So in recent days I have been researching the concept of a Learning Management System for my school. It has been an interesting journey! I was first introduced to the concept of a learning management system last year when my Principal asked if I had heard about a program called Moodle which at that time I had not. She mentioned that Northern Beaches Christian College had Moodle running and were doing some pretty good things on a low budget and would I like to go and see it? I said yes and along with another colleague to visit NBCS to see what they were doing with Moodle and ICT intgration. They had some very innovative ideas such as the HSC online and calling the primary version of Moodle for their school P.E.T.E (Primary Education through e learning). They have obviously spent a lot of time with Moodle and getting working and looking good and been working on some quite innovative ideas such the HSC online and beyond borders and blended learning. But we did not see a large amount of evidence of 21st century learning and pedagogical change.

Progress forward 4 months and one of our local schools has done a similar thing to Northern Beaches with a slick Moodle install but no real pedagogical change.

Progress forward another 6months to a visit to a well known private school to view their install of eduKate. Not all teachers were using the LMS but their was evidence of some innovative teaching practises being encouraged however still lacking a true 21st century skills focus.

Progress forward another 2 weeks and a conversation at the most recent blogger’s feast with a university employee who was talking about all the different aspects of Learning Management Systems that they have installed but bemoaning the fact that the pedagogy of teaching at a uni level i.e. lecture/tutorial had not really changed.

Progress to the next day to a visit made to a school that again has a very good Moodle install that they have spent 18 months developing but again acknowledging that they need someone to change they way teachers teach, and in fact they are advertising for a Director of Learning Technologies to answer this need.

So where is this leading me? I have come to the conclusion that the most important thing that transforms teaching and learning is not a learning management system. It is a focus on good pedagogy, project based learning, 21st century skills, higher order thinking and pwoerful learning. It is about using techonology as part of the learning environment. A learning management system does in no way replace or answer any of these thing. It is merely a tool to help organise the resources for a class and perhaps (depending on the type you choose) a method for delivering some web 2.0 type tools to the classroom. So as we go about the process of selecting a LMS for our school I must remeber that it is not the panacea of all ills!

Well today our ICT committee meet to review our 5 year strategic plan for ICT across the college. It has been a year since we developed the plan and I cannot believe the incredible learning curve that I have been on. The college too has seen some great changes we have Interactive Whiteboards, teachers and students using a variety of blogs, staff increasing their ICT skills, Photo story being used, teachers who had never used technology starting to use technology and think about it, we have networked the college and have a very high uptake on staff laptops. It has been great. But there is still some areas that I would like to see change in. Number one is staff looking at teaching and learning in a 21st century context, and a movement from such a didactic model of teaching and learning to a more project based way of teaching or a constructivist approach where appropriate. The other area is the skill development of students. I am currently working on my thinking in this area. What is the best way for students to learn ICT? Is it by integrating it into the curriculum solely or do we still need specific, directed, targeted skills development? Or do we need a mix of the two? At this moment I am leaning towards having a mix of the two. I liken it to my ability to play basketball. I love playing the game but I took it up as an adult (therefore I am a basketball immigrant) so I missed out on all the skill development that I would’ve recieved as a child learning the game. I played netball as a child and therefore some of the skills are quite transferable however I find that my dribbling is well below average as are some of my understanding about the strategies of the game. I really need some serious skill development if I am ever going to play the game well. I suspect that is the same with ICT it is good to intgrate the skill developlement into projects and lessons but I wonder how much more effective student would be in their ICT use with periods of concentrated  skill development. SO we do we achieve this without teachers then falling back into old ways by saying ‘well the kids are getting their ICT in that subject so I don’t have to bother with it?’ How do we develop skills and change thinking. Most importantly how do we paln for this? So what I am looking for is students who have a great foundation of transferable ICT skills that arfe further enhanced and developed by what they are doing in their individual subjects. not asking much really! Hope my ICT committee has the answers!