LMS vs social software ?
November 28, 2006
It doesn’t seem long ago I was using a twin floppy PC with Wordcraft. Soon after Office / IT teachers taught Wordperfect & dBase as standalone products. Later we were using Windows 3.x, buying CDROMs & testing the net with Netscape. Then the .com boom where businesses built big website catalogues & waited for buyers. Then the crash & Y2K brought some perspective.
The LMS is, in a sense, a product of this era. Big scale, do everything educational functionality in a secure contained environment. And requiring significant investment financially & in staff training & time.
But these new & emerging social technologies offer some similar functions, esp if bolted together. They are small & quick – online equivalents of a lightweight ascent of Everest or guerilla warfare. Being freely accessible, they are especially likely to be used by
a) students (& thus they are more likely to be familiar with them), &
b) private providers.
They are also receiving prominence in the literature & are a significant focus at confabs (esp online).
So what is the bureaucratic response? Positive? NO. Unfortunately, the same system that is encouraging eLearning resorts to IT lockdowns & bans. No IM, games, streaming radio, YouTube & video, MySpace, downloads etc (though some may be permitted within an LMS).
Old style websites have their place. LMSs have their place, & in many places we are still struggling to get uptake by educators.
But there is a danger in these lockdowns & trying to funnel everything through an LMS unless we are also researching, using, & encouraging the new & emerging outside-our-control lightweight stuff as well. These are big asks, & will require much collaboration – but we cannot afford the consequences otherwise.
