From CMS to LMS. E-Learning Management

Learning management system is a variation of content management system focused on e-learning. Moodle or Atutor are some examples of this software application. The layout is specially adapted for education courses or training programs and highly customisable with modules such as quizzes, deadlines, portfolios...

The best way to understand that is medium an example like Ready, Study, Go Ahead, LMS website based on e-learning packages for language and cultural preparation.

Review

Despite the main idea is right, there are some aspect they could improve. 

The first thing what we are missing is a personal profile. A place to record your progress and have a track of your exercises. 

Secondly, the layout is completely irregular and sometimes seems poorly adjusted: many different sizes for images and letters, photos's locations...

Besides, I would recommend to add some modules:

Calendar would be a good idea to organise course time and units. 

Social media will let people share and recommend it. 

Main menu on the left sidebar to allow direct access to the whole content.

In conclusion, with a little effort you can develop and improve your web site. Just let them tell you advantages and drawbacks of it. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

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Differences among CMS sites

There are many Content Management Systems available to create a webpage and most of them are appropriate for our purpose: education. That's why in this new technological era, almost every school/high school has one. Here you are some examples of sites created with different CMS.

Sites created with Drupal:
http://www.salesianos.edu/alicante/
http://www.iesenricsolerigodes.com/drupal/

Sites created with WordPress:
http://navarrosantafe.edu.gva.es/wordpress/
http://iesbenjaminjarnes.wordpress.com/

Sites created with Joomla:
http://www.iesdoctorbalmis.com/
http://iesleonardoalacant.edu.gva.es/web/
http://cavanilles.edu.gva.es/

Sites created with PHP-Nuke:
http://www.iesjaumeprimer.com/pphp/nuke/html/index.php

Sites created with SPIP:
http://nsd.hhdc.net/

Sites created with Zikula (mostly in Catalonia):
http://agora.xtec.cat/iessantjust/intranet/
http://agora.xtec.cat/iesnumancia/intranet/

Sites using Mestre a Casa (official web offered by Conselleria):
http://mestreacasa.gva.es/web/ieslacanyada
http://mestreacasa.gva.es/web/fpabeniassent/

Sites directly using Moodle as site and VLE:
http://fpaibi.edu.gva.es/aulavirtual/
http://www.iesalquibla.net/moodle/index.php

Wordpress is the CMS I like the most. It has a large number of developers and designers in charge of creating complements and templates for the community. Therefore, I like the layout of IES Benjamín Jarnés. 
On the other hand, IES Cavanillas is a good example about what you can do with JOOMLA. Very dynamic and intuitive with instant access to different sections through drop-down menus.
As you can see in the first group (Drupal), despite using the same CMS, webpages are totally different.
While Salesianos de Alicante with these three columns is well structured and looks really good, IES Enric Soler may seem a bit dull and less practical because you have to scroll down to much to get all the information.
All in all, isn't that important the manager you use but the way you use it. What's the point about having a Ferrari if you still drive it as if you were ridding a bicycle.

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Useful Tools: JOOMLA & Extensions

We already have a lot of of tools to use. However, there is still something we are forgetting: what about creating our own webpage? As you see, a blog can be easily created and managed. While using CMS for webpages, that happens too. 

My suggestion is JOOMLA, a open source content management system. It doesn't require any technical skill or knowledge about web codes to manage it. You can focus on creating and adding materials since the CMS manages all your content.

In addition, you have managers for every single basic feature that will guide you throughout processes such as adding web links or changing templates.

On the other hand, the strength of JOOMLA lies in its "extension directory". Unlimited opportunities to customise your site with thousands of applications. Just look for the ones that suit your needs.

Advanced Module Manager

In my opinion, this is a must-have extension for JOOMLA sites. The native module manager has a lot of weak points. In contrast, AMM gives you full control of modules adding many possibilities. This add-on also fix the problem with control publishing modules by homepage, date range, languages, URLs...

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Edudemic and Newsletter

Looking for new educational websites, I have found out one that really impressed me: Edudemic.

This awesome Blog is completely dedicated to education. There isn't only a webmaster, which means daily new information provided by many people with different points of view.

The layout is very fresh and dynamic. In the homepage we can find the latest entries and four drop-down menus as well. "The teacher's guide" section that offers teachers some of the most interesting resources and tools available today. If you have time, have a look at this selection I made: The Teacher's Guide to Badges in Education and The Teacher's Guide to Flipped Classrooms.

"The best EdTech" where they give some advice about best laptops for teachers or best tablets for education. Moreover, exclusive reviews about IOS and Android apps. Finally,"For students" and "For teachers"both share some sections such as online learning, tools, social media or startups. These are focused on methodology strategies, tips and ways of teaching. I will strongly recommend "How to" subsection.

If you want to keep updated about any new without having to use your browser, just sign up for the newsletter as I did. Every new post is sent by e-mail to your mailbox and has the same information that you would find in the webpage.

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Useful Tools: Lino and some additional resources

For new teachers, sometimes is difficult to create new materials. It may be caused by our inexperience or just because of the lack of time. For these special occasions, we can complement our material with lessons or activities already created by the teaching community. Moreover, we may have not realised that there are tons of apps that can make our life as teachers easier.

Here you have a variety of resources that I would probably use in my subject:

TeacherKit (app)

Is a classroom organiser. This app allows you to manage as many groups as you need. Creating personal profiles of your students, you can take some behaviour notes, control their attendance and the most important part, log their grades. 

Such important data can't be lost, that's why automatic backups are done periodically using dropbox.

Internet Literacy (eBook)

An Awarded eBook that through a very simple and sometimes humorous way, shows students the basic skills they need nowadays. 

In addition, contains some units related to another important aspects of the web they should know such as Netiquette, safety, privacy, ethics and online law.

This book is recommended for E.S.O students.

Workshop Hand Tools (lesson)

Ir order to create projects inside the workshop, students must know what and how many different tools they are going to find. It is also necessary to teach how to use them properly because nobody wants to get hurt. 

This lesson is ready to print and prepared to be given as a hand out.

Types of Energy (whiteboard lesson)

Very dynamic and intuitive powerpoint created for the Energy unit.

By using a lot of pictures and concise information this lesson can be taught easily by any technology teacher. It is as simple as it is effective.

Bonus Tool

Lately I've been working with a very useful tool. Lino is an app created to share a lot of information with others. You can post notes and organise your stickies all over the canvas. It is also possible to upload files (photos and movies). Moreover, Deadlines can be established in the calendar. 

All in all, a superb tool to share information and files among colleagues and students.

This is a Lino canvas created by myself as an example of what you can do.

ICT Resources

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Useful Tools: Pictochart

Infographics has become one of the best ways to share and promote content. It can be used by teachers and students to present a huge amount of information in concise chunks and giving numbers/data a visual appeal. One point about Infographics is that you need to make sure your project is designed in the right way in order for it to work correctly. It has to be visually interesting, but not overwhelming because even if they are highly informative, your student will probably get lost.

I've tested it myself by creating four guided activities for a unit and this is the result:

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Useful Tools: The Cloud

Introduction

The cloud or cloud computing is a buzzword term used to encompass network-based services. That means, software, platforms or infrastructure that can be used online.

Installation is not required, the services are hosted in a remote location and you only need to log in.

Nowadays, this tool is mostly used for running online versions of almost every program and as online storage.

Nevertheless, all that glitters isn't gold. Although it represents an improvement, that's obvious, we should think about a couple of things before leaving our private files to someone else's hands.

After this short introduction, I would like to point the advantages and disadvantages of the cloud regarding the educational environment.

Advantages

Backup: Files in the cloud are stored on multiple machines at once. Constant backup is done automatically. Lose data it's almost impossible unlike in our hard drive. Now students have no excuses to hand in their homework.

Updates: The company provider handles with those annoying updates instead of users. Students don't have to worry about nothing because they will always have the latest version and full compatibility.

Cost: Schools can eliminate the servers or at least reduce the associated tech support costs. Moreover, cloud software is way cheaper or even free. Purchasing serials will be no longer necessary.

Flexibility: Student can access their applications wherever, whenever, on any synchronized device.

Storage: Free storage space provided should be enough for our educational purposes. In any case, they will never run out of space because there is always the possibility to add more GB.
Simplicity and Time: Students save a lot of time not having to install or configure anything.

Disadvantages

Security: Despite the security measures, nobody can guarantee 100% that the files won't be opened by any intruder or an employee of the company.
Data Transfer: In comparison to the transfers in our hard drive, uploading a 50MB file may take a long while, depending on our internet connection.
Features: Some applications are optimized for the cloud use. They are like cutted versions of the program. This may represent a problem because of the lack of features.
Support: It takes too long to solve a problem because of their customer service. It's very common in web apps.


Based on my personal experience, I would recommend three cloud services.
If you are an Apple user, iCloud is the best way to connect your devices and share information.
If you want to share with others a lot of files or large size data, Dropbox is the fastest tool to upload/download.
GoogleDrive is the future of ICT education. Not only allows students to create groups, but also to write and edit files at the same time!! Very intuitive, fast and easy to master. It also has a huge amount of widgets to add new possibilities.

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