How much does the LMS determine how you design the course?

[downer]

Blackboard's best feature is the "Needs Grading" section.

Strangely, Canvas does not have a similar feature.

So in moving a course from Blackboard to Canvas, I decided not to allow late work. It makes it too annoying to have to grapple with the awkward Canvas grade section to look for late submissions.

I may also make other changes because of the features of Canvas does have.

How much does your LMS affect your course policies and how you teach the course?

[littleapple]

The Canvas app does have the Needs Grading feature; or rather a "To Do" list in which submitted work to grade is visible.   

[arcturus]

Canvas tells me when I have materials to grade. It shows up on my "To Do" list. I see it even if it is a re-submission that already has a grade. That being said, I don't generally allow late work because I think it is in the best interest of my students to move on rather than trying to catch up.

[marshwiggle]

As others have noted in previous threads, the grades calculation tools in most (all?) LMS are vastly inferior to what can be done in a spreadsheet, so it tends to eliminate all kinds of creative options for determining a final grade.

[polly_mer]

It's almost like people don't learn to use the tools and therefore make bad choices because they didn't pick the right tools.

[marshwiggle]

It's almost like people don't learn to use the tools and therefore make bad choices because they didn't pick the right tools.

Part of the problem with an LMS is that it's kind of like learning surgery on live patients, or learning to be an electrician working with live wires. There's generally no easy way to experiment outside the context of an actual course where problems will confuse and frustrate students. The training exercises that people are given are usually trivial and don't even scratch the surface of what people will want to do in practice. (And, when most or all of the shifts to using the LMS are covid-related, it may only be temporary anyway, so there's much less incentive to spend the kind of time needed to beat the system into submission.)

[the_geneticist]

It's almost like people don't learn to use the tools and therefore make bad choices because they didn't pick the right tools.

Part of the problem with an LMS is that it's kind of like learning surgery on live patients, or learning to be an electrician working with live wires. There's generally no easy way to experiment outside the context of an actual course where problems will confuse and frustrate students. The training exercises that people are given are usually trivial and don't even scratch the surface of what people will want to do in practice. (And, when most or all of the shifts to using the LMS are covid-related, it may only be temporary anyway, so there's much less incentive to spend the kind of time needed to beat the system into submission.)

You can request a "fake course" to play around in.  Or use a section that is no longer available to students so it doesn't matter if you goof something up. 

I was fortunate to have a WONDERFUL librarian who taught short, practical workshops on how to use Blackboard at my last job.  Also, simply typing in "How do I [do course thing] in Blackboard?" into Google will at least get you started.  I've learned that some features I would like, such as setting a later due date for just one student on an assignment that does allow late work, aren't possible with the basic version we have.  But there are work-arounds for that sort of issue.  I just email the student to tell them their revised due date & let them know that while Blackboard will mark it as late, we will still grade it out of full points.

I don't let the LMS limit how I design my classes.

[sprout]

I generally try not to let it determine overall course design, but it does affect some things.  Like, the question options available in quizzes affect how I set up exams.

[Parasaurolophus]

It mostly doesn't, but like sprout, it affects the design of quizzes and exams. I'm not really a fan of quizzes and exams, but I'm required to have them, so the easier it is to auto-grade stuff, the better. If I had smaller classes and total control over my assessments, things would be different. But since I don't, I'm happy to settle for what the LMS can do.

[Caracal]

As others have noted in previous threads, the grades calculation tools in most (all?) LMS are vastly inferior to what can be done in a spreadsheet, so it tends to eliminate all kinds of creative options for determining a final grade.

Grading really encapsulates the tradeoffs with the CMS. On one hand, I find it tremendously helpful. I don't have to worry about organization of assignments, everything just comes in. In the case of automated quizzes, I don't even have to grade them. However, I really hate the way the CMS shapes student ideas about grades. I'm reminded of this every time a student writes me because their grade "suddenly" went down from a 100 to 82 and they don't understand. The grade went down because we had our first major assignment-completing some quizzes and response papers didn't actually mean you were getting an A.

For a while I tried not using the grading function. However, students are so used to it, that I got all of these comments on my evals about how there was no way to know how you were doing in the course. There's a significant number of students who really don't get that the CMS isn't the only way you could ever figure out your grade.

[marshwiggle]

As others have noted in previous threads, the grades calculation tools in most (all?) LMS are vastly inferior to what can be done in a spreadsheet, so it tends to eliminate all kinds of creative options for determining a final grade.

Grading really encapsulates the tradeoffs with the CMS. On one hand, I find it tremendously helpful. I don't have to worry about organization of assignments, everything just comes in. In the case of automated quizzes, I don't even have to grade them. However, I really hate the way the CMS shapes student ideas about grades. I'm reminded of this every time a student writes me because their grade "suddenly" went down from a 100 to 82 and they don't understand. The grade went down because we had our first major assignment-completing some quizzes and response papers didn't actually mean you were getting an A.

For a while I tried not using the grading function. However, students are so used to it, that I got all of these comments on my evals about how there was no way to know how you were doing in the course. There's a significant number of students who really don't get that the CMS isn't the only way you could ever figure out your grade.

I use the "ungraded items count as zero" option, so their "Final grade" starts at zero and increases as the term goes on. Then I can tell them "That's the grade you'd get if you stopped now and didn't hand anything else in." The idea that it's the lowest their grade can possibly be is easier to sell. Especially when it's over 50% before they start their final projects.

[Biologist_]

As others have noted in previous threads, the grades calculation tools in most (all?) LMS are vastly inferior to what can be done in a spreadsheet, so it tends to eliminate all kinds of creative options for determining a final grade.

I keep grades in an Excel spreadsheet and only use the LMS to report item grades to students. I add an item for "Overall course grade" or some such and put the calculation from my spreadsheet there.

This approach allows me to do things like tell the class that they only need to earn 80% of the homework to score 100% on the homework portion of the grade. Of course, that requires another item for "Adjusted HW score" in the LMS.

[Chemystery]

As others have noted in previous threads, the grades calculation tools in most (all?) LMS are vastly inferior to what can be done in a spreadsheet, so it tends to eliminate all kinds of creative options for determining a final grade.

I let the LMS gradebook populate as specified in the syllabus, then download it into an Excel sheet and apply my "creative options."  I have yet to have a student complain because the LMS says they earned a B+ and I reported an A-.  That said, the manipulations I am doing can only improve a student's final grade.  If you're doing things that would lower their grades, this probably wouldn't be a good idea.

[sinenomine]

As others have noted in previous threads, the grades calculation tools in most (all?) LMS are vastly inferior to what can be done in a spreadsheet, so it tends to eliminate all kinds of creative options for determining a final grade.

I let the LMS gradebook populate as specified in the syllabus, then download it into an Excel sheet and apply my "creative options."  I have yet to have a student complain because the LMS says they earned a B+ and I reported an A-.  That said, the manipulations I am doing can only improve a student's final grade.  If you're doing things that would lower their grades, this probably wouldn't be a good idea.

I do the same thing, Chemystery. I also like having the backup of my own spreadsheet for the grades, since my institution has switched LMS platforms twice in the past, thus losing all the archived materials.

[marshwiggle]

As others have noted in previous threads, the grades calculation tools in most (all?) LMS are vastly inferior to what can be done in a spreadsheet, so it tends to eliminate all kinds of creative options for determining a final grade.

I let the LMS gradebook populate as specified in the syllabus, then download it into an Excel sheet and apply my "creative options."  I have yet to have a student complain because the LMS says they earned a B+ and I reported an A-.  That said, the manipulations I am doing can only improve a student's final grade.  If you're doing things that would lower their grades, this probably wouldn't be a good idea.

That's an interesting idea. Do you ever have keen students who realize their grade should be A- instead of B+ as in the LMS and complain about it? (I'm assuming that in the syllabus or somewhere the details explain everything that would be involved in determining the correct final grade.)