Article review and Personal insights into LMS

Juha-Matti Suorsa and Niklas Eskilsson. (2014). Students’ perceptions of learning management systems. An explorative case study of upper secondary school students. (1651-4769). 

During the time I studied Innovating Learning Technology module in my Master' Degree, I have read number of useful articles shared by our instructor. Although I found most of them useful and helpful, today I would focus on the article “Students’ Perception of Learning Management Systems” written by Suorsa and Eskillson (2014). This article identifies upper secondary school students’ perception towards the utilisation of Learning Management Systems. Case study research, which was conducted in a Swedish secondary school, explores key factors that impact students’ perception regarding LMS platforms. Main findings reveal that students’ views are developed by sociological (social influence and teacher attitudes) and technological (content quality, user friendliness) factors. The following topics were explored in the study:

Facilitation of Communication: Learning Management Systems are identified as communication tools that enable teacher-student interaction.

   Partial System Utilisation: Students are used to use LMS platforms mostly for isolated functions such as assignment submission or messaging, and do not fully focus on the utilisation of all the features available.

   Poor design: Low quality design, outdated features, limitation of search functions make Learning Management System difficult to use.

   Influence of an Instructor: Teachers play crucial role in identifying the frequency and effectiveness of the use of LMS by students. Limited use of various features of LMS by teachers makes a negative impact on student perceptions.

   The quality of the content: Students emphasize frequent, relevant, and well-organised content, while they are while dissatisfied with unnecessary data on LMS.

   In conclusion, the article reports that Learning Management System platforms have to be aligned with educational needs of students, underlying the value of design usability, teacher development, and quality of the content to promote LMS adoption and satisfaction. 

Personal Reflection

The chosen paper on "Students' Perceptions of Learning Management Systems" correlates with my personal experiences both as a student and as a teacher who has been actively engaged in LMS platforms. The article focuses on the evidence-based analysis in terms of the positive impact of technology application on teaching and learning process. 

Key takeaways

One of the main takeaways from the research is that the students’ expectations as well as needs play a significant role in the success of LMS integrations. For example, while efficiency and user-friendliness of the LMS is appreciated by the learners, design flaws as well as too much information were identified to be disturbing factors. I have a personal experience of using Moodle and Google Classrooms as LMS which resonates with above-mentioned findings. Those platforms simplified my job as both a a learner and as a teacher however, the productivity of the platforms depended directly on the integration of the teacher instruction.

 In addition, active role of the instructors and their competencies is underlined clearly in the research. In details, the article states that teachers have a direct impact on how the LMS is perceived by students. A regular and effective application of LMS by teachers lead to better student engagement whereas inconsistent usage results in confusion. These findings make me reflect more on my personal role as a teacher who use LMS and how I can master my skills in LMS management to bring more value to learners.

Challenging my understanding

       While I had an impression that the productivity of the LMS depends mostly on its technical aspects, having familiarized myself with the research findings, I have discovered that human aspect of the LMS including impact of the peers as well supportiveness of the instructor while using platforms have equal importance. Therefore, I drew a conclusion that both technical and human elements make a whole positive experience of using LMS.

Relevance of the article to my Academic and Professional Interests

      Technology integration into language teaching is crucial for me as for TESOL professional in order to enhance engagement and efficiency. The findings of the study underline the need for professional development programs, which assist instructors in incorporation of Learning Management Systems into their lessons. For instance, the utilisation of LMS platform features such as, feedback tools, and file sharing can ensure interactive and collaborative learning atmosphere. But the most important factor is the proper utilisation of these tools since students must perceive them not as an overwhelming but as beneficial.

      Additionally, according to the study, it promotes the importance of content quality – something that I focus on while designing materials for ESL students. The content of LMS must be relevant, concise, and easy to access in order to avoid cognitive overload, specifically for ESL students. 

Questions raised

    I have identified a number of questions related to the research including:

1.     What is the role of the educational entity in supporting teachers (training or incentives) to use LMS in a more effective way?

2.     How the complexity of the LMS design can be minimized and user-friendliness be maximized?

3.     Is there a way to integrate LMS with other popular platforms such as social media to add the balance of academic and personal needs.

 

Personal Story

    I recall a situation in which some of my students, due to the unclear layout, struggled to access the subject content on LMS. They started sharing that content through telegram groups with each other. I can relate this story to the research conclusions that alternative social media channels could act as replacement for LMS. This made me create a better layout and a more user-friendly structure of the files on my LMS. Overall, it can be stated that the findings of the article explain the significance of small however impactful improvements in LMS which lead to positive learner perception, interaction as well as engagement.

Conclusion

    The article gives insightful conclusions regarding the effectiveness of learning management platforms in teaching and learning. The article also underlines the role of learner-focused design, proper content as well as role of teacher in successful implementation of LMS. On a personal and professional note, the article encourages me to do self-reflection towards my experience of successful and efficient integration of LMS into my teaching and learning environments.