Lesson 6 Learning Platforms: LMSs, MOOCs, & Mobile

Your main deliverable for this lesson is drafting and sharing your preliminary proposal for the e-learning project which you will begin in this course and continue working on throughout this certificate program. See the Course/Program Project Description, Assignment, and Discussion pages in Canvas. Plan on this proposal taking the bulk of your time this lesson, especially if you are just starting to think about your project in detail.

Meanwhile, your main content focus this lesson is taking a closer look at learning management systems. Depending on your field and your work situation, your employer may already have a delivery platform in place. On the other hand, you may find yourself with new opportunities, a different employer, or a new range of clients, and you’ll need to know enough about the possibilities to be able to make an appropriate selection.

In order to really capture the dynamic landscape of learning management systems (LMSs) and other course delivery platforms, we need to look beyond Clark & Mayer and Allen and explore online information about current options. The LMS market is often like a daytime soap opera – with bold mergers and acquisitions, upsets by the technology new-kid-on-the-block, and big companies adding and removing features and tools like they were last season’s styles.

• 6-1 Using an LMS
• 6-2 Learning more about LMSs
• 6-3 MOOCs
• 6-4 What is Mobile Learning?
• 6-5 Designing for Mobile Learning
• 6-6 More on the Coherence and Personalization Principles

Note: You may still see the term ‘Course Management Software’ (CMS) used, but the more widely accepted term, regardless of deployment in K-12, higher ed., or industry, is ‘Learning Management System’ – EDUCAUSE  struck CMS from its glossary in April 2010 and replaced it with LMS.