Which LMS/CMS?

[Bill Warrick]

Hi... 

 

I think this is the appropriate forum, and apologies if it's not.... 

 

Our school system has been using Angel LMS for the past 2 years.  Now that it has been purchased by Blackboard and our contract is up in 2012, a committee has been formed to look at options.  Stay with Blackboard?  Look for another LMS?  Angel will be completely subsumed by Bb at that point.

I'm interested to know if others have been in the same situation (moving from Angel to another LMS/CMS) or any advice for our committee on looking at options.  I welcome ANY and all input!  :)  What system do you use? Pros? Cons?

What about the process? How do you narrow down the list of potential products?  What do you look for?  Who's good to work with, who's not (corporate)?

Thanks in advance!

Bill Warrick

Spotsylvania County (Virginia) Schools

[Pam Dion]

You should check out School Town.  They are also adding an SIS that will be able to pull information from Bb.  It is a complete Teacher / Student learning platform.  It has great resources, and the ability to add curriculum from multiple vendors via SSO.

 

http://schooltown.net/

 

My school is currently moving to this platform and we love it.  The folks there are great to work with and the cost is right too. I would encourage you to check it out.

 

Pam Dion

Advantages Online Private School

[Ted]

STOP!!!

As a research student and teacher in the field of eLearning, I feel that I should dispense my knowledge with you on this Bill. Of course what you do with my advice is entirely up to you.

There exists a huge debate over the benefits and limitations of any LMS. I have found that LMSs are useful to a point but by no means should one pay or have to pay for them; simply because what these LMS ultimately achieve can also be simulated by other free web tools. I do suggest that you still have a LMS, so that you are able to add, monitor and track students progress under the school umbrella, but I highly suggest that you steer your school turns the social aspect of learning and also an environment that is personal to the learner. In this regard I recommend Moodle as your Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Edmodo as your Social Learning Environment (SLE) and Netvibes as the students' Personal Learning Environment (PLE). If your school is supportive and the pedagogy of the teachers' includes the willingness to change and incorporate technology, then by implementing this PLE, SLE and VLE you are in essence developing a Lifelong learning philosophy for all your students and teachers

[Bill Warrick]

:) Thanks, Ted.  Good advice.  I'm actually supportive of the model you suggest.  But, of course, it's your last line that tells the tale.  I think it would have been much easier 3 years ago before we first implemented Angel.

 

I'm a fan of Moodle and netvibes (haven't used edmodo yet) so we'll certainly consider them!  :)

 

Bill 

[Jo-Ann Goldenberg]

We had a similar issue in our district. Our county supports Angel, but the district decided not to use it after it was purchased by Blacboard. We are now using My Haiku Class. We gave up some of the features in Angel, such as chatting, but the it was easy to learn. Our elementary teachers seem to like Haiku. The tech support people for the company listen to suggestions and are quick to respond to emails.