Led by guests Tom Farrelly @TomFarrelly
The Learning Management System (LMS) or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) has been a fundamental part of the Higher Education landscape for well over two decades. These platforms have provided educators with powerful tools to deliver content, manage courses, engage with students and so on. They have been hailed as the cornerstone of 21st-century learning. But as technology and pedagogy requirements and expectations evolve, we must ask ourselves:
Is the LMS/VLE still the robust cornerstone it once was, or is it showing signs of strain?
When considering the title of my LTHE chat, I must admit that my starting point was a nod to Martin Weller's 2007 Blog entitled "The VLE/LMS is dead", adding the caveat that "but we'll probably take five years to realise it" (Weller, 2007). Given the affordances of Web 2.0 technology, it made perfect sense to ask the question: 'why on earth pay for all the features that you get in an LMS/VLE when they can be effectively unbundled'? As the image from David Jones (2009) identifies, the tasks associated with communication, interaction and content management, etc. can all be effectively provided by a range of other providers.
Expanded LMS abstraction, buy David Jones. 2009, One ring to rule them all: Limitations and implications of the LMS/VLE product model,
CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
But therein lies one of the issues about the LMS/VLE- namely what do we use it for; and why do you use it? The benefits have been well documented in terms of providing a framework that facilitates many of the roles and benefits afforded (Caprara & Caprara, 2021). I would suggest that for the often overstretched educator, the VLE/LMS provides one comprehensive framework that does not require the educator to learn and become proficient in many alternative platforms - comfort blanket if you will. The chief benefit, one could argue, of the VLE/LMS was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdowns, the VLE/LMS effectively became the de-facto campus (Farrelly, Costello & Donlon, 2020), facilitating the continuation of teaching at all levels. However, edTEch, along with the wider Higher Education landscape is changing with new expectations and technologies, such as, a call for Openness, Inclusivity, Sustainability, the incorporation of AR, VR and AI to name just a few.
During this LTHEchat, we will of course chat about LMS/VLE, what is, what it can be!
References:
Caprara, L. and Caprara, C. (2021). Effects of virtual learning environments: A scoping review of literature. Education and Information Technologies (2022) 27:3683–3722
Farrelly, T., Costello, E., & Donlon, E. (2020). VLEs: A metaphorical history from sharks to limpets. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2020(2), 1-10. https://jime.open.ac.uk/articles/10.5334/jime.575
Jone, D. (2009) Expanded LMS abstraction. Retrieved from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/david_jones/3387711218/
Weller, M. (2007). The VLE/LMS Is Dead. Retrieved from http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2007/11/the-vlelms-is-d.html
Guests biography
Tom Farrelly of Munster Technological University is an Academic Developer/Senior Lecturer having worked in Irish Higher Education for over twenty years, recently becoming a Senior Fellow of Advance HE. Describing himself as a 'critical technophile', his doctoral dissertation about the use of VLE/LMS in support of lifelong learning has led to many publications and presentations on the subject. He has been one of the editorial team of the Irish Learning Technology Association's (ILTA) Open Access Journal the IJTEL for several years. You may also know him as his alter ego - The GastaMaster 😀
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