LMS of the Future- Hughes

In reading the article, Learning Management Systems of the Future: A Theoretical Framework and Design by Dr. Saba, he mentioned several aspects, which clients may be expecting to have in a quality designed learning management system. Predicted trends included access, cost, accountability, and innovation among the key areas for making an LMS successful. Having used a few learning management systems throughout this masters course, I have learned to have my favorites for different reasons. I tend to favor Moodle for its simplicity and default templates. Its layout for threaded discussion topics is also extremely easy on the eye, compared to Blackboard, in my opinion.

However, I would like to see a few major improvements in future for learning management systems. As it was mentioned in the article, learner control and autonomy are valued qualifications. This is especially evident in the rapid increase of mobile technologies, such as smartphones, the iPad, Kindle and their applications. I would like to see learning management systems improve as the bandwidth improves. Real-time video chat discussion options would be wonderful to have as synchronous choices, similarly to Skype. I would love to see LMS platforms become more universal as part of Internet browser or inexpensive over-the-counter suite. By improving universal access, it would make learning accessible to all educational parties and socio-economic classes who may not have the budget to purchase such platforms.

An increased database capacity to accommodate greater video or document space would also be an area that I feel would make learning management systems effective and efficient for the fast-paced learning. The increase capacity coupled with increase speed in their functionality would be an asset to both the learner and the instructor. I would love to be able to one day be able to teach through an LMS while at the same time use the faster two-way capabilities with ease, to an unlimited amount of students or chat groups, through an iPad or off my smartphone.