Creation of a Non-LMS
My goal, is to see if I can build in this non-LMS a course orginally built in a LMS. Here I go, wish me luck.
Reflection: I was able to successfully build almost all of the content. It was at times easier to build in Weebly then when I built the course section in D2L, which has now been imported to Canvas Instructure. One glitch with the Weebly is that my Voki is not presently appearing. If it does not load over night then I will do further trouble shooting tomorrow. (Yah, Voki now works) What I could not replicate was the grades book in Weebly, Canvas has the grade book built in. There are two options that come to mind for use with Weebly. I could send comments and marks directly to a student in an email or much easier would be to use a separate password protected grade book program. Also submission of assignments is tricky for this particular course. I believe most students will not want the page submitted for all to see. So I have come up with alternatives I could use, students could email me the document as an attachment or I could look to set up a DropBox and DropitTOme account. Also Canvas has the function to hold teacher to student conferences and student to student collaboration. For this to occur using Weebly one would have to use such tools as Blackboard Collaborate or Skype for conferences and either Google Docs or Titan Pad for collaboration.
Navigating this non-LMS course, for a student, may have been easier if I had created a course specific Weebly. In thinking about this option I suddenly realized all the items I could add to the toolbar. This lead me to just add a FAQ page and a page for students to add different community physical activity suggestions, websites or Youtube videos they are accessing. I am now realizing how through Weebly I can offer a variety of opportunities for students to share their ideas. This I hope would help build a sense of community through the student to student discourse. I now also see how I could make both the FAQ page and the Physical Activity page part of the course requirement. Posting in each would be worth a certain amount of points as occurrred with our Wiki posts in OLTD 504. I am now wondering if I can replicate these same activities in Canvas. That is what I will explore tomorrow.
I have just spent some time creating the FAQ page and Physical Activity page in Canvas, took much longer than I expected. I found it much easier figuring out how to create a blog page on Weebly, then in Canvas. Also looking to the discussion functions in Canvas, it is not intuitive what setting to use. I thought it should be set as a group activity but found out I needed to set it at Peer Review, in this way a student is apply to reply on their own page. On the plus side, part of creating the pages in Canvas includes connecting assignments and discussions to the grade book by the click of a button..
Looking to the components of a learning management system, the one item that is still missing from my Weebly is the calendar. This is a built in function in Canvas. In looking to build a calendar page in Weebly I was hoping to find a calendar that allowed me to write directly in the template. Unfortunately, I could not find one that would function when I published the page, so I came up with what I feel is a good alternative, the calendar page.
Looking back at my experience throughout this process. If as a DL teacher I had a choice of whether to use Weebly or Canvas as my full learning management system, the decision would be Canvas. What is important to me is keeping all the parts of a learning management system in one location. Canvas along with offering all the features that Weebly has also allows submission of assignments and has an amazing grade book, plus there is a location to hold conferences with students and a collaboration space for students. If I was to use Weebly I would have to use outside sources. If however I was looking to build a class/course page in a f2f or blended classroom I would choose to use Weebly. It is easy to build in and edit thus allowing me to create, as you can see, almost a full online course.
Final Project Presentation -Blackboard Collaborate-dialogue accompanying PowerPoint
Final Project PowerPoint- used in Blackboard Collaborate presentation
My goal, is to see if I can build in this non-LMS a course orginally built in a LMS. Here I go, wish me luck.
Reflection: I was able to successfully build almost all of the content. It was at times easier to build in Weebly then when I built the course section in D2L, which has now been imported to Canvas Instructure. One glitch with the Weebly is that my Voki is not presently appearing. If it does not load over night then I will do further trouble shooting tomorrow. (Yah, Voki now works) What I could not replicate was the grades book in Weebly, Canvas has the grade book built in. There are two options that come to mind for use with Weebly. I could send comments and marks directly to a student in an email or much easier would be to use a separate password protected grade book program. Also submission of assignments is tricky for this particular course. I believe most students will not want the page submitted for all to see. So I have come up with alternatives I could use, students could email me the document as an attachment or I could look to set up a DropBox and DropitTOme account. Also Canvas has the function to hold teacher to student conferences and student to student collaboration. For this to occur using Weebly one would have to use such tools as Blackboard Collaborate or Skype for conferences and either Google Docs or Titan Pad for collaboration.
Navigating this non-LMS course, for a student, may have been easier if I had created a course specific Weebly. In thinking about this option I suddenly realized all the items I could add to the toolbar. This lead me to just add a FAQ page and a page for students to add different community physical activity suggestions, websites or Youtube videos they are accessing. I am now realizing how through Weebly I can offer a variety of opportunities for students to share their ideas. This I hope would help build a sense of community through the student to student discourse. I now also see how I could make both the FAQ page and the Physical Activity page part of the course requirement. Posting in each would be worth a certain amount of points as occurrred with our Wiki posts in OLTD 504. I am now wondering if I can replicate these same activities in Canvas. That is what I will explore tomorrow.
I have just spent some time creating the FAQ page and Physical Activity page in Canvas, took much longer than I expected. I found it much easier figuring out how to create a blog page on Weebly, then in Canvas. Also looking to the discussion functions in Canvas, it is not intuitive what setting to use. I thought it should be set as a group activity but found out I needed to set it at Peer Review, in this way a student is apply to reply on their own page. On the plus side, part of creating the pages in Canvas includes connecting assignments and discussions to the grade book by the click of a button..
Looking to the components of a learning management system, the one item that is still missing from my Weebly is the calendar. This is a built in function in Canvas. In looking to build a calendar page in Weebly I was hoping to find a calendar that allowed me to write directly in the template. Unfortunately, I could not find one that would function when I published the page, so I came up with what I feel is a good alternative, the calendar page.
Looking back at my experience throughout this process. If as a DL teacher I had a choice of whether to use Weebly or Canvas as my full learning management system, the decision would be Canvas. What is important to me is keeping all the parts of a learning management system in one location. Canvas along with offering all the features that Weebly has also allows submission of assignments and has an amazing grade book, plus there is a location to hold conferences with students and a collaboration space for students. If I was to use Weebly I would have to use outside sources. If however I was looking to build a class/course page in a f2f or blended classroom I would choose to use Weebly. It is easy to build in and edit thus allowing me to create, as you can see, almost a full online course.
Final Project Presentation -Blackboard Collaborate-dialogue accompanying PowerPoint
Final Project PowerPoint- used in Blackboard Collaborate presentation