May 2003 – CSG Workshop Summary Lots of energy and interest. Which may mean we’re at a real cusp -- versus our usual state of flux. Some of the services involved are part of our “core business” but it’s not clear that CMS/LMS will remain “core packages” Is there a role for CSG to play in fostering common solutions to our common problems and aesthetics?

Workshop Summary: themes and questions CMS/LMS/eLearning: Build vs Buy –Code portability –Sharing of tools/building and leveraging tools –Support/vendor reliability –Schools are revisiting decisions of several years ago: –Jury out--opportunities even for new vendors/new systems.

Workshop Summary: themes and questions Integration of CMS/LMS with services such as: –Library –Administrative applications –Authorization and Authentication –Portals, calendars etc.

Workshop Summary: themes and questions Frameworks and standards –Architecture standards in process--hope for the future –Hope for interoperability and stability. –Great interest in cataloging, archiving, indexing and reusing learning objects. –Standards are diverse--frameworks need to allow developers to deal with any standard. –Critical time ahead--next year or so--on practical use of frameworks for tools. How will budget cuts affect this development?

Workshop Summary: themes and questions Supporting Teaching –The practical side: however interesting the software, frameworks and standards are, we still need to provide support for the use of CMS/LMS/eLearning in teaching. –Faculty need to be involved. –Systems must be transparent and easy for users. –There are no common metrics to evaluate use, success or even adoption of tools. –Does a CMS/LMS improve learning? How will we ever find out?

Workshop Summary: themes and questions Question: If you had to start from scratch today, what would you do for LMS/CMS/eLearning on your campus?

Workshop Summary: themes and questions Are we at the cusp of a CMS revolution? Are we at the cusp of an educational/pedagogical revolution? Infrastructure –vs- modular tools and features Innovation (or at least the ability to do it “my way”) is key? Current CMS’s focus on automating the routine? We can’t all afford to develop everything ourselves? The “support” question?

Workshop Summary: themes and questions Does ERP deployment inform us about how good we should feel about commercial support? Economics drive commercial vendors away from innovation? CMSes are profoundly conservative? Has student centered learning taken hold? Will it ever? Calculus has to be taught? Digital immigrants versus digital natives Success is one of something?

Workshop Summary: themes and questions Apache is a model of open source success? Online courses are not successful? Higher Ed is great at identifying common problems not so good at common solutions? The market is too “thin”, small companies operating in small spaces? Not enough energy in “training” the faculty to create a positive educational experience? How do we measure the impact of our technological interventions on T&L? Has educational research ever actually impacted the process of teaching on our campuses?

Workshop Summary: themes and questions Moving from “innovation” to infrastructure remains an art form and fraught with risk?