Learning platforms have been in existence for many decades. Of course with the change in times the learning platforms have changed to accommodate the student and educator. As society continues to evolve so will our systems of learning. Two of the learning platforms established by several educational and corporate institutions are the Content Management System (CMS) and the Learning Management System (LMS).
Learning Management Systems (LMS) describes software, which is designed to manage user-learning interventions (http://Wikipedia.com). They are not the emblematic form of teaching rather web based programs used to facilitate learning beyond the realms of one location (http://Wikipedia.com). Within corporations LMS’s are also integrated with other application solutions used by human resources and accounting, enabling management to measure the impact, effectiveness, and over all cost of training initiatives (Ellis, 2009).
CMS’s or Course Management Systems is closely related to LMS’s and is a system most often used by educational systems. The CMS is an Internet-based software that manages student enrollment, tracks student performance, and creates and distributes course content (theJournal, 2004). A common CMS is the popular site Blackboard. Moodle is another example of CMS and LMS as well as known as a Virtual Learning Environment. It’s a software package that manages Internet-based courses and websites (http://www.moodle.org).
References:
Ellis, R. (2009). What A field guide to learning management systems. Retrieved on August 5, 2010 from
http://www.astd.org/NR/rdonlyres/12ECDB99-3B91-403E-9B15-7E597444645D/23395/LMS_fieldguide_20091.pdf.
Moodle. (2010). What is moodle? Retrieved on August 4, 2010 from http://moodle.org/about/.
theJournal. (2004). Course management systems and reinvention of instruction. Retrieved August 5, 2010 from
http://thejournal.com/articles/2004/10/01/course-management-systems-and-the-reinvention-of-instruction.aspx.
Wikipedia. (2010). Virtual learning environment. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_learning_environment
Tamara,
ReplyDeleteYour post is one of the clearest and most straightforward delineations of LMS and CMS that I have read. Furthermore, I think you are on the right track by suggesting that these systems will continue to evolve in order to meet the needs of tomorrow's students and institutions.
Honestly, I think there will be quite a bit of development and consolidation in this arena in the coming years. Per Dr. Gibson's explanation of the diverse and growing feature sets of current LCMS platforms, I believe all of these systems will continue to add on tools and resources which will only further expand their scope and potential. I'm not sure if you are aware, but Blackboard, which you mentioned above, purchased both the Wimba and Elluminate software companies a few weeks back. I am certainly not an expert in these areas, but it seems easy to predict that by combining a CMS platform with a video based synchronous VLE technology resource, we're going to have some very powerful options in the near future that will only further combine and confuse our current naming schemes for such systems.
Thank you for the post.
Tamara,
ReplyDeleteYou speak of the CMS as being used primarily in education to manage student enrollment, track student performance, and create and distribute course content. I think the future of education will be faced with two paths, one is to continue in the traditional school setting as we are now, and the other is to utilize CMS for online-based schools with courses taught from educators located elsewhere. I predict a shift of students to the latter because of selection of courses offered, time schedules, and advancing educational technology that offer a more transparent educational view for the students, parents, and teacher.
Tamara,
ReplyDeleteYou did a great job breaking down these concepts into a simple, easy-to-understand format. Your statement about LMSs not being "emblematic" of traditional teaching methods, yet being more learning facilitation software paints a concise picture of the difference between both naming and function of the two types of systems.
This article has allowed me to remember the very interesting topic of The Content Management System (CMS). Two or three years ago, because of my activities as a speaker of my business books written in Spanish, I had the opportunity to participate in several meetings with a consulting firm that was trying to present to me an option to develop a business educative platform especially around two of my books titled, “199 businesses from home” and “99 businesses for women”. At that time I wasn’t familiarized with the collaborative environment and then I was astonished with its many uses, as for example that it allow that a large number of people could contribute, improving the communication between users, the control access to data and so on.
ReplyDeleteOf course Tamara is certain when she says that Learning Platforms have been in existence for many decades and as consequence of the dynamic of the changes as a result of new technologies and new necessities, these developments have been changing and adapting to the new realities. If today’s Educative Technology is dazzling us what should be expected for the next years?
After reading Tamara’s Blog I had the curiosity to visit the sites she referenced, Moodle and Blackboard, and honestly it has been a pleasant experience, for sure I’ll visit them and others similar many more times.
The future of education and technology will not be able to work alongside. It is up to the educator to embrace technology to modify his or her delivery of instruction.
ReplyDeleteCMS & LMS are not only systems but they are method in delivering an sharing instruction with students and clients. Blackboard is a CMS tool to management and deliver information, but the Course Management System is a method of delivering subject content instruction in providing students a broad base of knowledge. Its design is to educate students and bring out critical thinking coming from reading and sharing information.
LMS provides a more customer type of structure based on the needs of the client with little less time to develop an area of expertise while LCMS provides more specific instruction with the expectations that the student is an expert when the lecture is complete.
You are correct with the technological concept for each learning platform. It goes a little deeper where I became a little confused.