Learning Management Sytems

My first encounter with Google was during my undergrad at MNU. We used Google Docs to work on writing papers together or Slides to create group presentations. I loved using Google because it allowed us to work together with all our crazy schedules. My first year of teaching my district made the switch over to Google. There were several teachers in my building who did not like this because they had to learn something new. I loved it because I was already familiar with Google, but I was in no way an expert on all it has to offer. Somehow I became the go to person for my building and I still have teachers coming to me for Google questions.

I have not had the opportunity to use many Google apps with my students due to the lack of technology devices in our building. I would love to have students collaborate together and create a presentation about a composer using Slides. Using Forms would be a great way to get formative feedback quickly on a topic we are learning about. Once we have more devices in my school I plan to use some of these tools with my students. Another aspect of Google that I like is the ability to give feedback instantly. Christopher Pappas says this allows students to get the support they need right away, so they can modify learning behaviors and receive the correct information they need to successfully move forward with the eLearning course (Pappas, 2015).

One activity I would like to try in my classroom is a form of peer editing. I would have students record themselves playin their recorder and upload the recording to Google Drive. Students could use Docs to give feed back to students based on what they heard in the recording. Students would be evaluating each other as well as using their ears to listen for certain musical techniques we have been working on. It would be a stretch from peer editing, but students are still evaluating and giving each other feedback.

My school district uses Classroom in the middle and high schools, and I could also see myself using this at the elementary level as an LMS. I love that students can collaborate together so easily and everything is stored in one space on Drive. Because I have never actually used it, I am not sure how easy it would be to share information and student progress with parents. That would be my only hesitation for using Classroom as an LMS.

Using an LMS in my classroom would give me more time to make music together with the whole class. I only see students for 30 minutes at a time. In fourth grade we work on learning recorders. Some students catch on very quickly, and others need more time to practice. If I use an LMS in my classroom I could upload videos of myself or others teaching new notes on the recorders and allow students to watch those as many times as they need to at home to practice. This would give us more time in class to play songs together and create music.

If I were to choose an LMS to use in my classroom I would choose either Google Classroom or Edmodo. I use Google Drive to store most of my materials and both are assessable to that. Classroom is what my district uses, so students would be familiar with it throughout their years at school. I like Edmodo because it seems more elementary friendly and gives parents assess to what their students are working on. Once my students have more assess to technology devices I might try out both systems and see which system my students and parents like more. Another thing to consider be collaboration with grade level teachers. If they already have an LMS set up for their classroom it might be easier for me to use the system so that students don't have to learn an entirely new set up.

I think that by using an LMS students will be able to learn more independently. If they are struggling with a certain topic, they could watch videos again or look over notes until they feel confident with the topic. This could also help students who are excelling by allowing them to dive deeper into a topic. I think an LMS will help parents to stay connected to what their students are learning at school and this is especially important for music because I do not see or talk to parents as often as a grade level teacher does. Some parents may not even know what we do in music, and using an LMS would help them with that!