LMS evolution

I've been and continue to be a proponent of LMS/CMS implimentation in the classroom for a while. I've deployed Drupal and Moodle for a number of years with varied success. However with the introduction of Twitter/Diigo 3.0 over the past month I've come to realize that with a combination of both free and paid services, students might be better served with something better- more flexible.

Providing students with tools such as free wikis, Diigo accounts, Edmodo (twitter for the classroom) and blogs allows them to utilize the best-of-class social tools without the ponderous LMS offerings that are not use.

I'm not ready to abandon Drupal and Moodle. They can offer a safe option for those environments when suppport or restrictions dictate. Plus I don't see a viable alternative to online testing that Moodle offers.

One of the biggest hurdles is the requirement or restriction in terms of student email accounts. We can't utlize student's personal email account because of privacy restrictions. To provide something like Gaggle accounts costs a lot of money. I'm convinced that a majority of students wouldn't use their Gaggle accounts because its 'not cool', plus they don't want someone else reading their email- and I don't blame them.

So to take advantage of all these exciting 2.0 tools, we've got to provide expensive email account. The price is too high. I'm aware of the Google email hack- but this is OK for a classroom of kids, not a whole school.

Unsaid is that teachers themselves need to be aware of these tools and how to utilize them in context. It's one thing to discuss their use with other techies. Its another to approach a teacher, put it in context of class curriculum and successfully integrate it.