OLTD 504 Non-LMS Toolkit

Initial thoughts:

Over the past eight months I have had the opportunity to navigate the Desire to Learn (D2L)
Learning Management System as a student, as well as create courses/units in Schoology and Canvas
as an instructor. As I was introduced to online learning and teaching, I loved the ease of having
everything I needed all in one place; I truly believed that I was going to be an LMS using teacher in
the future through and through. Until now. Being tasked with creating a toolkit of non-LMS
resources that could, in effect, make an LMS unnecessary, I have come to appreciate the choices and
freedoms that a single LMS simply cannot provide. This is not to say that an LMS is inferior to a non-
LMS build or that I would no longer consider using one in the future. However, I now realize the
myriad options available to me as an instructor and can therefore opt to use an LMS in conjunction
with other tools, or not at all.

The question now becomes, with all the great, new online tools and resources available to us as
educators, how do we choose? I have organized my toolkit into three main areas of focus as follows:

 How will I provide content, interactivity with content and organization?

 How will I build community and inspire discourse?
 How will I handle assessment As, Of, and For learning?

My choices were also guided by my teaching philosophy, or “credo,” which is, in part, based on the
Community of Inquiry Theoretical Framework. Social Presence, Cognitive Presence and Teaching
Presence are the basic tenets of the CoI, and within that framework communication, collaboration,
critical discourse, and reflection.

Content, Interactivity and Organization

(Dashboard, Content/Lessons/Presentations, Processing Tools, File-sharing, Calendar)

Dashboard – The dashboard is what a student sees each time they log on to the course, so I want it
to be visually appealing and easy to navigate.

I would use Weebly to create a website for a course dashboard and create an image gallery
for ease of use. From this page, students will be able to navigate to all areas of the course
by clicking the linked images which will take them to other pages within the Weebly site,
or elsewhere on the web. Here is a simplified example of what a Weebly image gallery can
look like:
 Another good option I would consider for creating a visually pleasing and easy to use
dashboard is SymbalooEdu. Symbaloo is a visual resource management tool that can be
used to organize and provide links to everything you would need in a non-LMS build. The
great thing about Symbaloo is that you can search in-site for the tiles/links you want to
add to your page, and chances are Symbaloo already has it in their gallery. Creating tiles
from scratch is also an option, as well as editing existing tiles to change the color, caption,
or image. Your Symbaloo page can also be embedded into your own website or blog page. I
find that a couple of small drawbacks to Symbaloo, however, is it has a slightly steeper
learning curve than Weebly does, and you are unable to increase the size of the individual
tiles so that, for example, a ‘Welcome’ tile could be more prominent than the others.

Presentation and Processing Tools – With an overwhelming number of presentation and

processing tools to choose from, I have included a few of my favorites that are at the top of my list.

Google Office Suite applications including Drive, Docs, Slides, and Sheets are a great group
of tools that I am currently learning how to use, and have found to be very useful for
collaboration and sharing. Documents, spreadsheets and slide presentations can all be
created and edited within the Office Suite, while Google Drive stores them and allows for
easy transfer of files. The thing I really like about these tools is that students can share
their work with their teacher when they are just getting started. This can allow for
feedback and guidance on the process of the assignment rather than just the finished
product. The learning, then, becomes about the process as well as the content.

Prezi, Canva, Piktochart, iMindMap 10, PowToon and YouTube are some of my favorite
presentation tools that allow students a variety of ways to create and present their work. I
would not hesitate to use any of these tools with my students, other than taking into
consideration their technological ability (some of these tools have a steeper learning curve
than others) and the type of presentation being created. In fact, I would likely utilize a
number of such tools for a wide variety of assignments as I believe in giving students
choice in how they wish to interact with and present their work. Within this group of tools
students can create infographics, such as posters, flyers, presentations, reports,
newsletters and more; mind maps; videos; and interactive presentations, as is the case
with Prezi.

File-sharing –
Dropbox is a file-hosting web service that can be used to access files across devices as well
as share files with others. Files can include documents, pictures and videos, which are
stored in the cloud. I have used Dropbox for a few years now and have been satisfied with
it for what it is: a cloud storage and file-sharing service.
 Google Drive is great file-sharing tool that I have had the opportunity to begin using over
the past several months. This online file storage tool allows users to store files in the cloud
as well as access their files from other devices and share them with others. What I really
like about Google Drive is its versatility, especially as it relates to real-time collaboration.
Although I have been a Dropbox user in the past, since I have begun using Google Drive I
no longer see the need for Dropbox, except perhaps for a backup in a situation where
Google Drive was inaccessible.

Calendar –
Google Calendar is a time-management tool that allows users to create multiple calendars,
both public and private. As a reminder of due dates and other important events, I would
use Google Calendar to create a course calendar to be shared with my students, which can
be integrated with their own Google Calendars. Some of the features I like within this
calendar is that you can choose from daily, weekly, monthly and agenda views. There is
also the option to set onscreen and email reminders for upcoming events and other
important dates.

Building Community and Inspiring Discourse

(Learning Network, Communication, Collaboration)

Google Plus is Google’s social networking platform which is a great tool to use as a student
area for communication, collaboration and sharing. What I like about Google Plus is that
you can create a closed community that allows only members to post comments, respond,
or even view the page, or you can choose to make it public. One thing I don’t like about the
platform is that I find it can become organizationally messy with posts getting ‘lost’ in the
page. This minor inconvenience can be fixed by a quick search or pinning a particular post
to the top of the page, and is not something that would deter me from using it as a
communication tool with my own students.

Google Docs and Google Sheets are web based platforms that allow users to create, edit
and work collaboratively with others on documents and spreadsheets. The feature that
puts these Google platforms at the top of my toolkit is that collaborative work can be done
simultaneously. Group members can see who is making (or who has made) any changes to
the document/spreadsheet and when they were made.

Blackboard Collaborate and Zoom video conferencing platforms are both excellent choices
for students in which to interact and engage in a real-time, “face-to-face” format. Building
Social Presence, creating connections with other students and collaboration are essential
to an online course, and the features within these platforms far surpass the basics of video
chatting. Just a few examples of these features include the ability to use a whiteboard
 collaboratively in Blackboard or share your computer screen in Zoom, both of which
would allow for ease of peer-mentoring and group work, while the ability to use break out
rooms, record sessions or share links are features of both.

WeChat is a web-based instant messaging tool that has been hugely popular in China for a
number of years and is fast becoming a hit in other parts of the world. While it has
functionality beyond instant messaging, using it for this purpose with and among students
helps to foster a sense of community in a fun, non-formal way. In addition to text, you can
send voice messages, pictures and ‘stickers’, as well as use it for both audio and video calls.

Assessment As, Of, and For Learning

(e-Portfolios, Reflection/Self-evaluation, Presenting, Assignments, Quizzing, Feedback, Gradebook)

Weebly for Education is a great option for students where they can create a website in
which to build and house their e-Portfolios, create blogs and reflect upon their learning.
Weebly has a user-friendly, drop and drag build that can result in a visually appealing and
personalized web space. The blog feature within Weebly not only provides a space for the
blogger to express their thoughts and ideas, but also allows for peer comments and
feedback.

Quizlet and Kahoot are two online tools that I would use with students for the purpose of
review and formative assessment. Both are visually appealing, fun and interactive. Kahoot
is an online, multiple-choice quizzing tool that performs like a game and can host
hundreds of players at the same time. Kahoot can be played by individuals or teams. It can
also be used for quick, informal surveys, providing immediate feedback and statistical
data. What I like about Kahoot is its ease of use and the ability to use it within a video
conferencing platform. Quizlet, on the other hand, is actually considered to be a study and
memorization tool rather than a quizzing tool. It largely utilizes flashcards and games
rather than providing traditional quizzing, and is used individually by students rather than
synchronously or within groups. It does, however, have a ‘Teacher’ upgrade which
includes added features that allow it to function more like Kahoot; unfortunately, this
upgrade is not free.

Examview is a test generator and assessment software that allows you to create and
administer quizzes and tests, collect responses and analyze the data. With fourteen
different question types to choose from, you can create multiple choice, true/false,
matching, fill in the blank, numeric, short answer, essay questions and more. Based on
question type, assessment can be done electronically for instant grading and feedback.
Test banks are also available for Examview across a number of subject areas. Although this
toolkit is a collection of resources for a non-LMS build, I would like to mention that
 Examview is compatible with many LMSs including Canvas, Blackboard Learn, and
Schoology.

Engrade is an online grading system that provides a platform to manage your summative
grading data and more. I used Engrade over a two year period in the past and found it
user-friendly and robust enough to suit my needs. At present, my school is using a
different grading system as a whole, but Engrade is where I would return if I were making
the choice for myself.

Final Thoughts:
Something to keep in mind when creating an online course and deciding which tools you are going
to use, is that each course and set of students is unique. Having an organized toolkit from which to
draw from will allow you to make choices based on specific circumstances. While the tools included
here are certainly not the only tools or perhaps even the best tools available on the web, these are
tools that I am currently most familiar with and can confidently recommend. As I continue to grow
and learn as an online educator, so too will my non-LMS toolkit.