Yes, learning management systems can limit instruction and learning by not supporting a needed specific method of instruction.
In Jason Cole’s “Using Moodle” Chapter 15 he lists four broad categories of course design: Introductory survey course, skills development course, theory/discussion courses, and capstone course. Patrick Suppes and his colleagues at Stanford University have, over three decades, demonstrated the effectiveness of drill and practice and sequenced learning in introductory survey and skills development courses. In his use of Sakai, Joseph Hardin has demonstrated making current materials available to graduate students in a structured format and supporting communication within the class and with the instructor is very successful for "capstone" graduate courses in rapidly changing fields of study.
Sakai Chief Architect Chuck Severance addressed sequenced instruction in his January 4, 2006 personal comments on the plans of the SUNY Learning Network. (Available at http://www.immagic.com/eLibrary/ARCHIVES/GENERAL/U_MICH/M060104S.pdf). He implied sequenced learning may not be necessary for many courses. He referred to LAMS (Learning Activity Management System) as an example of sequenced instruction. There is an integration of LAMS with both Sakai and Moodle. See www.lamsfoundation.org.
The most effective courses for skill development, as the experience of the Aviation Industry CBT Committee has documented, is a series of 20 minutes “chunks” of learning with an assessment. These fine-grained instructional sequences will be fully supported by the IMS Learning Design specification. Learning Design will be available in Moodle version 2 likely to be available mid-2007. (See http://www.imsglobal.org/learningdesign/index.html).
Sakai may also support learning design, though it is not clear when. In Chuck Severance and Joseph Hardin’s June 6, 2006 “Strategic Directions for Sakai and Data Interoperability,” they write: “Learning Design (LD) is an important teaching pattern that deals with organizing learning activities so that groups of learners can go through the activities together in a sequence controlled by the instructor.” They use LAMS as an example. Also they point out that Foothill College’s Melete does learning sequences though not yet using either IMS Simple Sequencing or Learning Design. (See www.immagic.com/eLibrary/ARCHIVES/GENERAL/SAKAI_US/S060606S.pdf).
The choice of instructional methods depends upon level and discipline of the course, the type of learning most effective for the students, and the long-term course development strategy. After analyzing both the current and future needs, then you can compare this list with the current learning management systems.
William H. Rice IV’s recent text “Moodle: E-Learning Course Development” as an excellent reference illustrating the learning system features necessary to support different methods of instruction and different media.
You may also want to consider the availability of learning materials. The Moodle community has created a series of templates, several universities now offer open content, and such projects as Open University's Open Content will be making content available in standard formats. Be sure to see if any of these materials are going to be important to you and, if so, the learning system supports the formats of these materials.
jim farmer
