LMS of the Future

Prior to the COMET program, I had never experienced using a LMS. Over the past two years, I have become rather familiar with LMSs and recognized the value they offer in higher education. Reading the article, I found myself shaking my head both in agreement and disagreement with the content. A few topics that caught my attention as I read the article include:

-The idea that LMS/EMS will over take traditional schools, classrooms and student-teacher interaction seems very far fetched to me. Could it happen? I suppose, but as a middle school teacher, I am not sure that a LMS would be appropriate to use with younger learners or all subject matter. Particularly subjects like art, music, dance, physical education, and many "lab" based science courses that require human interaction, guided feedback, and hands on learning opportunities. The LMS is a great tool for higher education and should be an option, but not the only option.

-There would be many political issues surrounding the implementation of the LMS of the future according to Saba's article. The LMS of the future could potentially eliminate the traditional college campus and with that many of the traditions this country has held on to for decades. The LMS of the future would create the need for smaller campuses, downsizing of the large infrastructure (and the jobs associated with a city sized campus), student housing and real estate would be impacted, athletic teams and facilities eliminated, as well as libraries, food vendors, and the need for support services like police and fire. I can appreciate many cost saving benefits that an LMS can provide, but I honestly do not believe that our country is prepared or even interested in overhauling the entire education system any time soon (look how long we have been stuck with NCLB or the archaic methods of the factory model of instruction).

If I were to create an LMS of the future, I would be sure to focus my design on maximum flexibility for users and individualization.

The LMS would be:
-student centered
-self paced
-adjust for learning styles and learning issues
-wide open scheduling to take and/or attend classes (or not)
-provide plenty of technical support.
-individualized to offer maximum learning opportunity in the shortest amount of time. I have taken many classes that were both a waste of time and money while teaching me nothing... sounds more like punishment to me.
-individually driven by short term and long term goals of student
-performance based assessment (if I already have the skills, why do I need to take the class?)