Activities Feature Provides Safe LMS Online Education for Coggno Users

San Jose, CA - Online education tools for children and teenagers such as Web 2.0 programs and LMS online courses are often avoided in schools because of supervision issues. In addition, the growing popularity of online education in the classroom to supplement face-to-face instruction has lead many people to worry that students may not be receiving a quality or personalized education.

However, LMS online services like Coggno have responded to these concerns with its new Activities feature, which allows LMS administrators to track student activity.

Although many schools do not permit the use of Web 2.0 technologies like social networking sites, podcasts and wikis in classroom learning systems, more schools and their educators are embracing them. In fact, the use of collaborative technologies and learning management systems (LMSs) is now included in many IT courses for educators.

However, the integration of web-based programs into the classroom has raised concerns over supervision and a lack of strong student-teacher relationships.

Among the most-cited concerns are the dangers, as well as simple distractions, present on the internet. Despite classroom rules about drifting off-course, children are naturally curious. At the end of a YouTube video, for example, an invitation appears to go to the next slide or video. Children’s curiosity makes many Web 2.0 technologies inappropriate and even dangerous.

In some cases, mishandling and/or lack of supervision of online programs has become of source of litigation against educators and schools.

Because of the hazards involved with including Web 2.0 technologies in many LMS and classroom learning systems, educators who use them must take extra precautions, supervising the use of these technologies to ensure that students stay on track.

Educators can find creative ways for students to remain within the confines of an online activity, such as navigating a site while students observe.

However, using LMS online tools like Activities, educators can concentrate on the learning content and effective teaching, rather than policing internet use.

A decade ago, there were just 182 million people using the internet globally. By the end of this month, there will be over 1.5 billion internet users worldwide. With more children using the internet as a learning system and social medium, and with increasingly easy access to social networks and entertainment like virtual worlds, there’s reason to look closely at the systems children are engaging in. Both positive and negative influences multiply along with children’s increasing familiarity with web-based tools like Web 2.0 programs.

Using the Activities feature, educators can also track students’ progress and activities to see where they are exceeding, and where extra help may be required.

In an effort to evaluate the computer literacy of young people, in 2006 the U.S. Educational Testing Service gave the Information, Communication and Technology test to thousands of students. The results revealed that most high school students lack critical thinking skills when researching online, determining the quality of website information, entering multiple search terms, and other necessary 21st century skills.

Tools like Coggno’s Activities feature can serve as an educational platform not only for mastering the learning material, but for navigating online programs and tools.

"For the first time, Coggno’s LMS administrators can track--live--the actions of their learners through a tab in the Coggno interface" says Coggno VP Tod Browndorf. Coggno’s Activities feature is one solution for the problems of supervision in online education programs at school.

About Coggno: Based in San Jose, CA, Coggno is an LMS/LCMS toolkit and marketplace which facilitates the transfer of intellectual property between course creators and those who wish to acquire it. Coggno designs and delivers online solutions for e-learning, training, assessments, and courseware for organizations, corporations, associations, academic institutions, and subject matter experts. For more information, visit www.coggno.com.

Contact Information

Robin Green

Director of Marketing

Coggno Inc.

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