The Potential of the LMS

Having viewed a few of the other VLEs of the FLE class, I have had a re-think or I guess have been reminded of the use of LMSs as part of a VLE (or Virtual Learning Environment). A LMS is a 'Learner Management System', usually an online space that provides a variety of tools for teachers and schools. This is in an educational sense, but the concept of the LMS began in the commercial sector and has only in recent years been taken on more comprehensively by the education sector.
Learning Circuits, an e-learning provider for the commercial sector, provides two definitions of LMSs: From IDC - "a software application that automates the administration, tracking, and reporting of training events". eLearning Age - "software systems used to collect and analyze data relating to existing and developing skills of a workforce."

Within education this tends to be online learning environments that provide a range of functions, including class and teacher homepages that can house: calendars, quizzes, surveys, learning tasks, links to outside learning, discussion boards, forums and lots more. I think they are a great way to house all the aspects of a diverse Virtual Learning Environment in one place. They allow for user, manager and editor interaction and give classes and learning groups the opportunity to share opinions, thoughts and learning.

I'd really like to hear what other's think of the role of LMSs. Here are some that I have read or heard about:

• Blackboard: lots of universities use this
• MyClasses: Telecom NZ (Not sure if AU as well?
  
• Ultranet otherwise known as KiwiSchools
  
• Having trouble remembering others - anyone else know of any good ones?
  

Assignment 2 -Link

This is the link to my VLE on a wetpaint wiki. It is called 'All About The Smarts' and asks learners to use the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy to learn about The Smarts, otherwise known as Gardner's Multiple Intelligences.

Avatars in teaching

I have just been looking at creating avatars recently. I think they are great because they give people who aren't necessarily great artists the chance to develop realistic portraits of characters they have created. How fun would it be to get students to do character description this way! Create a character, write a character description, then move on to story writing, and put it all on a blog. This would be very engaging for students of most ages, and blogs would allow them to view each other's work, making more authentic audiences.