Wk1 Blog Post Comments on Jeff Kohls’ Blog

The broadness of pedagogy absolutely makes it difficult for a VLE or LMS to address all of the possible needs of the instructor or students. These systems do require in many cases that the instructor rework their strategies to fit into the technology rather than the other way around. I agree with you that if the institution pedagogy begins to shift to align with the societal trends, then we will make more effective use of these technologies in the classroom. I think that we in the EMDT program are in the crest of that wave, and we will be the ones to carry this to the shores of our own institutions making this shift fully realized.

On Friday, August 6th Jeff Kohls wrote:

Course management systems (CMS), learning management systems (LMS), and virtual learning environments (VLE) have grown exponentially since the early 2000s, and have found their foothold in both corporate settings and educational environments. While much of the research that has been done has taken place in institutions of higher education, the implications are that they can be properly facilitated into secondary and primary schools but measuring end-results at all levels is an imperative issue that must be dealt with, either by the CMS vendors or the administering organization. Research also suggests that there is a direct correlation between CMS, LMS, and VLEs, but no clear leader among the three.

Glenda Morgan from the University of Wisconsin suggests that CMS doesn't necessarily improve pedagogy, but instead causes teachers and instructors to rethink and reassess their course instruction and instructional environment (Morgan 2003). The indication is that the course becomes more transparent and accountable thus possibly increasing student success with the materials (Morgan 2003). The potential is there, then, for the implementation of VLEs, which would allow even more transparency into the pedagogical practices of the teacher and have the potential to increase interaction between parents and students with the teacher. However, the implementation of VLEs can often be met with skepticism and disinterest among educators and administrators because, pedagogy is difficult to define, and culturally embedded in institutions (Howell 2006). Because learning institutions have functioned with this culturally embedded notion of what pedagogy is, it can be difficult to introduce the VLE. in 2006, 56% of the United Kingdom's Further Education Institutions (FE) had implemented and successfully used Moodle, which is designed to reflect principles of constructivist learning (Howell 2006).

Constructivism, which is a theory of knowledge, that humans generate knowledge and learning from their experiences (Wikipedia 2010) can be facilitated through VLEs, like Moodle, Ning, Google, and other collaborative software and interactive platforms, such as Full Sail Online, with successful results. If it true that pedagogical practices are culturally embedded in institutions, but the societal paradigm shift has caused that culture to reflect more use of technology and interactivity, then the use of VLEs in learning management systems is a perfect fit. A prime example of this paradigm shift, in higher education, is Full Sail Online and the EMDTMS program. Each and every aspect of this course uses web-based interactive platforms to deliver and receive student work, teacher and course information, while allowing for instantaneous feedback. Viewed by some institutions as different, it merely reflects a shift in the pedagogical paradigm, a shift in the culture of education.