Fantastic read thank-you Wayne. I'm not going to pick up the cudgels (too much ;-) on any of it really but will offer some personal observations as we've known of our respective efforts well these past few years. I'll restrict my comments to wikis and LMSs as application technologies.
I remember many a conversation on the limitations of LMS and it's something that Ken and I used to discuss a lot in the earlier days of NZOSVLE. I've always simplified the construct of an LMS to being analogous to a classroom environment. We wanted to include spaces for informal learning analogous to social learning on a campus. Early efforts were with trying to create this space (we called it a learning portal) with a system called TikiWiki that would have single-sign-on. This was in early 2005 but it seems ages ago. In short, we failed - too few resources and really we were grappling with trying to mash together disparate systems that were like apples and oranges. Changing direction, we developed MyMoodle and the ability for a learner to set up a community space within the LMS. But this is still under the umbrella notion of an institutional LMS though which I agree tends to reflect the focus on administration and was an unsatisfactory answer. Hence Mahara which is a first stage attempt at a PLE. This thinking is also a driver behind Moodle Networks and the Web Services API we've recently developed.
I don't want to come across as defensive of the LMS but it is simply an aggregation of tools (and the best LMSs have loose coupling of the tool-sets i.e. pluggable), many of which are Web 2.0 tools and can be used in a wide variety of contexts. Agreed though that in most instances the LMS and its typical usage is a reflection of the institution, a desire for organisation and control. But I still think these technologies have a lot of life left in them. For example, Moodle 1.7 has customised roles which allows all sorts of possibilities of supporting a spectrum of permissions for people within and external to institutions. I'm about to use this to support an idea I've had for a while which is to support small grassroots non-profit community groups with access to these online community spaces. Change the language pack, alter a few tools and bingo . . .In 1.8 Moodle Networks enable almost any configuration of organisational construct you can imagine and we are using SSO with web services. I would argue that we have the first stages of an eFramework implementation! And Mahara Moodle interface underway right now.
My apologies - rambling on again about my projects and I've already had my say. What I am trying to convey though is that there are many routes to similar goals. I don't think wikis are the (total) silver bullet - the technology has some way to go, there's still barriers to entry with varieties of syntax, poor editors and they don't support many activities (yet!). But an open wiki is an admirable and important part of the mix, no doubt. I am a big fan of the direction of WikiEducator. I'm just wanting to get across that I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath-water when it comes to LMSs - they can and are evolving and I find them a hotbed of innovation. Totally agree on SCORM though, massive waste of time and energy and for what? “alien content” - spot on. Why have a LMS if it's just a SCORM player?
Go WikiEducator and radical thinking for the betterment of the world's learners.
Cheers Richard
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