Perhaps it is because I just spent three days in a vortex of design in Moodle after having lived in the WebCT/Blackboard Vista 4 world for a while that I feel some affinity for this article's premise. Perhaps. Still, the issue of a forced pedagogy in the 'CMS/LMS' is a reality and I wonder... just how do faculty go beyond surviving and reach "thriving" in eLearning who have no web design or learning design "skill"? Well, something to consider.
Full citation: Lane, L.M. (April-June 2008). Toolbox or trap? Course management systems and pedagogy. EDUCAUSE Quarterly, vol. 31(2). Available from http://connect.EDUCAUSE.edu/Library/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/ToolboxorTrapCourseManage/46576?time=1212494680
Many higher education institutions are contemplating migrating e-mail and other IT services to outside vendors. EDUCAUSE collected and compiled the following member generated frequently asked questions concerning outsourcing e-mail services. See other FAQs; Microsoft Live@edu FAQ, Zimbra email FAQ
The emergence of the networked information economy is unleashing two powerful forces. On one hand, easy access to high-speed networks is empowering individuals. People can now discover and consume information resources and services globally from their homes. Further, new social computing approaches are inviting people to share in the creation and edification of information on the Internet. Empowerment of the individual-or consumerization-is reducing the individual's reliance on traditional brick-and-mortar institutions in favor of new and emerging virtual ones. Second, ubiquitous access to high-speed networks along with network standards, open standards and content, and techniques for virtualizing hardware, software, and services is making it possible to leverage scale economies in unprecedented ways. What appears to be emerging is industrial-scale computing-a standardized infrastructure for delivering computing power, network bandwidth, data storage and protection, and services. Consumerization and industrialization beg the question "Is this the end of the middle?"; that is, what will be the role of "enterprise" IT in the future? Indeed, the bigger question is what will become of all of our intermediating institutions? This volume examines the impact of IT on higher education and on the IT organization in higher education.
7 Things You Should Know About...pieces provide quick, no-jargon overviews of emerging technologies and related practices that have demonstrated or may demonstrate positive learning impacts. Any time you need to explain a new learning technology or practice quickly and clearly, look for a 7 Things You Should Know About... brief from ELI.