A range of relatively recent educational technologies have the potential to remove barriers in the spatio-temporal dimension of traditional, didactic teaching and result in a more reflexive pedagogy. This means that education is not confined by the four walls of the classroom and cells of the timetable. This is ubiquitous learning, —learning any place, any time, any how (Burbules, 2009; Cope & Kalantzis, 2009b as cited in Cope, and Kalantzis (2017) p. 16.) One such technology is the use of Learning Management Systems. According to Wikipedia, a Learning Management System (LMS), “is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting, automation and delivery of educational courses, training programs, or learning and development programs”. (Wikipedia. 2021). This course is delivered on two LMS systems: Coursera and Scholar. Here I will briefly discuss: how Learning Management Systems (LMS) facilitate learning anywhere and anytime by describing Google Suites or GSuites (formerly GAFE) to consider how it achieves ubiquitous learning.

While historically Learning Management Systems were only replacing, “the historical genre of the syllabus, laying out content to be covered and activities to be undertaken is a sequence, often ordered by time targets and deadlines” (Cope,and Kalantzis, 2017, p. 3) they have developed to facilitate flexible timetables and learning locations as well as collaborative solutions to meet many education goals. Google Suites, one LMS, includes Google Classroom where multimodal materials can be posted to create a syllabus accessible from anywhere at any time as long as learners have a device with the App. This does raise an issue of equity of learning opportunity in that LMS’s require technology and bandwidth/wifi in order to be used. Instructors have access to learners' work through the Classroom App files that are automatically saved in the cloud in Google Drive. This allows instructors to access learning data at any time from anywhere to provide criterion-based feedback towards learning goals. Google Docs, “facilitates ease of collaboration with multiple editors to simultaneously make changes to the same document in real time” (Awuah, 2015, p. 5). Users can use the Chat and Comment tools to engage in dialogue with others who have access to the same document. This does not have to be in real-time (but can be) as there is a record kept of all suggestions made. Google Calendar can be used to schedule meetings and assignment due dates to assist in organization. Google Slides can be created and shared and modified simultaneously with all members of a group who have been granted access. Google Forms can be shared to collect responses to survey questions and assessment items with multimodal features embedded. Learners can access these during any window of time once posted by the instructor and before the due date of the assignment. Instructors can review the data from the assignments at any time using Google Sheets. In order to facilitate face-to-face instruction, Google Meets can be used and accessed through the link posted in Google Classroom or on Google Calendar. Reminders can be sent to Google Mail. Google Suites is a Learning Management System where users can interact at the time and in the environment that they feel best suits their learning and performance preferences.

Bibliography

Abazi Bexheti, Lejla & Kadriu, Arbana & Apostolova-Trpkovska, Marika & Jajaga, Edmond & Abazi, Hyrije. (2018). LMS Solution: Evidence of Google Classroom Usage in Higher Education. Business Systems Research Journal. 9. 31-43. 10.2478/bsrj-2018-0003.

Awuah, L. J., (2015). Supporting 21st-Century Teaching and Learning: The Role of Google Apps for Education (GAFE). Journal of Instructional Research. 4. 1-11. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1127612.pdf

Cope, B., and Kalantzis, M. (2017). Conceptualizing e-learning. In B. Cope and M. Kalantzis (Eds), e-Learning Ecologies. New York: Routledge.

Wikipedia. 2021, “Learning Management System”. 23 May 2021. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system