Is there anything that could undermine our efforts to make business statistics education more effective?*
*other than
“the usual suspects”

David F. Stephan
Two Bridges
Instructional
Technology
Purveyor of IT for
30+ years (but don’t blame me!) david@ twobridgesIT.com

In the beginning…
Course
Management
System (CMS)
Allows an instructor to:
 post information on web without technical knowledge
 create online course content
 manage interactions with students (facilitate course administration)
(From EDUCASE,2003)

Course
Management
System (CMS)
The virtual rollbooks, gradebooks, and announcement pages evolved into…
…learning repositories and distribution systems and forums that added two-way communication and data flows

Evolution into
Learning
Management
System (LMS)
With two-way communications, better content management and integrated assessment tools,
CMS evolved into Learning
Management Systems

Today’s
Discussion of
Learning
Management
System (LMS)
Today’s discussion excludes:
 Excludes older course management functions
(presumed useful) and social media aspects of LMS
 Does not consider video academies or MOOCs such as
Coursera sometimes labeled as
LMSs

Some LMS
Names and
Trademarks
(Last time today mentioning names)
Blackboard Learn
Brightspace
Canvas
Moodle
ALEKS
MyLab
LearnTrak

Alchemy of
Learning
Management
System (LMS)
CONTENT + ASSESSMENT yields
LEARNING

“Cocktail Party
Talk” About
Learning
Management
System (LMS) eLearning adaptive learning
AI cognitive processing
And, of course, the biggest
“A” word of them all…

“Cocktail Party
Talk”
Most
Important
Word

Survey of
Results from
Studies of
Learning
Management
System (LMS)
Helpful for learning and mastering repetitive technical tasks (established 30+ years ago)
Necessary for non-traditional classrooms
No evidence of an improvement over traditional instruction
Students more enthusiastic (early studies)
Students less satisfied with learning process
(later surveys)
However, methodology errors abound in studies and research; differing and sometimes ill-defined goals

Learning
Management
Systems
(LMS)

Learning
Management
Systems
(LMS)
 Technical
 Content-related
 Resource integration and exchange

Learning
Management
Systems
(LMS)
Technical
Issues
 LMSs are not
“mature” software
 Solutions may appear over time

Learning
Management
Systems
(LMS)
Technical
Issues
 Refresh browser issue (solved)
 Creating custom content
 Answer “tolerances”

Learning
Management
Systems
(LMS)
“Answer
Tolerance”
Issue
Three-part question with numerical answers. Each part has 2% tolerance:
A.
100; student answers 102 correct!
B.
100; student answers 102 correct!
C.
A*B; student answers
10404 (102*102) wrong!

Learning
Management
Systems
(LMS)
Technical
Issues
 student frustration
 unintended results &
“misguided” learning

Learning
Management
Systems
(LMS)
Contentrelated Issues

Learning
Management
Systems
(LMS)
Content
Production

Learning
Management
Systems
Electronic
Learning
Formatters
Factory
ELF Factory (artist’s conception)

Learning
Management
Systems
ELF Factory

Learning
Management
Systems
(LMS)
Contentrelated Issues

Use of “predictor”

ZIP Codes
Passage
Found!*
*but it’s from another textbook

First-level
LMS
Content Issues
Possible undermining due to:
 Mismatched vocabulary emphasis
 Crosstalk from other textbooks
 Poor usage or grammar
Seemingly fixable with an editor’s
“blue pencil” but how?

Second-level
LMS
Content Issue:
Wrong-headed
Assessments
Possible undermining due to:
 Test inverted propositions
 Test special cases
 Tests knowledge mapped from another domain (sneaky)
Being too clever an ELF is not easily fixable with a “blue pencil”

Scaffolding, a
Deeper
Content Issue
Fails the scaffolding test (tests process without establishing knowledge of definition first)
Dangerous in an “adaptive learning” or “online learning” environment

Just Plain
Wrong
Content Issue

Sole Question
Type for That
Section

Ignoring
Author’s
Content:
Deepest
Content Issue?
 Ignores possible reasons for you choosing a particular textbook
 Ignores the author’s intent

Ignores
Author’s
Intent:
An Even
Deeper
Content Issue
What You Want to Teach approximated by
Best-fit Textbook
OK, because you can guide learners towards your intent

Ignores
Author’s
Intent:
An Even
Deeper
Content Issue
Best-fit Textbook approximated by the ELFs that produce the LMS
Not OK!
Especially not OK if student uses
LMS unsupervised, e.g., online course without an instructor

Mismatch
Between a
Textbook and its LMS
Problems created:
 Confounds your students
 Creates administrative/editing duties (not labor-saving)
These problems directly and indirectly could undermine your efforts

Observations
About the
Book-LMS
Mismatches in
Today’s Small
Sample
The LMS question banks in today’s small sample emphasize calculation over conceptual knowledge or interpretation

Words from the Prefaces of the Three
Books

How to prevent LMSs from undermining your efforts to make business statistics education more effective?

Suggestions
Review the LMS as well as the textbook
Lobby LMS providers to make customization features easier to learn and use
Lobby LMS providers to change their process as well as their product

Towards a
Sunny Day when ELFs are set free to mingle among authors and educators

But You
Didn’t Say
Anything
About
Analytics!
Come back next year or ask a question later in this session!
Thank you!
David Stephan, david@twobridgesIT.com