EME6630-0 Reflections

Educational and technological icons surround a central "LMS" banner, representing the comprehensive tools and features of a Learning Management System.

Thinking about all the assignments I completed this month, I selected to place my Content Map and review video of selecting 'Safety Culture' into my portfolio folder. These projects placed a capstone on what I learned from reading Foreman's 'The LMS Guidebook: Learning Management Systems Demystified.'

Before this course, I belived that all LMS were the same. The differentiators between a corporate LMS, an academic LMS and an integrated LCMS-LMS were eye opening. In short, a corporate LMS connects people with learning programs, serving organizations that offer moreso short courses. Academic LMS focuses on replacing a classroom or extending learning online. The main goal is collaboration between learners and instructors. Learners typically complete courses in terms and/or semesters and instructors are provided a 'hub' that executes the heavy lifting of organizing course materials in one place. LCMS-LMS closely mimics corporate LMS with the exception of the ability to author content. The ability to author content in an LCMS-LMS allows instructors to also create additional materials such as guides, job aids, visuals and much more. Lastly, I also learned that an LMS should not be confused with an LRS, as LRS only collects and stores xAPI learning data and is used by data analysts and xAPI developers, not learners and learning admins.

The best way to demonstrate my comprehension of the use of each of the different LMS types is to construct training in each. In doing so, I'd have the experience in understanding variety in setting up operations and tools while supporting learners in each environment. Construction of each LMS would solidify my setup skills in addition to supporting each from the learner and instructor perspective.