DIY LMS or get one pre-made?

I've been wondering about Learning Management Systems (LMS's). How exactly is learning management different from teaching? Yes, I know all of the discussion about online content storage, assessment creation and data tracking. All of that really just begs the question, though. After all, in a typical teaching situation, there is a person who serves as a repository of information (supplemented by a textbook) who gives out assignments and keeps track of how students are performing. An LMS is really just a way to do all of this digitally. 

Since an LMS is a digital "teacher", can't we as teachers just make our own LMS? And are formal LMS's performing any better than ad-hoc systems? I've read quite a bit on both sides of the argument. So far, I'm not wowed by the pre-fab products. A well designed system can provide students with the essential items. First, they'll need review materials (videos, presentations, text) to understand an idea. Next, is a way to work with the material socially or alone so that learners understand ideas rather than memorize facts or phrases. This is typically done by assigning some sort of assignment. Finally, the system also has to have some way to assess students and share that assessment data with the students in a secure and sensible way. Usually, this is in the form of a gradebook. 

I've put these ad-hoc LMS's together using Google tools and a bit of hard work and they've performed pretty well. The biggest challenge (besides creating the actual learning material) was to decide how to organize everything so students could easily find what they wanted to quickly and easily. However, since all LMS's have a very similar design, it wasn't terribly difficult to get it to work about as well as Moodle or Blackboard. The most important thing I did was to keep the system consistent with what I did in the classroom. I think if a teacher does that, any LMS is as good as the next. 

Google Passes the "LMS" test

Craig Weiss has a great post on what makes for a great LMS. His intention was to write about trends in the LMS market but what it really turned into a great list of recommendations. Based on what he has written, I’d like to address some of the ways in which a combination of Google Apps along with Openclass outperforms other Learning Management System (LMS) options.

Mobile Learning-

OK, so Google doesn’t do a great job with this, either. The best I can say is that you can access Openclass on smartphone browsers. You can also access Google docs on mobile devices.

Texting/ SMS-

Openclass itself doesn’t support texting. However, Gmail Chat does. You do have to go through a few steps to get this going, but once it’s in place, a teacher can easily send a text to any and all of his or her students.

File Repositories-

Google Drive (a re-branding of Google Docs) is just the kind of file storage that any learning management system needs. It allows any user to store, share and collaborate on any number of files. Even better, Google provides a large number of tools to track exactly who does what to which file.

Social Learning-

Google Plus is an option here (not a great one, though). Of course, it cannot be used for high schools since one must be 18 or older to use the service. Nor is it for companies who need to keep private information private. It helps that the Google Apps administrator has access to all Google Plus data, since users will be careful about what they post. However, if learners are willing to engage with one another on this platform, great things can happen. Since an infinite number of “circles” can be created, learners can maintain focus on specific topics they are trying to learn about. For example, if you’re learning about architecture, you certainly don’t want all those biology discussions cluttering your desktop. There is also a fantastic video chat feature to use if you need a face to face discussion.

Parent Portal-

Unfortunately, there is no obvious way for parents to access student data.

Integrate with an SIS (student information system)-

Google Apps for education has made this pretty straight forward. Granted, you’re going to need someone who’s tech savy enough to set up Google Directory Sync with your local LDAP server.

Navigation and UI-

For Google Apps, this is kind of a tricky issue to address. If there is a lot of effort put into website design or heavy customization of the Openclass LMS, then navigation can be fantastic. However, if you are a teacher who lacks the time and skills necessary to really do this kind of design, then you’re left with something that works, but isn’t particularly user friendly.  

All in all, Google apps, along with Openclass, makes for a great LMS. There are some items that require a bit of technical know how but overall, it looks like Google has put together a suite of products that address the digital needs of learners and instructors alike.