Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S8

S8

|

EDUCATION WEEK

n

October 1, 2014

Piecing Together a Smart LMS Strategy > www.edweek.org/go/LMS

PD Evolving to Address
Growing Complexities
Expanding array of LMS features can be overwhelming

n By Sean Cavanagh

W

hen language arts
teacher Susie Weetman was taught
how to use her district's new learning management
system, her biggest
hurdle wasn't figuring out how to master all the platform's features.
It was picking and choosing the ones she needed
most.
The new lms offered "so much functionality," recalled Ms. Weetman, who works in the Gwinnett
County, Ga., school system. "In the beginning, it
was kind of like jumping into the deep end and not
knowing how to swim. But in a way, that's kind of
like teaching."
The third-year educator's experience last school
year paralleled those of teachers and administrators across the country who've gone through professional development meant to introduce them
to learning management systems, which have become commonplace in schools. For many teachers
and administrators, the trick is to grasp which lms
tools have the greatest potential to meet the needs
of their individual students and classrooms, while
also acquiring the skills to juggle myriad academic
and managerial duties.
Lms companies try to meet those needs by train-

ing K-12 officials directly, or by training educators
to advise their peers.
Getting to know an lms is different from becoming adept at using a single computing device or
other technology tool, partly because management systems are meant to do so many different
tasks, as Ms. Weetman and her colleagues in the
170,000-student suburban Atlanta district have
come to understand.
For instance, the lms used in the Gwinnett
school system, created by the Canadian company
D2L, formerly Desire2Learn, allows teachers to
juggle a wide array of tasks. They can build course
content for students within the platform, give

quizzes and tests, establish and manage grading
systems, track individual students' attendance
and progress (even using detailed online seating
charts), establish by-the-minute classroom calendars, and guide focused discussions within the lms
among students.
Ms. Weetman's introduction to the D2L lms was
relatively brief, through a session lasting only
about an hour around the beginning of last school
year. It was led by a fellow language arts teacher
at Lanier High School, Brooke T. Webb. Since then,
Ms. Webb, who received training directly from D2L
and was one of several district teachers then assigned to do peer-to-peer tutoring on the lms, has
spent many hours visiting schools and meeting
with teachers individually and in groups. (The
company also has an extensive library of online
lessons and videos explaining lms features to educators.)
That in-person tutoring has been helpful to Ms.
Weetman. She's learned how to cater assignments
to individual students. She assigns lessons via
Dropbox, a function that allows her to make notes
for students on lessons, give them personalized
feedback, and grade their work. Dropbox also timestamps when materials are turned in so that Ms.
Weetman knows if students have met deadlines.
The procrastinators among them "don't like it
much," she joked.


http://www.edweek.org/go/LMS

Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report

Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - SR1
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - SR2
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S1
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S2
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S3
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S4
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S5
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S6
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S7
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S8
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S9
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S10
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S11
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S12
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S13
Education Week - October 1, 2014 - Special Report - S14
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_sr_03072018
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_02282018
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_02212018
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_02142018
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_02072018
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http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_05172017
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http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_03222017
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http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_01062016
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_12092015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_12022015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_sr_11112015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_11112015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_11042015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_10282015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_10212015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_sr_10212015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_10142015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_10072015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_09302015
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http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_09232015
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http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_08192015
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http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_07082015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_06102015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/tc_06112015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/dc_06042015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_06032015
http://ew.edweek.org/nxtbooks/epe/ew_05202015
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