Why Course Management Systems?

There are many factors that are responsible for starting the movement towards virtual education. Course management systems are extremely popular in schools today, and one reason is because of the advancement of technology in society. Today’s culture is accustomed to instant gratification and immediate access to knowledge and updates. Getting report cards through “snail mail” and giving assignments in person can be easily lost or confused, and would cause impatience from both students and parents. We are now so used to easy 24-hour access to information that education making the shift to online course management seems obvious. The use of this technology consolidates emails, class rosters, grades, assignments, and more in one place that is easy to use for all. Princeton makes the argument for course management systems by pointing out all the different uses of these sites, which in turn save educators, students, and parents time and money. Which brings us to our next factor in the movement toward virtual education – the economical benefits! Instead of spending money on paper and ink and supplies, course management systems contain all the information online. Many of these systems also contain the ability to upload course materials such as textbooks and articles that have high costs or would charge too much to print (not to mention all the trees that are saved).  These are just a few of the many factors that have led to the wide usage of course management systems.

The Stages of Diffusion: Education Style

While the integration of technology into education is exciting for many of us “tech nerds,” not everyone feels the same way. Today, we will be discussing a weakness of Virtual Education due to the Diffusion of Innovations theory. Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology states, "factors other than the attributes of the innovation affect diffusion of innovations. One factor is the amount of previous experience people have had with similar technologies” (page 52). This plays into how quickly – or slowly – people are willing to adopt new technology. There are 5 stages of this Diffusion of Innovation: innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. For example, in the integration of virtual education, innovators will be the first group of people to jump in and try the new software or technology. If a “new and improved” software system that uses videos and live streaming is the first to come out on the market, the innovators will have already bought it and will be beta testing it in the classroom. Early adopters and the early majority are the next to follow suit. Early adopters will try it out and post about whether they liked the new software or not, and the early majority will buy the access to the software just as it is becoming “mainstream” or popular. Larger universities looking to integrate new technology without risking the quality of their education will most likely be in the early to late majority categories. They will wait until they have seen the software or innovation prove its success and usefulness in smaller universities or through statistics before jumping on board and dragging the thousands of students along with them. Finally come the laggards. In the broader technology world, the laggard is your Grandpa Joe who still has his flip phone he has been using for years and was reluctant to get it in the first place. He has a phone, but nonetheless it is from 2005. In the virtual education realm, the laggards are mostly primary or high schools that we would consider to be “stuck in the past.” They rarely use computers, notes are still hand-written, and grades are still printed out and handed out in the classroom.

This theory proves a weakness in the adoption of virtual education because not everyone is equipped with the technology skills to easily navigate online sites such as Blackboard. This lack puts these students at a disadvantage, not because they don’t know or understand the material being taught for the class, but because it is too difficult for them to even find the material or their assignments. This proves to be difficult for teachers as well, who may be used to a completely paper and in-person style of teaching. Not having the skills to use sites like Blackboard and Canvas to their potential doesn’t mean they’re bad teachers, but it fogs up communication with students which inhibits learning.

Straubhaar, Joseph; LaRose, Robert; Davenport, Lucinda. Media Now: Understanding Media, Culture, and Technology (Page 52). Wadsworth Publishing. Kindle Edition. 

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The Strengths and Weaknesses of Virtual Education: Transitioning to professional life

In today's working world, a lot of business is done online. Especially when working with clients who are out of town at a different location or internationally in different time zones, email and shared software are the primary forms of communication and you never actually meet your clients in person. Using websites such as Blackboard and Canvas in education prepares students for this working environment. Many of my assignments for my lecture classes are online, and some of my classes are fully online in which case I have never met my professors. This has required me to learn how to communicate effectively by reading all instructions and keeping up with email in order to stay in contact. These online communication skills, although are often more difficult than in-person communication, are crucial to learn before entering the professional world. This is a strength of virtual education, along with the development of self-discipline to stick to deadlines. Without your boss behind you in the office, or your professor reminding you in class, you must have the self-discipline to stay on top of deadlines. Virtual education helps groom students to expect that state of self-reliance when working on a project and be their own motivation. Read more about the real-world skills taught by online education here on US News.