LMS and Quality Matters Evaluation

The problems: 1. The drop out rate in distance education classes is 3-5 times higher than face-to-face classes, 2. Students complain that there is little interaction and that they are lonely. 3. Students are complaining that they get little feedback.

LMS Evaluation Introduction

The task this week is to compare two learning management systems (LMS): D2L Brightspace and Canvas to see which of the two is more efficient, more intuitive and more functional for both faculty and students. For each of the learning management systems this week, the following tasks will be completed and compared:
1. creating electronic grade book categories/items
2. creating groups
3. creating group discussion topics
4. creating synchronous web conference sessions
5. performing a quality check as a demo student.

D2L Brightspace LMS Evaluation
Create Electronic Gradebook Categories/Items
The first step to setting up your grade book in D2L Brightspace is to click on grades in the navigation bar. A second option is to select course admin and then grades (1. in diagram) under the assessment section.  In the upper right click on change settings and you will get a window with three tabs. Click on Personal Display Option (2) and you will get the screen to the right. Check the boxes next to points grade, grade scheme symbol and grade scheme color (3). In the repeat final grades section check both repeat calculated final grades and repeat adjusted final grades (bottom arrow). Change the Start page to manage grades (4) and then click save (teal button).
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Next click on the tab labeled Calculation options. In the grading system section click on points (1). In the final grade released section select calculated final grade (2). In the grade calculations section select drop ungraded items (3). This choice will prevent students from seeing failing grades for assignments not completed. Finally in the auto update section check the box in front of automatically keep final grades updated (4). Click save when you have finished your selections (5).
Next click on the tab labeled Org Unit Display Options. In the section labeled student view display options check the three boxes labeled: points grades, grade scheme symbol and grade scheme color (top arrow). Click save at the bottom of the screen to save your changes (bottom arrow). 
To keep your grade book organized and to set up individual graded items it is important to set up categories and then grades.First click on grades in the navigation bar and then open Manage grades and select the down arrow next to add and choose add a category. Next you will name your new category folder (see arrow). Click the down arrow next to new a second time and select item instead of category this time. You will first choose the grade item type such as numeric or pass/fail. Name your item grade, select the category the item will be placed under,select the point value for this item and then click save and close. 
Creating Groups
After selecting new category folder, you will enter the category name (1). Next you will select an enrollment type. In this example # of groups-self enrollment was selected. You can choose between self enrollment options or instructor enrollment options (2). The next step is to choose the number of groups (3). You can choose to select to set up workspace in discussion areas, lockers or dropbox folders. Finally save your selections (4).​  While impersonating a student I was able to verify that there was a dropbox folder for students to submit work as well as a discussion forum for students to add their posts and groups were appropriately set up. 
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Setting up groups allow your large class to be divided into more manageable sections and to encourage more in depth communication. To get started click on the down arrow next to communication and then click on groups or from the course admin tab, choose groups under the learning management section.  After the screen opens, choose new category folder.
The final step is to enroll your users into the appropriate group. In this example, group 1 was selected and all of the student's boxes were checked. This results in all five of the students being in the same group and having the ability to email each other. 
Create Group Discussion Topics
The first step in setting up discussion topics is to set up the individual discussion folders. Click the down arrow next to communication and then select discussions. A second navigation option is to begin at Course Admin and choose discussions under the communications tab. Discussion items need to reside in a forum. To set up the forum you will click the down arrow next to the blue box labeled new and select new forum. 
The next step is to create a new topic in your discussion forum folder. To do this you first select the forum folder that you want to put the topic in, add a title for your topic and choose whether you would like to add a description. You have the option to choose to allow anonymous posts, require a moderator to approve individual posts before they display, or require users to start a thread before they can read or reply to other posts. You can choose date restrictions for the topic. When you have completed making your choices, select save.
After you select new forum you will need to provide the details for your new forum. Name the forum, choose whether your would like to allow anonymous posts, require whether moderator approval is needed, choose whether users must start a thread before they can read posts and then when your selections have been made click save. This step is necessary or your students will not be able to find your discussion items. 
Create Synchronous Web Conference Sessions
Web conferencing in D2L Brightspace is done with a Blackboard Collaborate addin. To set up a new room first click on Pilot Live under the communication tab. In the middle of the screen click on the blue button labeled new room. Name your new room, choose Collaborate as your service provider and Elluminate as your account name, provide an optional description, decide whether you want your room content to be restricted to attendees or to anyone in the class,and choose any date restrictions. There are several additional options to choose from including whether students hands are raised on entry, whether participants join as moderators, whether they have unrestricted access to resources and whether moderators will be able to view all chats. As far as adding participants you can email participants to notify them or you can click on add participants, click on their pictures and they are added to the room. 
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1. Select communication and Pilot live
3. Set up your room.
2. Choose Collaborate and add a new room.
Perform a Quality Check as a Student
In order to verify that your class is correctly set up, you would want to see the class as a student would. To perform this quality check as a student click on class list on the navigation bar. Find the demo student in the list. Click on the arrow next to the demo student name. The pull down menu will give you the option to impersonate the student. A confirmation window will pop up to make sure that this is your intent. Now your class will mimic the appearance for a student. You can return to your account by clicking on the pull down menu next to the demo student's name in the upper right hand corner and selecting  the "X" next to the demo student's name. 
Impersonating a student.
Returning back to instructor view.

Canvas by Instructure Evaluation

Create Electronic Grade book Categories/Items
In Canvas, the grade book is not specifically set up, instead assignments are set up and they self populate the grade book. In addition you have the options to import and export grade books as CSV files. 

When an assignment is created there are columns for student names, secondary IDs, individual assignment scores and totals for the assignments. These columns can be easily rearranged, resized and renamed.
In the setting section of the grade book, there are options to select individual students and/or individual assignments. There are also options to treat ungraded assignments as zeros, hide student names, show concluded enrollments, show notes in student information, and to show totals as points on student grade page. The gradebook can also show statistics such as low, high and average on each assignment. 
Creating Groups
After you have created the group and clicked on it, all of the students who are currently unassigned will be found on the left hand side of the screen. It is very easy to drag and drop them into any group that you want. 
If you want to assign a discussion post to a particular group, click the box labeled "this is a group discussion" in the discussion forum edit. The option to select the group or groups the discussion forum is assigned to will open under this box. 
Creating groups in Canvas is very easy. From the course home page, click on people (1) and then click on the + group set in the upper right hand corner (2). A popup  box will give you the option of naming your group, allowing self-signup and determining number of groups and number of students assigned to each group. 
Create Group Discussion Topics
Creating a discussion in Canvas is very straightforward. Click on your course from your homepage and on the right side of the screen click on discussions. Next, click on + discussion in the upper right hand corner. Enter the topic of your discussion forum as well as any description for learners. You can attach files, add pictures or add web links. There are several options for discussions including: allow threaded replies, users must post before seeing replies, enable podcast feed, graded and allow "liking". Date restrictions can be enforced. After completing the discussion details the instructor has the option of pinning the discussion post so it is always at the top, publishing it so it is available to learners and/or linking it to other content in the course. 
Discussions can be edited or deleted by choosing the gear in the upper left hand corner and selecting either edit or delete. Discussion settings can also be edited and options include manually marking posts as read, allowing students to create their own discussion posts, allowing students to edit and delete their own posts and allowing students to attach files to their discussion posts. Instructors can also make discussion posts into assignments by clicking on the graded box and assigning points. 
After the deadline is past, you may choose to close a discussion for comments. You may want to do this to archive the discussion. To close the discussion post, click on it and drag it to the closed for comments section or click on the gear in the upper right hand corner and select closed for comments.
Create Synchronous Web Conference Session
Creating a web conference is so easy in Canvas. Open your class and go to the navigation bar on the left hand side of the screen and click on conferences. Then click on the + conference in the upper right hand corner. A pop up box will prompt you to add a name for the conference, a duration, an option to enable recording of the conference, an option to bypass a time limit for the conference, the option to invite group members and a prompt to click on update to post the conference. 
Whiteboard options
Participants click on the join button next to the conference. They are prompted to choose to use a microphone or to listen only. Once in the conference participants can opt to use a webcam. All participants have a full range of emoticons to select from, the ability to mute other participants, and a wide range of shortcut keys. ​
Emoticons and shortcut keys
Perform a Quality Check as a Demo Student
In order to do a quality check in Canvas, the instructor needs to go to the Settings tab at the bottom of the navigation button. This will bring up a series of options on the left hand side of the screen. Click on the one labeled student view. The course will now be in student view and the instructor can click around to do a quality check. Once the instructor is done they can click on the leave student view at the bottom of the screen found within the pink border.

LMS Weekly Recommendation

1. Create Electronic Gradebook Categories/Items
The grade book in Canvas was very simple and functional. I did not see the option to organize by categories, which is a drawback, but for a new instructor it had many fewer steps than D2L Brightspace. There was also the option to import and export grade books as CSV files. 
2. Create Groups
Creating groups is easier in Canvas than it is in D2L Brightspace, but there seems to be more options available with D2L Brightspace. It would seem that these options would make D2L Brightspace the better choice, but I am not sure they are all really necessary so the ease of use makes Canvas the better choice here
3. Creating Group Discussion Topics
Creating discussion topics is easier to do with Canvas. It only takes a few clicks and they are ready to go. The only plus with D2L Brightspace is the appearance of the discussion forums and the ease of finding the correct forum for students.
4. Create Synchronous Web Conference Session
Setting up a web conference is a straightforward process in both learning management systems but Canvas wins in ease of use category as well as the number of options available. Faculty could have a conference set up and ready within about five minutes.
5. Do a Quality Check as a Demo Student
Doing a quality check seemed easier with D2L Brightspace. After selecting impersonating a student, the instructor could explore the whole site as a student and then click out of it when they are done.

References
Carlson, A. (2014) Atomic learning tutorials Canvas from http://www.atomiclearning.com/highed/canvas-student.

Quality Matters Higher Education Rubric Workbook. 5th ed. MarylandOnline,Inc., 2014. Print.

Richard, B (2014) atomic learning tutorials Desire2Learn 10 instructor training http://www.atomiclearning.com/highed/d2l10_instruct.

Richard, B (2014) atomic learning tutorials Desire2Learn 10 student training http://www.atomiclearning.com/highed/d2l10student.