It has been a month ago that I wrote about Blackberry. Since then, another of NTP's patents has been rejected. While this is good news for Blackberry users, I don't think it really solves Blackberry's biggest problem, which is innovating itself out of it's proprietary environment. Java support is good, a better web browser will help, but I can't help but feel that it will always lag behind.
I have been thinking recently about Learning Management Systems. I certainly have quite mixed feelings about them. To be completely up front, my experience with LMS's is restricted to our campus's WebCT system, where I have used it as a student, peripherally supported it with questions using digital media with it, and 3 days worth of training on using it as an instructor.
It appears to me that an LMS is best suited for highly structured curriculum, which would be of more use in a k-12 environment. There is so much emphasis on consistency (Industrial Revolution thinking again) in the learning environment that an LMS is a compelling solution.
The closed nature of an LMS is attractive, as a way to lock down content to only those authorized to see it. However, this also bothers me, particularly when considering it's use in higher education.
I attended a presentation a while back, where one of the presenters was using a LMS system for course content. They had asserted that their content was open for anyone to use, but of course, it is not. It appeared that the faculty member did not themselves understand that their content was now restricted, unable to be viewed by a casual observer -- at least until this presentation, where another faculty member pointed this out to them.
So, what future with Universities follow? Will it be the path of the Blackberry, a proprietary one that offers great integration, at the price of flexibility? Or will it be an open one, based on an academic tradition of open exchange of knowledge combined with credit and respect, where we have to compete in the marketplace of ideas?
--hal
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You can download and play with Sakai from http://sakai.org. Or, based on a recent post from UNC-GA's TLTC (?) group, use the hosting provider they have arranged (don't have the email handy with details). I am very impressed with their practical business model -- lining up for-profit hosting/integration partners (and funding) and higher-ed partnerships. They appear to be executing their business strategy very well. Then again, while it's open-source, it doesn't really address your concerns about overly structured content/channels in it's standard deployment. But it does, like all LMS's, lower barriers for putting content online -- don't you think? Isn't that always the tradeoff: making technology accessible to a broader audience vs. giving up some flexibility?
My brief experience with Sakai has been positive. At the Apple Developer's Conference last spring one of the presentations featured it. I think I even downloaded and installed it on my Mac box at work, but simply haven't had time to look at it. You are correct in that an LMS (or CMS, or other way of structuring content) can lower the demands of creating content. I think it is important, though, to understand that while the tradeoffs may be acceptable in a K-12 environment, they may not be acceptable in Higher Ed. What we are presented with is a time that is different from earlier times, where while a book can be read by anyone, content inside an LMS can't be. This is a part of a gradual move away from open environments where content is free, and towards those where content rights are asserted. For individual courses, this may not mean much (if you don't take the course, you don't get the course notes), but what this means for the future of education concerns me greatly.
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