If you haven’t already, you must check out the CANVAS learning and course management offering from Instructure.
Finally, an LMS/CMS that is truly 21st century.
This is a “starting over” from the ground up technology using Linux, Apache, Ruby, and PostgreSQL as the primary programming stack allowing maximum leveraging of HTML5, jQuery and OAuth.
It eliminates the need IT infrastructure within an organization by being run from Amazon Web Services so everything is in the cloud. If the Internet and Amazon are up, Canvas will be up.
It’s open source so, as with Moodle, you’ll be able to modify it to meet your own needs in your own time-table and benefit from mods created by the community of users rapidly growing up around Canvas.
It’s the first robust LMS that could be truly called Web 2.0 and already includes integrations with Google Docs, Kaltura, Scribd and even LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, so you can turn interest in those into useful learning activities.
The user interface and learning curve are easy, simple and intuitive and is fully accessible to the W3C’s Web Accessibility and the Federal 508 guidelines. It’s already won the prestigious “Gold” certification from the National Federation of the Blind.
Is it perfect? Of course not. It’s just a baby. But its biggest benefit is that you no longer have to settle for less than satisfactory offerings developed last century built on a much older and less flexible technology platform.
Users are quite enthusiastic. Visit http://www.instructure.com to learn more or to sign up for access (2 weeks) to an online demo course.
According to a recent analysis of 1,400 colleges and universities by the Chronicle of Higher Education, one-third of four-year institutions experienced lower graduation rates over the six-year period ending in 2008.
Late last week a thought-provoking post appeared in Daniel Luzer’s Washington Monthly column “College Guide” that may provide an interesting perspective about this problem–one that should be of particular interest to directors of adult and continuing ed programs.
Luzer opened the column by saying “The Obama administration has made one of its education goals to get more than 11 million more people through college so that the United States can ‘again lead the world with the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020.’”
Luzer is making the case for why the so called “non-traditional learner” is so important to the future well being of colleges and universities. Many non-traditionals sign up for regular daytime, on campus programs, but a huge chunk of them also fill the Adult and Continuing Ed programs, whether as part of a professional continuing education requirement or in night-time, weekend, blended, and online programs managed by continuing ed divisions.
Luzer references a guest column by Alan Tripp in Daniel de Vise’s Washington Post column “College, Inc.” Tripp is CEO of Inside Track a San Francisco firm that offers personalized academic coaching to boost college retention.
More…
What’s your take on the quality of content in online courses?
Claude says "Howdy!"
For the first post in this blog (and emailed to the subscribers’ list), I found three unusually valuable blog postings you may want to check out all related to the quality of the content commonly found in online or blended courses.
A thought leader in e-learning and a mentor and hero of mine, Linda Harasim from Simon Fraser University, has started a GROG (group blog) to experiment “with using WordPress to support an eLearning knowledge community.”
She calls it “Ask, So What? Looking critically at online education, social media, policy & research, and asking So What?” (http://asksowhat.com/).
Linda spotted a post entitled “eLearning at Universities: A Quality Assurance Free Zone?” in a blog by Mark Smithers. Mark was severely critical of what he sees as a mostly poor level of quality in the content of online courses in higher ed.
The One that Got Me Started
Linda used his post to launch a very interesting conversation for people helping faculty to build good quality online or blended courses. Here’s the link:
For Instructors Building Online or Blended Courses
Linda created another discussion thread entitled “What is content in elearning?” that may be of great interest to you or instructors you know. I found it quite illuminating:
For Students in Online or Blended Courses
Finally, in “Engaged Learning: Organizational Improvement & Culture Straight Talk,” a blog authored by Kevin Jones, he posts a great discussion for students about the difference between “blogging” and “tweeting” just because you’re supposed to and doing it when you have a real purpose. Purpose is everything and Kevin’s post will really make them stop and think about all that mindless smart phone thumbing that seems to be going on these days.
Feel free to share any of these links under your own signature or credit me (Claude Whitmyer at FutureU.Com) if you think it would help to cite an outside expert (an “expert” is someone from out of town–grin).
Until next time, let me know what’s on your mind. What’s your biggest issue these days? Feel free to send me a question you want answered; anything at all about elearning (administration, teaching, learning, virtual or blended, tools or techniques, software or cloud tools). I’d be pleased to find you a quick answer.
All the best,
claude
This is a “starting over” from the ground up technology using Linux, Apache, Ruby, and PostgreSQL as the primary programming stack allowing maximum leveraging of HTML5, jQuery and OAuth.
