Blogs

Our community has been discussing EDUCAUSE 2011 (both on campus and virtually), and one theme that seems to be resonating is the erosion of centrality of the LMS (learning management system). With LMS platforms increasingly built to integrate with Web 2 platforms, particularly Google Apps tools, the LMS no longer needs to be the "be all and end all" for learning, collaboration, and exchange.

Recent events in Chile have again drawn attention to student movements. Although current political activity is less dramatic in Argentina, the debate about activism at public universities in the media and public opinion has been sparked as a result of El Estudiante (The Student), a recently released independent Argentine film.

As a veteran of many an industry advisory board meeting, this report really didn’t surprise me. A study from the National Bureau for Economic Research says that the income gains from specifically vocational majors (as opposed to liberal arts majors) peter out relatively early in life.

The newest member of IHE's Blog U introduces herself and her writing.

In travel, detours present unlikely possibilities. As an academic, I have taken very few of these in my quest to get published and move at the top of my specialization. I have always taken a purposeful approach towards my time and effort-- whether attending a conference (network! find publication outlets! project collaborators!) or picking a topic to read or write about (must tie in with the military! build up, not out, onto existing corpus of personal publication!).

With a modicum of success, I've started explaining the need for investment in renewable energy (primarily solar and wind) to undergraduate students as a matter of eliminating waste.

Iloilo, Philippines Rosalie Arcala Hall writes about her experiences in getting outside of her discipline and growing as an academic.

Prior to this year's EDUCAUSE Annual Conference, Pearson announced a new "self-service learning management system (LMS)" called OpenClass. Billed as being completely free, OpenClass integrates with Google Apps for Education and is available from the Google Apps Marketplace. The user interface (UI) is stunning. It's as if a traditional LMS was given a facelift by the Google Docs team (Note that Google did not create OpenClass). The interface is simple and reminds me of a blog. It's more web 2.0 in look and feel. The top portion of the UI features Gmail, Google Calendar, Gchat, Google Docs, and Skype icons. With such an aesthetically pleasing UI (coupled with useful functionality) I predict that students will love using OpenClass.