Online Course Development: What Does It Cost? looks at development costs as a 3 stage cycle: 1. launching online learning, 2. infrastructure and course model development, 3. institutionalizing and refining online learning. According to the author we are still in the second stage (and will be for another 1 - 2 years). I disagree with the central notion posited - use an LMS. There are many options and alternatives. LMS' are most useful for an organization to monitor and track learning and for sequencing content. If that is an organization's primary view of learning, then sure, use an LMS. If, on the other hand, learning is primarily viewed as an informal dialogue, collaborative content creation, or a function of communities, then many effective tools exist. Some examples: Groove, Plone, Skype, SNA tools (like Multiply), Convea, aCollab, etc. IF you want to manage learning, use an LMS. IF you want to foster dialogue/community building, use a collaborative tool. Either option, thoughtfully implemented, can result in cost savings.
Posted by gsiemens at August 12, 2004 03:34 PM