At a recent presentation I was asked by a Secondary School Senior Manager: “How do I decide what Learning Management System to use?” I have come across this question many times and my answer is to at least NOT let your school technicians influence the decision. The decision should be made on the basis of an investigation of Management Systems and whether or not they provide the tools that the users require. The next question is “who are the users?”
An LMS should first and foremost be considered a Learning tool rather than a management tool and thus it should meet the pedagogical requirements of the users who are the Teachers rather than the Senior Management or Technicians. I have listed below a set of requirements that I looked as a teacher when evaluating different LMS’s:
- Content can be organised in the way that I want
- It is highly interactive for students
- There are many features available from which I can choose from
- It is highly intuitive for the users – both the student and the teacher
- It is robust enough for anyone to use without breaking
- It is reliable and can handle many users
