Entries categorized as ‘learning managment systems’
Over the past couple of years I’ve been waiting, wondering if Google would step forward and provide an interesting alternative to the lineup of LMSs and CMSs. It seems all the elements were there in the Google suite of tools, we just needed a nice wrapper to put it all together…
Google Apps has been ‘growing up’ over the past year or so and I have been watching and hoping. In recent months the Google Apps team has made significant steps toward the higher education and k-12 arena. The announcement by Google at Educause in October 2006 along with a very successful implementation at Arizona State University, and most importantly, the recent inclusion of Google Sites into the lineup provide a promising glimpse at what Google may be able to offer in the way of a Learning management system. I and my colleagues here at Indiana University are currently conducting a comparative evaluation and exploring the use of Google Apps for educational use.
I can’t help but wonder if, or in what ways, Google Apps will compete with Indiana University implementation of Sakai, their community source learning management system?
Categories: learning managment systems
Tagged: google, Sakai
The IC will be hosting several Oncourse Open Houses to assist faculty, staff and AIs with getting ready for the Spring 2008 semester. The Oncourse Open Houses are scheduled for the following dates:
* Jan. 4th, from 10:00am — Noon (Fri.)
* Jan. 7th, from 1:00pm — 3:00pm (Mon.)
* Jan. 8th, from 10:00am — Noon (Tues.)
* Jan. 10th, from 1:00pm — 3:00pm (Thurs.)
The Oncourse Open Houses will be hosted in the Office of Instructional Consulting in room 2002 (second floor off of the atrium). Please stop by ED2002 with any Oncourse questions, and our staff will be ready to answer your basic or most challenging Oncourse related questions.
We look forward to seeing you!
Happy New Year,
IC Staff
Categories: learning managment systems · oncourse · training · workshops
Most of the current crop of learning management systems (LMS) seem to focus more on providing 1-way interaction for instructors to post readings, syllabus, and other materials, send course announcements, and assess students via testing and grading tools. Of course, these are all necessary and important features of a course, but this focus on 1-way interaction and course management often comes at the expense of active learning and collaboration. Yes, it’s true that current LMSs are incorporating some interactive tools, such as, discussion forums, wikis, chat tools, etc., and this is a good thing, but often these tools are limited in scope and features, and are not often fully utilized.
I have been searching the web for a learning management system (LMS) that focuses more on the creation and support of a learning community rather than on the course management tasks of the instructor. At first, I wasn’t finding anything, however I’ve recently come across elgg.org and elggspaces.com which seem to be on the right track. From it’s inception, it appears to have been developed as a social networking site. But why shouldn’t this be the beginning point of a LMS, rather than course management tasks? Let’s create online learning systems, from the ground up, that focuses on ways for a learning community (students & instructors) to communicate, collaborate, and learn.
I have only just discovered elgg in the past few weeks, and haven’t had time to fully investigate, but I’m hopeful that they may support the kind of teaching and learning that I have been thinking about. I will you posted…
Categories: k-12 · learning managment systems · learning theory · web 2.0
Tagged: higher education
The Sakai Foundation, which is the organizing body for the Sakai Learning Management System Project and community, is seeking advice from the Software Freedom Law Center on how to deal with recent (and in my opinion, very broad), patents that were awarded to Blackboard. You can find out more about the Blackboard patents from my earlier blog post. This one hits closer to home, since IU is one of the primary partner organizations in Sakai, and my campus is currently using an implementation of Sakai for our Oncourse CL learning management system.
Read the press release
Categories: learning managment systems
Tagged: educational technology, Sakai
Wow!? What implications will this very broad patent have on learning management systems, and education? Only time will tell… Read the Blackboard press release. Read the actual patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Finally Stephen Downes is doing a spectacular job (imho) of covering the Blackboard patent issue, so I’m just going to link to his blog for full coverage.
Categories: k-12 · learning managment systems
Tagged: educational technology, higher education
Here is a new article from the Chronicle of Higher Education discussing the popularity of iPods on college campuses, the Apple iTunes U initiative, and the Apple Digital Campus Community. It does raise some interesting issues regarding proprietary vs. open source technology.
The full article can be accessed at the following url: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v52/i27/27a02801.htm
Categories: learning managment systems · open source
Tagged: Desire2Learn, Moodle, Sakai, WebCT/Blackboard
Over the past couple of years I’ve been waiting, wondering if Google would step forward and provide an interesting alternative to the lineup of LMSs and CMSs. It seems all the elements were there in the Google suite of tools, we just needed a nice wrapper to put it all together…
