LMS? OMG!

I’ve been working on setting some things up for next semester’s iteration of my class, and one of the things I have been looking into is setting up a learning management system (LMS) for my students.  Both my undergraduate and graduate schools use(d) LMSs with us, and I enjoy having course information at my fingertips.  A good system is also important if I decide to go the flipped-class route next year.  I’ve been spending a good deal of time playing with the options for LMSs, and each has its pros and cons.  It’s made the decision-making process difficult for me.  Here is a little bit of what I’m thinking about three of the choices I’ve looked at so far:

Edmodo

Pros:  Appears to be the trendiest option available.  Edmodo is currently in favor with a large number of teachers and schools.  My own district has an Edmodo domain, though they do not require anyone to use it.  Edmodo bears a strong resemblance to Facebook.  It’s widely praised for its ease of use and setup.  You can provide parents of students in your classes with view-only access codes, so they can see what their child is doing in your class.  Edmodo also offers good mobile support.  Students who use Edmodo generally seem to really like it, which means they’re more likely to look at it.

Cons:  Edmodo is a third-party company.  There’s always a chance they could simply fold and go out of business, taking you and your class down with them in a blaze of glory.  There’s also a chance they could require paid subscriptions in order to use their site.  And that’s not a remote possibility, either; I heard it happened with Ning and a lot of teachers who used that site were upset.  You can’t enroll students in Edmodo yourself; you have to give them a code and let them enroll themselves in your class.  Edmodo also seems to lack in structure.  I was not able to locate an option to set up my content in modules or anything similar.  Edmodo also has terms and conditions that contain the following statement, which appears to indicate that Edmodo can use your content for whatever it wants:

You understand that by posting information or content on the Website or otherwise providing content, materials or information to Edmodo or in connection with the Services (collectively, “User Submissions”), Edmodo hereby is and shall be granted a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty free, perpetual, irrevocable, and transferable right to utilize and exercise all rights with respect to such User Submissions…

Moodle (self-hosted)

Pros:  Moodle is an open-source LMS with a surprisingly wide adoption at all levels of education.  You can host Moodle on your own server, which avoids many of the terms-and-conditions issues Edmodo raises.  In my case, my hosting company offers a “one-click install” where they set up Moodle for you.  Moodle is very sophisticated and offers a ton of features.  It is highly structured, with the ability to create different forums and modules to break up your content as you see fit.  Students can be manually enrolled, and an e-mail address is not required.  Moodle has a very high level of customization available to the person designing and running the course.

Cons:  Running Moodle on your own server means that you alone are responsible for fixing it when something breaks.  There are companies that will host your Moodle class for you, but that requires payment.  Unless you get heavy into the customizing and templates (requires some web design knowledge), you may be disappointed with the default themes available.  My Moodle looks a little bland and industrial.  I doubt students would find it visually appealing.  No mobile support that I’m aware of, and I didn’t see any options when I set up my self-hosted account.  There is a learning curve involved, for teacher and students.  Unlike Edmodo, Moodle looks nothing like Facebook.

Instructure Canvas

Pros:  New to the game, Canvas tries to strike a balance between Edmodo and Moodle.  For the most part, it does a good job.  Visually, it has an “Apple” feel to it.  Canvas lets you pick and choose the features you want to use, which is nice.  Canvas offers some type of mobile access, though I couldn’t find out exactly what that meant.  This is the first LMS I’ve seen that offers wiki pages that students can create and edit together.  Canvas does not look too complicated for middle school students to use.

Cons:  At only a couple of years old, Canvas is relatively new to the came, and isn’t exactly proven yet.  Other users report there are bugs still to be worked out.  No ability to generate parent codes for access, though it appears you can set them up as “observers” in your class.  Requires a student’s e-mail address to add them to your class (same for observers).  E-mail is not ubiquitous in my student population, which could be a problem.  Still not as visually appealing as Edmodo.

Summary

It’s such a close call.  Because they all have different pros and cons, it’s difficult to get a clear picture of which one is truly “better.”  I think I have mostly eliminated Moodle from the competition.  As much as I like it, having it depend solely on me to function is not a great position for me to be in.  Edmodo vs. Canvas is a more difficult decision, which may take some time.

If you’ve got experiences in different LMSs, I’d love to know your opinions.