Course Management System

A course management system, also called a learning management system, is software, usually Internet based, that allows instructors to teach an online course(or enhance traditional classroom teaching with web-based elements.) A (CMS) organizes and manages course materials(like assignments, lecture notes, quizzes, grades, etc.) and supplies tools for instructor-student and student-student interaction, such as discussion groups, live chat sessions, and whiteboards.
The most widely used course management system is the one the NLC uses, Blackboard, who announced a merger with its largest competitor, WebCT. According to Eduventures, an educational market research firm, Blackboard owns about 45%-50% of the market, while WebCT holds about 35% to 40%. Together, more than 3,700 higher education, K-12, corporate, government, and commercial academic institutions use solutions offered by the two organizations. WebCT was the system I used at my local community college.
Features of course management systems may include announcements, homework assignments, course documents, discussion boards, inter-class communications, chat rooms, grading, quizzes, surveys, files storage, and links to external sites.
Edu-Tools has an online comparison tool which may help you choose the system that meets your needs. You can compare up to ten systems.
The tools we have learned about in this class enable us to communicate effectively with a large audience using Internet technology. They have also required much user interaction. We have used wikis, blogs, posted photos and videos using some simple, easy to use technology. The same could be said for course management systems. The CMS makes it possible for educators and students to connect with each other beyond the bounds of a classroom and restrictions of schedules. These connections create learning environments that promote engagement and active construction of knowledge. The resources and technology available on the Internet can be overwhelming, to say the least. The CMS eases this because teachers are able to create links to selected content, cutting down on time spent by students in identifying whether a site's information is useful and increasing the time spent engaged with high quality texts. We had a good example of this with each of our assignments and the three or four links to explore with each topic. I have had good experiences with both Blackboard and WebCT course management systems. Believe me, if I can navigate through them, anyone can!!!!!!

Web Office Application

I originally had some reservations about posting information online for all to see, especially the idea of people editing the material. But after learning about some of this technology the last few weeks, I am much more at ease with the concept, including this week's assignment. I thought it was pretty cool to experiment with other classmates projects. I liked Keith's calendar listing every one's birthdays. I used Google Docs to post my document. I uploaded a Word document that I thought my classmates might find interesting. It consists of my top ten labor events in the last twenty five years. This type of assignment would seem to really benefit from collaboration. A person could add or subtract events as he/she seems fit. They could also explain why they chose to edit the list and get feedback from others on reasons why the event should stay. Another good example would be a timeline that people could add significant dates to. Google Docs seemed to be a pretty popular option to use. Honestly, it seemed to have most of the major options that the basic word processor provides, including choice of fonts and formatting. You can also insert images, web links, and tables.
I can see two major advantages of online document services. First, because the document is online, a person can access it from any computer. Second, you can share an online document with anyone, person or group, with a Google account and like a wiki, it tracks all edits made to the document.This can be done in real time. How cool is that?? Another interesting feature in Google Docs was how you could load a spreadsheet, set up a form with questions to ask co-workers or employees, send out the question via email and their answers would automatically get entered into the main spreadsheet. I forgot to mention that you can also pick who can access your document and Google claims that the files are stored securely. An obvious disadvantage would be that if you lose your Internet connection, you are out of luck. I also read an article about schools being uneasy about this type of application because the files are residing outside their networks and thus outside of the school's control. I am not sure if any of these services can be hosted on your own server. Here is the link to my document http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AVbYMbnHQ8K4ZGNoZDk1cGNfMWNybTk2MmNu&hl=en