Course management systems and pedagogy - Does it go together?

A course management system (CMS) can do more than just help you managing your course. It can also support your pedagogical strategy. You will encounter 5 pedagogical approaches to illustrate how a CMS can support your pedagogy. These approaches will be briefly described before it is discussed how they can be supported in a CMS.

1. Collaborative learning (Smith & MacGregor, 1992)
   

   The main feature of collaborative learning is that learning takes place in groups of at least two students. The group members are jointly searching for understanding and meaning, seeking for a solution of a problem or creating a product. They pursue a common goal. The teacher coaches the students during the process.
   

   Possibilities to support collaborative learning with a CMS are mainly about communication. One can set up a forum or a discussion boards where students can interact by for example asking questions or discuss on a certain topics. The advantage of such a non face-to-face conversation is that everything sais is stored an can looked back. A CMS can also include a chat function, such as a chat room or a shout box, for the case that it is not possible to meet face-to-face. A CMS also offers the possibility to share documents.
   

2. Problem based learning (Boud & Feletti, 1997; Savery, 2006)
   

   Problem-based learning usually takes place in groups of 5 to 8 learners. The main premise of problem based learning is that the learner is solving ill-structured real world problems. After identifying the problem together with the group, each student conducts research individually. The gained knowledge and skills will be integrated with the group and applied back to the problem to solve it. At the end the students should reflect on the concepts and principles learned. The role of the teacher is a facilitating one; he supports students in all phases of the inquiry process. He designs the ill-structured problem around essential elements that are the driving force for inquiry. Assessment is formative and consists most times of self or peer evaluation.
   

   A CMS can support collaboration at the integration of knowledge and skills. A CMS can offer the same possibilities here as with the collaborative learning pedagogy (see 1). Formative self and peer assessment can be structured by the CMS and because one does not have to wait for the next face-to-face meeting it can provide faster feedback. A CMS can also help the students to reflect by displaying the process they have followed.
   

3. Workplace learning (Billett, 1998; Raelin, 1997)
   

   The key characteristic of work place learning is that learning takes place during everyday work. It is most times a rather informal way of learning that often is not experienced by the worker as learning. Acquired skills and knowledge are often tactic, meaning skills and knowledge the learner is not aware of. Workplace learning is a goal directed activity that takes place just in time. It is learner driven and learning is guided indirectly by the characteristics of the workplace and directly though guidance of co-workers and experts. It is a social activity and comprises some form of collaboration.
   

   You might say that it is impossible to support workplace learning with a CMS because learners are at the workplace and a computer is not always available. It is however possible to make a CMS accessible on different devices such as a computer, a PDA or a mobile phone. The learner can consult the CMS just-in-time, we he encounters a problem. A CMS can support workplace learning in the sense that it stores valuable resources for learning. It can further support collaborative elements (see 1). It is also possible to establish a community of practice by means of a CMS. This will offer the learner easy contact with co-worker and experts and the possibility to construct knowledge collaboratively within an organization or even with peers across the whole world.
   

4. Inquiry learning (Krajcik et al., 1998)
   

   Inquiry learning is closely linked to scientific research. Students learn about real phenomena through working on a real world problem. At the beginning, students are provided with a great collection of information around the problem. The process of inquiry learning starts with the creation of a hypothesis. Students then gather relevant information and construct new knowledge through synthesis. At the end students report the new knowledge and discuss and reflect on it. With inquiry learning, too, collaboration with peers is important.
   

   A CMS can be a place to share hypothesis, to store gathered information and to work on the synthesis. A helpful tool can be an online knowledge base. One possibility is for example to create a wiki. Discussion boards and forums can support making good hypothesizes and synthesizing knowledge. The teacher can take part of these discussions for coaching. Of course can a CMS also support collaboration in general (see 1).
   

5. Project-based learning (Barron et al., 1998)
   

   With project-based learning students usually have to design something, like for example making a website, constructing a robot or writing a business report. The teacher provides them with specifications for the desired end product. When the students encounter problems the teacher provides expert guidance, feedback and suggestions for better ways to achieve the final product.
   

   Project-based learning can be supported by a CMS by helping the students to manage their projects. A CMS can offer different facilities such as emailing, calendars and sharing documents. When the students use discussion boards and forums for getting help by the teacher, other students can profit from the guidance as well. Of course a CMS can also support collaboration in general here (see 1).
   

Some concluding remarks:

What all these pedagogical approaches have in common is that they are all learner-centered and that the teacher functions as a facilitator or coach. Collaboration is an important aspect of all of the above mentioned pedagogical approaches. It is exactly in those circumstances that a CMS can support teachers and students pedagogy and even make the pedagogy more effective through technical possibilities that are otherwise not attainable. It seems that course management systems and pedagogy can be a good match if extensive use of various features of a CMS is made and supported by the teacher.

References

Barron, B., Schwartz, D., Vye, N., Moore, A., Petrosino, A., Zech, L., et al. (1998). Doing with understanding: Lessons from research on problem-and project-based learning. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 7 (3&4), 271–311.

Billett, S. (1998). Understanding workplace learning: cognitive and sociocultural perspectives. In D. Boud, Current issues and new agendas in workplace learning (Vol. 50, pp. 47-68). Adelaide: NCVER.

Boud, D., & Feletti, G. (1997). The challenge of problem-based learning (2 ed.). London: Kogan.

Krajcik, J., Blumenfeld, P., Marx, R., Bass, K., Fredricks, J., Soloway, E., et al. (1998). Inquiry in project-based science classrooms: Initial attempts by middle school students. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 7 (3-4), 313–350.

Raelin, J. (1997). A model of work-based learning. Organization Science, 8 (6), 563-578.

Savery, J. (2006). Overview of problem-based learning: Definitions and distinctions. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, 1 (1), 9–20.

Smith, B., & MacGregor, J. (1992). What is collaborative learning. In J. M. Anne Goodsell, Michelle Maher, Vincent Tinto, Barbara Leigh Smith, Collaborative learning: A sourcebook for higher education (p. 9–22). Pennsylvania: National Center of Postsecondary Teaching, Learning, and Assessment.