Comments on: Death of the Learning Management System? (part 5) http://www.edugeekjournal.com/2008/08/18/death-of-the-learning-management-system-part-5/ Proud Sponsor of Your Future Thu, 09 Sep 2010 20:39:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: chris bradley http://www.edugeekjournal.com/2008/08/18/death-of-the-learning-management-system-part-5/comment-page-1/#comment-1473 chris bradley Sat, 22 Aug 2009 09:40:47 +0000 http://www.edugeekjournal.com/?p=192#comment-1473 At my school we have been using a VLE (moodle) for a little over three years. Initially I used it like a CMS storing information, templates and resources but teaching 'from the front' The epiphany occured when I moved to a new topic and explained what we were doing and what was needed. Prowling around the room I found four of my weakest students had quietly gone back to the last topic. Now I am expected to get a 'pass rate' of 60% so they were eminentley expendable but initially I supported a 'slower speed' group but over a year I accepted that everyone worked at their own speed and I needed to alter how I taught and how I created content. My pass rate is a 100%. The truth is we collectively have only just begun with VLE/LMS there is a huge difference of approach little idea of what works with whom and how it works. We have reached a stage of preliminaty 'maturity' with our tools and now we set out to make them work. There are unlikely to be any ground breaking new technologies comparable to word processing or html in the near future. we are in a stage of consolidation and spreading the changes more widely. I really do not know of anyone who has begun to exhaust the potential of the VLE/LMS. we do not need more gimmicks we need useful, measurable change. At my school we have been using a VLE (moodle) for a little over three years. Initially I used it like a CMS storing information, templates and resources but teaching ‘from the front’ The epiphany occured when I moved to a new topic and explained what we were doing and what was needed. Prowling around the room I found four of my weakest students had quietly gone back to the last topic. Now I am expected to get a ‘pass rate’ of 60% so they were eminentley expendable but initially I supported a ’slower speed’ group but over a year I accepted that everyone worked at their own speed and I needed to alter how I taught and how I created content. My pass rate is a 100%. The truth is we collectively have only just begun with VLE/LMS there is a huge difference of approach little idea of what works with whom and how it works. We have reached a stage of preliminaty ‘maturity’ with our tools and now we set out to make them work. There are unlikely to be any ground breaking new technologies comparable to word processing or html in the near future. we are in a stage of consolidation and spreading the changes more widely. I really do not know of anyone who has begun to exhaust the potential of the VLE/LMS. we do not need more gimmicks we need useful, measurable change.

]]> By: Chris Conway http://www.edugeekjournal.com/2008/08/18/death-of-the-learning-management-system-part-5/comment-page-1/#comment-303 Chris Conway Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:44:54 +0000 http://www.edugeekjournal.com/?p=192#comment-303 Great points everybody. Muy interesante. Great points everybody. Muy interesante.

]]> By: Harriet Watkins http://www.edugeekjournal.com/2008/08/18/death-of-the-learning-management-system-part-5/comment-page-1/#comment-301 Harriet Watkins Thu, 28 Aug 2008 07:14:59 +0000 http://www.edugeekjournal.com/?p=192#comment-301 This is an excellent post. I personally agree with you Matt. That's why one faculty member's foray into blogging exclusively and then going to an outside entity for testing is exciting. He left the world of Blackboard forever. WebCT ... same thing. Box within a box. So limiting and so...need I say it? B - O - R - I - N - G, unimaginative, banal. One thing I will say ... people are creatures of habit for the most part and are very resistent to change. Which is why LMS's like WebCT and Blackboard continue to thrive. It takes consistent out-of-the-box thinking to get folks to finally "see the light." This is an excellent post. I personally agree with you Matt. That’s why one faculty member’s foray into blogging exclusively and then going to an outside entity for testing is exciting. He left the world of Blackboard forever. WebCT … same thing. Box within a box. So limiting and so…need I say it? B – O – R – I – N – G, unimaginative, banal.

One thing I will say … people are creatures of habit for the most part and are very resistent to change. Which is why LMS’s like WebCT and Blackboard continue to thrive. It takes consistent out-of-the-box thinking to get folks to finally “see the light.”

]]> By: Matt Crosslin http://www.edugeekjournal.com/2008/08/18/death-of-the-learning-management-system-part-5/comment-page-1/#comment-300 Matt Crosslin Mon, 25 Aug 2008 06:40:19 +0000 http://www.edugeekjournal.com/?p=192#comment-300 Hey Chris - just be glad we didn't make you use BlackBoard - it is more like multiple boxes inside of multiple boxes, hope you can guess which boxes to look in, opppsss! wrong one, go back to the start! I think the main reason we should want learning management systems is for the reasons you listed and really just to make the instructor's job easier. With all of the push and embed technology out there - LMS programmers should be looking for ways to pull content in to the LMS to simplify the grading and interaction process. This can also help for students, as they can get a centrailized spot to stay connected with other student assignments. But they seem to be caught up in trying to add features to their tools to make them match the other tools that are out there - thus adding to the problem of keeping education behind the technology curve instead of in front of it.<br /> Hey Chris – just be glad we didn’t make you use BlackBoard – it is more like multiple boxes inside of multiple boxes, hope you can guess which boxes to look in, opppsss! wrong one, go back to the start! I think the main reason we should want learning management systems is for the reasons you listed and really just to make the instructor’s job easier. With all of the push and embed technology out there – LMS programmers should be looking for ways to pull content in to the LMS to simplify the grading and interaction process. This can also help for students, as they can get a centrailized spot to stay connected with other student assignments. But they seem to be caught up in trying to add features to their tools to make them match the other tools that are out there – thus adding to the problem of keeping education behind the technology curve instead of in front of it.

]]> By: Matt Crosslin http://www.edugeekjournal.com/2008/08/18/death-of-the-learning-management-system-part-5/comment-page-1/#comment-299 Matt Crosslin Mon, 25 Aug 2008 06:32:43 +0000 http://www.edugeekjournal.com/?p=192#comment-299 One of the interesting things that Martin Dougiamas (the head Moodle guy just in case anyone doesn't know) said when people were first demanding blogs was that he didn't see the need for blogs in Moodle when there are so many other great blog products out there. I think that is also why you don't see much push to improve the blogs they have in there - they seem to have been added in as more of a consumer demand thing than any other reason. One of the interesting things that Martin Dougiamas (the head Moodle guy just in case anyone doesn’t know) said when people were first demanding blogs was that he didn’t see the need for blogs in Moodle when there are so many other great blog products out there. I think that is also why you don’t see much push to improve the blogs they have in there – they seem to have been added in as more of a consumer demand thing than any other reason.

]]> By: Chris Conway http://www.edugeekjournal.com/2008/08/18/death-of-the-learning-management-system-part-5/comment-page-1/#comment-298 Chris Conway Sun, 24 Aug 2008 08:33:50 +0000 http://www.edugeekjournal.com/?p=192#comment-298 Matt, I totally agree. The ultimate example of the closed box system is WebCT, at least in my limited experience. There's something claustrophobic about being stuck in those boxes inside of boxes inside of boxes. Question is, do we really need any kind of LMS in light of everything else out there? The only reason to say yes, I think, is privacy concern, and creating protected channels for student-instructor interaction. Matt, I totally agree. The ultimate example of the closed box system is WebCT, at least in my limited experience. There’s something claustrophobic about being stuck in those boxes inside of boxes inside of boxes. Question is, do we really need any kind of LMS in light of everything else out there? The only reason to say yes, I think, is privacy concern, and creating protected channels for student-instructor interaction.

]]> By: Louise Maine http://www.edugeekjournal.com/2008/08/18/death-of-the-learning-management-system-part-5/comment-page-1/#comment-297 Louise Maine Wed, 20 Aug 2008 10:57:23 +0000 http://www.edugeekjournal.com/?p=192#comment-297 Great post! As we are rolling out Moodle this year, this has been bothering me. After unwalled wikis and blogs of last year, i did not want to retreat. But I know I will have to use it someway. Unfortunately it is not ready for me to play with rss feeds to bring in assignments from students. You have given me much to think about and work towards. Thanks! Great post! As we are rolling out Moodle this year, this has been bothering me. After unwalled wikis and blogs of last year, i did not want to retreat. But I know I will have to use it someway. Unfortunately it is not ready for me to play with rss feeds to bring in assignments from students. You have given me much to think about and work towards. Thanks!

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