Insidious pedagogy
Thank you Alan for suggesting a very thought provoking article (nice also to see another historian engaged in the area). I find it interesting that, in the case of CMS’s, there is the potential for technology to actually hold innovation back. Lane notes that the products have become extremely rich and can be customised, but I wonder how many practitioners are active in these areas? Tied in with this are the administrative restrictions on the use of CMSs. I know the example of a colleague who tried to incorporate light and enjoyable self-review quizzes into their CMS only to be told that the quizzes had to be formalised and made part of the course assessment, thus upping the ante of the exercise. Such administrative restrictions may further restrict enthusiasm about 'tinkering' with products – that, and the relative absence of support available when things inevitably don’t go as planned. I think further exploration could also be made on the potential barriers CMS’s place in the way of life-long learning ideals. I like Lane’s suggested solutions to CMS dominance and think she has made some very practical recommendations for moving forward.
