Internship Week 11: Working with Haiku Learning Management System

I have been struggling to use the Haiku LMS. The biggest problem I have run into is the lack of good formatting tools. I have worked for hours trying to get my pages formatted correctly. The most difficult task was placing my rubric into the page. I am learning as I go and it is very time-consuming. I have a whole new appreciation for Bellevue College’s Blackboard Vista. While I am struggling with Haiku, I am loading my course pages into Bb Vista. It is so easy to do this in that system! I have posted a video for your viewing on the Haiku system and how to use it.

Haiku does have its good features too. Loading video and etc.is much easier than any free system I have experimented with. I especially like the simplicity. I think because it was built to be used in a grade or high school environment, it is user-friendly. I am including a video that shows how easy it is for a student to build an ePortfolio in Haiku.

Using it as an instructor is that easy as well. I am including a video that shows you how to use the text box. I have added more sophisticated text into my pages, since they are module pages and activities in my module. The limited formatting was a stumbling block. I did master it however. It just takes more time.

The Haiku system is so easy for students to learn and use. It is an open source system that has amazing potential for future improvement and development. I think if there were more formatting features available, my problems would be solved. While it seems to be used in grade and high schools, it would be very applicable for college students working with modules rather than subjects, for example. Building my modules took more time because of the formatting, as I stated earlier; but adding content that was audio or visual was extremely easy.

I have used the Haiku LMS system to showcase my hybrid course. I am show casing Haiku as well, since I think it is the best open source system I have found to-date.   As I have stated, it is fairly easy to use for students of all ages. Instructors will find it lends itself quite well to every kind of course need they might have. I think the only feature the creators need to improve it is what I have stated earlier…it needs more formatting features.

I have not used many of the features available in Haiku. I hope to find out more as I continue to load my module contents to the pages. Another frustration, I have encountered, is located in the Windows 7 security system. If you load a file, a security bar appears that cannot be disabled asking you if you want to upload the file. No one knows how to disable the pop up security bar, I would be very appreciative of a post to my comment area on how to do it!

Since I have loaded several videos into this post for viewing, I will keep this entry short. I hope you truly consider using the Haiku LMS system for your open source classes. I think you will enjoy the adventure, in spite of the challenges that are in the system; but could easily be fixed without a whole lot of effort. Once again, I love the challenges and frustrations! It keeps me interested and helps me push the system to find its limitations.Finally, since the course I am proposing to teach is an entry introductory level college course, Haiku’s ease of use would encourage students and instructors to give hybrid and on-line courses a try.