Evaluating a Learning Management System to Support Classroom Teaching

New pedagogical approaches are required to prepare future professionals. The educational model must be in consonance with the information and communication technologies. They help to improve knowledge dissemination and reduce space and time limitations between teachers and students. They should also motivate students and stimulate communication and collaboration among students, improving the learning process. Currently, the Institute of Exact and Applied Sciences of the Federal University of Ouro Preto (IEAS/UFOP) has no institutionalized tools of information and communication for teaching support. This allows the identification of some problems and difficulties on the educational process, such as absence of a centralized way to provide and access didactic resources, unavailability of a good communication tool between teachers and students, and lack of easy access to academic performance information for self evaluation. This chapter presents the authors’ experience in choosing and evaluating a Learning Management System (LMS) to support classroom teaching at the IEAS. The authors investigate how the use of a LMS may improve teaching in the following aspects: (1) availability of didactic resources; (2) class planning and following up; (3) teacher-student communication; (4) monitoring of the academic performance of students during the course; (5) collaboration among students.