In the Chronicle this afternoon there was a choice quote:
Weller says new Web tools (such as wikis and video-capture technology) put power in the hands of students, but traditional learning-management systems (such as Moodle and Blackboard) emphasize central control by the learning institutions, so he predicts that “monolithic LMSs will be deserted, digital tumbleweed blowing down their forums. Students will abandon this in favor of their tools.”
This idea is still fringe. Many bets are still on the side of privacy, control, and professors’ fears about intellectual property.
The first comment for me sums up so much of the education challenge**:
Students will abandon monolithic LMSs? Yes, in spirit they will, but as long as institutions are granting the credits and degrees, students [as always] will have to go with the flow.
— Kate Jun 18, 05:18 PM
In short: They don’t have to like it. We can control them. Just like China.
Just for the record, I still stand behind a nearly one-year-old prediction** that Mr. Weller at least partially agrees with:
There will be a suite of web 2.0 tools on Facebook. They will beat out Blackboard. Google will gobble.
