Learning Management Systems

An instructional technologist’s job is to facilitate and improve the learning process through technology. I think it’s essential to emphasize the “instructional” part of the title – learning is king, technology is its servant.  Sometimes we get that backwards by thinking we need to hype the latest gadget, trend, or software to our institutions, lest we seem “out of date”…but if a technology doesn’t address an identified need, then it’s just a solution in search of a problem. 

The “elephant-in-the-room” issue in technology and higher education is, in my opinion, the inevitable demise of the large, expensive, “walled garden” Learning Management System (I won’t name names – it’s a very short list).  Both the pricing structure and the architecture of that LMS must radically change, or be assigned to the ash heap of history.