Tuesday, January 24, 2006

moving beyond the lms

Last semester we were fortunate enough to have representatives from Blackboard come to our campus and ask for faculty input on Blackboard updates. I asked about the idea of including a video conferencing tool, as my teaching has been so hugely impacted by the availability of Breeze in our department. I was told the Blackboard was designed "linear," and didn't really have the capability to be everything to everybody, and certainly not to integrate such a highly developed tool as Breeze.

How disappointing! I'm finding that my online teaching more and more everyday moves outside the LMS...Breeze, Blogger.com, instant messaging, websites, commercial online assessment tools. I'd love to hear more about how learning management companies are moving into next generation systems to support online learning...if you find some good references, please post them here!

1 comment:

Dallas Becker said...

I was recently given the go ahead from the school board to build an online learning program that will support credit recovery, advanced placement, and dual credit courses as well as professional development and certificate courses. Would you start with a LMS? My budget net of personnel is about $35,000/yr. I will be supporting 7 school districts and can charge a fee for courses if necessary.