Thanks for your comments. Yes, you are in a great position if you are able to integrate your organization’s single sign-on authentication system with your web 2.0 tools. That’s great. It’s a bit trickier for orgs that can’t do that…

Regarding SharePoint, I’m glad you had a good experience. Ultimately, it comes down to the skills of your developers/IT department and your organization’s specific needs. I was speaking from personal experience from a while back, but I’d be willing to take another look should the opportunity ever arise.

I do share some of the concerns of Schone in the context that more and more tools are being added and utilised but I think a broader issue is if learning practitioners are using the tools in a pedagogically and instructionally sound way. Are adding so many Web 2.0 tools to a learning environment supporting, enriching and meeting learner needs or are they there because there is a trend as a result of the term e-learning 2.0? (coined by Stephen Downes?) One would hope so but that’s not always the case, yes, I’m looking at you KU!

I disagree with comments about web 2.0 systems being disparate and needing separate logins. Here at Kingston University, our web 2.0, LMS and other systems are all integrated and single sign on. There not just integrated technically but visually too so the user experience is somewhat consistent. The problem we have is to do with how they are being used (or misused may be more appropriate).

Schone, I have to strongly disagree with your criticism of SharePoint! In my last job I was hired to develop an e-learning strategy and oversee the implementation of an e-Learning Platform for a global charity. We evaluated a number of systems and as they were a purely Microsoft house, I recommended using SharePoint which they were already using in a DM and team context. They were adamant that they wanted to use Moodle so we went with that but halfway through the process they got cold feet and wanted to go back to the SharePoint idea. So we got some very talented ShraePoint and .NET expertise and literally transformed it to meet our users needs (and the organisational culture) for e-Learning. I learnt a hell of a lot about SharePoint on that project and how extensible and flexible it is (in the right sets of hands).

A timely post. These are all great points. Especially the idea of trying to make all the social media tools and embed them with an LMS. I’m not wholly objective about this, I agree it’s better to be loosely coupled with third party tools/ social media then try to stuff everything in the “LMS/Talent Management” box. We’ve managed with our LMS/ LCMS (we’re an LMS vendor) to turn ANY blog, wiki and even website into a trackable learning experience. (Wraps SCORM around it). In this way you can track usage, add an assessment and include a deki wiki or wordpress blog into a course. As the blog, wiki, website changes/updates so to is your course.

Janet particularly has a good point about Mzinga, and they are on the right track also.

Tim

One more thing, having used iLearning, OLM, SumTotal, Blackboard and others, I found only MOODLE the most flexible in terms of newish (RSS 2.0, enabled awesome audio and video enclosures) functions such as Podcasting.
Regards

There needs to be more put into integration, e.g:

* Tools for Webservices links to HR systems
* Not technical integration but an integrated curriculum through tutors/instructors who can ‘plant’ key online references to the actual e-Learning content. This requires great templates.
* Greater thought around meta-data &
* Indexes to related content references

I do believe that an integrated social bookmarking function & very flexible/customisation learning paths from a learner perspective would greatly assist in the learner experience whilst ‘plugged in’ to the LMS.

Thanks for your comments. Mzinga is doing some great work in the social learning space. I should have given you guys some credit before criticizing *all* LMSs.

Both you and Janet make good points: It can be tricky to set up and maintain several of these free, open-source systems. I understand that this approach requires more administration, setup, and security configuration (ex. single sign-on). However, I believe IT departments are becoming more and more familiar with these open-source systems, and I believe this integration work will become easier and easier for them with time. Or, you may be able to do some of this on your own if you have tech talent in your training department. (We did. We set up our first instance of WordPress in less than 30 minutes.)

Let me also clarify that I’m much more willing to consider using an LMS containing web 2.0 functionality if the data can be easily exported and/or exposed to other web sites/web services.

And to respond to your other comments…

– I agree with your stance on SharePoint. SharePoint is not an acceptable platform for social learning. It’s a content/document management system at heart. I was not impressed with older versions of SharePoint. I haven’t used it in a while, but I hear peers talk about it often…and let’s just say the feedback isn’t good.

- Is there such a big disconnect between formal and social content that warrants separate systems? That’s debatable. I think it depends on the organization and its flow of information more than anything else. This could probably be its own deep conversation…

– Yes, at a minimum, the LMS should have some Amazon-like social features. Without a doubt. This functionality is very beneficial to learners.

– Should we have a common platform for everything? I’m not so sure. If our organization needs a high-end, flexible blogging tool, I’m probably going to choose WordPress (or Joomla, or Drupal) for their enormous communities, plugins, tutorials, and other abundant resources. While I’m sure Mzinga and other LMSs have solid blogging functionality, they can’t compare to tools and resources like that. But, then again, not all organizations will need the ‘Ferrari’ so to speak. They may just need basic functionality, and the ‘Toyota’ may work well for them. I hope that doesn’t come across as snotty. I own a Toyota.

Mzinga is definitely on the right track. You’re working outside of the typical LMS comfort-zone, and you’re breaking new ground. Please keep it up. I don’t think we’re too far apart in our philosophies. We may just differ a bit when it comes to implementation.

-B.J.

@Janet – Thanks for your comment. I’m embarrassed that I forgot about Mzinga. They’re doing some really great things, and I consistently neglect to lump them into the LMS category (which, I believe is a compliment). I will check out the other systems you mentioned. I know you have a great pulse on what’s out there, so I am interested to learn more. I’m glad to hear some LMSs are evolving.

When it comes to training 100k people on how to use free tools, I acknowledge there will be some issues there. A coordinated implementation with IT, along with the right marketing, communication plan, and training is essential. With some up-front planning it can be done. It’s tricky, but it can be done.

Not surprisingly I have a different take. While I totally hear your criticisms of the LMS space (and agree with a lot of it), I think you are off-base on the web 2.0 integration stuff. Here are some counter arguments:

* Within an organization or extended enterprise, do I really want to use 10 different tools with 10 different registrations, 10 different models of moderation, 10 different reporting models, and no consolidated analytics across any of it?
* Do I really want to put myself in the hands of my IT department to mashup these technologies into something meaningful, or worse try to meet my needs through Sharepoint?
* Is there really that much of a disconnect between formal and social content that warrants different systems?
*At a minimum, shouldn’t we have Amazon-like social features in the LMS?
*As an aspiration, shouldn’t we have a comprehensive platform for collaborative learning, formal learning, and capturing new insights on a common platform so we can better manage SSO, data import and export, and reporting?

While I think that there is a lot we as LMS vendors could do differently and better, there is a lot we do right. In terms of impact and ownership, social learning is much more meaningful and valuable than performance management and it’s much more tied to learning professionals. The alternative is that this social learning stuff gets owned by IT and marketing with solutions like Sharepoint leading the way. Personally, I’d rather take my chances with an LMS vendor and a vision of content integration than an IT dept and Sharepoint or an IT department and 10 different freemium technologies.

And yes, I know I have a biased view. But I’ve also seen the insides of hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies over the years, and in all but a few cases, we cared a heck of lot more about our customers’ needs than their internal IT departments ever did.

Dave