v Doe says that students CAN’T sue for violations of FERPA.
Good points, all.
I also, obviously, have stricter requirements, mostly as an issue of civility rather than case law. I think students don’t want their grades revealed unless it’s a part of the exercise being conducted. For example, right now I am rating the level and type of students’ historical theses as part of them posting on a discussion board, and deliberately letting students see the ratings so they know what’s going on with their own and can compare. Since each homework, from which these theses derived, is not worth a particular points count (homeworks are combined into a portfolio grade, which is private) I think openness is OK. Are these ratings “grades” on record, I wonder?
We do have to keep things to deal with grade grievance procedures, and that’s pretty clear for paper work. It’s not so clear for online work at this point.
Lisa
I’ve gone through a similar path of reasoning, and I do admit that the CMS I used for a few years was a good scaffold for me as I learned more about the web and teaching/learning. Currently I’ve been using a Netvibes start page for the students’ ease of access, Eduspaces for a class blog, PBwiki for shared course notes, Engrade for an accessible markbook, and some other small pieces.
I really enjoyed your post. Thanks.