Abstract:
Learning management systems (LMS) are online, digital environments that allow information to be shared between students that are now used at a majority of American and European universities. This paper seeks to understand the possibilities and limitations of what these systems can accomplish, and to use this information to provide a series of guidelines for using a LMS in order to support teaching and learning activities. These activities are primarily modeled between three categories: transmission of information, evaluation of teacher and learner performance, and interaction in LMS-unique environments. By examining a host of studies conducted within these models, proper guidelines for use emerge. With a thorough understanding of each of these guidelines, those employing learning management systems will have a better sense not only of what their systems can accomplish, but how teaching and learning practices can best be served by a LMS, and how a LMS can create its own subset of teaching and learning practices.
