My LMS of the future - Murrell

This is an interesting undertaking. Education is stuck in a place where many recognize that the current system is not working and that change must occur. At the same time, there is no clear path or direction that people are looking to for that change. The idea that students will be educated via EMS or LMS only thus removing the "brick and mortar" institution is, to me, science fiction. I believe that the LMS and EMS are tools to be used by educators and students. I do not believe that a fully automated course completed 100% by a student interacting with a computer is a viable or preferable educational experience. This replaces the old "sage on the stage" teacher model with the computer as the "sage". And then learning becomes passive. If we are to promote life long learning, and truly engage students there needs to be live interaction between the students and the professors and the students. If a student is stuck having to watch pre-recorded lecture, they do not have the ability to ask questions and interact with the content being presented. It also requires that the student be able to understand enough to know what they do not understand in-order to ask for clarification.

My LMS of the future would incorporate features that would allow freedom and flexibility on the part of the instructor. I also believe that the LMS should connect directly to the Universities departments, library and divisions, making access a “one-stop shop”. The student would only have to login to the LMS and then be able to easily access Financial Aid, the Cashier, other faculty or the book store from within the LMS.

I would want the ability to have streaming video of students as well as professors. This would help to lessen the transactional distance if everyone in the class was able to see each other.

I would want the ability to connect to the LMS via a mobile device (i.e. a smart phone or a tablet) This would allow more freedom as well as make the course accessible to more students.

Break out rooms, for grouping, as well as assessment tools built in are other functions that are important to the LMS of the future.

Dreaming of the perfect LMS is fun, but I believe that looking at course structure as well as instruction and how to change our instructional models to best meet the needs of learners needs to happen at the same time. Understanding how to structure or restructure Universities and K-12 educational environments needs to be addressed prior to building an LMS because that LMS needs to accommodate that structure and those needs.