Reflection on essential reading for week 11

LMS, which refers to learning management systems, are being widely used in Hong Kong schools. The common ones are “E-class” in many primary or secondary schools and “Blackboard” in tertiary education. I could say these systems help facilitate teaching & learning among teachers and students. The writer of the article talked about some misconceptions related to LMS. He reinforced that learning had to be driven by the needs of students rather than the LMS design. He pointed out that it would be easier for learners to proceed life long learning when they were plugged into a community or a learning network, instead of having previous learning confined to a content locked LMS. In my opinion, the system can definitely provide a medium/ platform for learning. However, at the very first stage, teachers have to show students the real use of the system through well planned lessons with clear goals and objectives. Then, the teachers can integrate the learning into the real community groups through the system to encourage authentic and meaningful interactions. As time goes by, it is expected that learners can form their learning habits. Does any teacher have ideas on how to use LMS effectively?