Speaker 1: The goal of this presentation is to recommend the LMS platform that is the most useful within the higher education learning environment. Three learning management systems platforms, Blackboard, Canvas, and Moodle, will be compared within a higher education milieu. For each of the three LMS platforms, three challenges will be determined and explained. Each of the three LMS platforms has similar features. However, the seven most important features will be outlined and explained for each platform. A benchmarking concept will be elucidated in order to understand the importance of comparison among three LMS platforms. Benchmarking tool with three levels slash features will be presented in order to propose the most useful LMS platform in a higher education environment based on three challenges and levels of benchmarking tools pertinent to each LMS platform in a higher education environment. The recommendation for the most useful LMS will be given. There are cultural, societal, economic, and technological changes that impact organizations, and higher education as an institution is not an exception to external pressures. However, higher education is a bastion of change as well. It contributes to individual and societal progress and economic advancement. Furthermore, due to the demands of the information era and knowledge society, a landscape of higher education changed as it rapidly moves from traditional, brick, and mortar paradigm to online teaching and learning paradigm. It is a long-term strategic move as demand for this transformation in higher education increase, and they are A, adult and non-traditional learners and their needs, B, an intensified enrollment in an overabundance of online programs and degrees, C, a training for online faculty, D, an utilization of new technologies, and E, a need for continuous IT and administration support. However, in order to survive and reinvent itself, higher education, especially the online sector needs instructional innovation. Instructional innovation is a micro-level organizational change but a still significant one as it encompasses integration and utilization of information and computer technologies, including LMS, collaborative learning, and student-centered learning. An organizational culture that supports instructional innovation is a culture of innovation. Blackboard LMS platform dominates the virtual learning software market. Blackboard has two product lines, such as an academic suite and a commerce suite. Blackboard was invented in 1997 by a consulting company. Blackboard is used by more than 70% U.S. colleges and universities. Also, this learning management system is used by 12 million in over 60 countries worldwide. Blackboard is used across different virtual environments, and end-users can be trainees, K-12 students, and higher education learners. In the context of higher education, Blackboard is used for online and hybrid learning environments. The end-users, students, have various benefits by using this platform, such as increased access and availability, quick feedback, improved collaboration, tracking of learner success, and enhanced organizational and time management skills. In comparison to Moodle and Canvas LMS platforms, Blackboard and its delivery systems lead the virtual learning market. Poor acceptance of this LMS platform because of fear that this technology could undermine existing pedagogical methods. Faculty use only administrative and static features of Blackboard, such as grades, tests, and SafeAssign. Lack of training for less tech-savvy faculty, so they use this LMS purely for a content presentation rather than to enhance their pedagogical methods through this technology. Blackboard is in partnership with various publishers, and major ones are Tsangage Learning, Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and Wiley. This connection provides access to abundant course materials via partner content.Blackboard Collaborate provides reliable, collaborative learning with two-way VoIP, interactive Whiteboard, and rich media. Blackboard Platform provides web conferencing that enables synchronous learning. Blackboard Platform provides asynchronous learning via discussion boards and blogs. In 2017, Canvas LMS was one of the trendiest LMS in secondary education. Canvas is one of the more recent LMS.Canvas is created by Instructure, the company which realized that customers expect speedier software development. Consequently, Canvas is able to do bug fixes, fine-tune its user interface, and make new features monthly. Unlike Blackboard, Canvas updates do not necessitate downtime. Consequently, it is a more responsive and agile product. One of the features of Canvas, pages are not always understood or adaptable by users. It is challenging to import a Blackboard course into Canvas because pages do not fit into Blackboard structure. Therefore, the content that gets turned into a page might be murky. This could be problematic because pages contain a lot of different content such as videos, external links, multimedia, files, and images. Course navigation menu contains a variety of links that cannot be renamed. The structure of features on the menu is fixed and cannot be adapted to individual instructor's needs. Canvas Commons sometime is next to impossible to find a content for a specific course. An instructor would not like to copy work of another instructor. Canvas has three key features such as a dashboard, a global navigation menu, and a sidebar. The most distinctive feature is an interactive dashboard or a homepage that has a website appeal where course cards could be easily located. Depending on a number of courses, a dashboard can contain one or multiple course cards. Each of these course cards has can be customized to contain an image and course number. Each course has tabs for different course segments like assignments, announcements, discussions, and files. Unlike Blackboard, Canvas use modules and pages instead of units. Modules are used to upload content and organize it by weeks. Pages are the feature that is often used in modules. Pages can be created under Pages tab, however, they can be made in a module as well. Settings feature of a course menu is used to personalize and customize a course. Settings link is not visible to students, but it is a great help to instructors in personalizing their course. Moodle was designed in 2002, and it stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. Moodle is LMS and is used across various learning environments around the world. Moodle gave a support to 150 million users around the world and interpreted into more than 120 languages. This LMS is used over 60% of colleges and universities used all over the world. Moodle is an open source LMS and comes with a free license. There are 500 plugins for Moodle. This LMS is known for its flexibility and the high customizability, and it enhances

Speaker 2: its capabilities to maximum. The core product might not be enough for diverse learners' needs.

Speaker 1: It needs to be customized to have the most desirable features, which might be costly for an organization. The process of learning needs and outcomes requires training of instructors, hence with continuous customization of the core product, training might not always be affordable. Moodle LMS platforms had a very modern appearance, especially its customizable dashboard. Videoconferencing is one of the commendable factors for synchronous learning. Moodle truly excels with their multilingual capability. For asynchronous learning but still interactive aftermath, multiple collaborative features are used, such as forums, wikis, databases, and glossaries. Marking workflows are undoubtedly useful for managing grades and assignments. The benchmarking process is meant to compare the quality of products and processes by using external validation or standard. However, by using the benchmarking tools, organizations also learn how to adapt to external demands and reinvent themselves for this project. Three well-known and well-used LMS platforms are compared by using three levels or standards, access to numerous materials via Creative Commons. Synchronous learning availability via web conferencing. Time-efficient and intuitive course-building possibilities for instructors. Upon a review of three challenges pertinent for three different LMS platforms, as well as comparing three most desirable features for each LMS, the Canvas LMS platform was chosen. Canvas has all of three selected benchmarking tools and challenges of its implementation and use are minimal in comparison to Blackboard and Moodle LMS platforms.

Speaker 2: Thank you for listening.