Angel on My Shoulder

By Helen Roland

 

 

“To boldly go where no man (or woman) has gone before . . . “

 

As you probably know, MDC is changing its LMS (Learning Management System).  Our present LMS is known fondly (or not so fondly) as WebCT.   We are in the process of training and learning about our new system, ANGEL.

 

A few of us have been working on converting FIPSE eWriting materials to ANGEL.  Our first step in the process was a two-week online training course.  My favorite moment in the course was when our fearless leader began our first message with, “Good morning, Angels.” 

 

Some personal observations: 

 

• The new LMS is infinitely more sophisticated than our older version of WebCT.

The college is committed to this new system.  It will be our official LMS; therefore, I’m going to do my best to adjust to it.

 

• Even if you didn’t have a chance to try WebCT, you’ll want to try ANGEL.  For those of you who haven’t worked with WebCT, training in ANGEL will be easy and fun.   You’ll enjoy the many “automatic” features that will make your “initiation” simple.

 

• You’ll love the records that can automatically be generated for courses, for classes within courses, or for individual students. Not only can you create reports for your own information, you can actually email the reports to students.  There is a new “Who Dun It”  feature that let’s you keep track of students who are completing their work and those who need a reminder.  The gradebook feature is powerful and should make our lives easier. 

 

• Our older version of WebCT requires some knowledge of HTML although ANGEL provides an HTML editor with most applications.  That will give us faster access to options such as underlining, using colored text, adding pictures, and all of the nice things we can format in Word. 

 

• ANGEL doesn’t have the same “look” that we had in WebCT.  That’s a little frustrating for some of us.  I think that we will either get accustomed to a new “look, “ or we’ll find out how to give our courses a “makeover.”

 

• For those of us who have invested a lot of time and energy into creating web enhanced/hybrid courses, there is an element of frustration and insecurity.  Our questions include, “Will all of my material transfer easily and completely?”  “How can I make my new ANGEL course look the same as my “comfortable” WebCT course?”  “Does anyone out there know what I mean?”  

 

• We are still looking for the wonderful online help features that we have  in WebCT.  This is a new system that we are all learning together, so at the moment we really don’t have experts in ANGEL.  I do know that our wonderful CTD trainers are out there researching and learning at “warp speed,” so that they can help us.

 

The process of making the change has its ups and downs.  We need to recognize and yes, even embrace this.    As I discover a new feature, I’m euphoric.  “Wow!  This is great!”  Then, I become frustrated when trying to do something that we can do in WebCT but that I can’t yet do in ANGEL.  “Who picked this thing out?????”

 

One thing for sure, we need to start an ANGEL Users group here at the college.   We need to share our discoveries, frustrations, and questions.  That’s the way we can make this change work in our favor.  

 

You’re an ANGEL!  Enjoy it!