One of the main functions of an LMS (learning management system, AKA Moodle) is the creation of a course silo, or stack. That is, the LMS creates a place where students, faculty, and associated others connect with course materials and participate in classroom activities, a place where only enrolled or invited people can work. The silo exists while the course is in session and usually is deactivated shortly after the semester is ended.
There are some excellent — even some essential — reasons for creating this course stack. One obvious requirement is copyright law, which restricts the open posting of some course content, be it text or media. One particular advantage is maintaining the privacy of discussions of potentially controversial or embarrassing topics. Perhaps less obvious in the privacy arena is maintaining the long-term privacy of even non-controversial topics — former students may find that old, non-controversial but still-public blog posts are not in keeping with their current views or those of their employers.
The silo fits less well in the overall concept of an ongoing personal educational process, where course content, student submissions, and other materials may be (should be?) relevant to one’s growth during a four-year evolution. A seminal paper in the silo for Course I is likely to retain relevance in Course II, and may even have important meaning in unrelated Course B. Yet it is stuck in the Course I silo.
So this course silo which is so convenient in many ways is in other ways antithetical to what we want our students to become; life long learners. What are the alternatives? Open courses in Moodle? Moodle courses need not be restricted to a semester’s length. Other open systems? An environment which is open at least to the Colgate academic community (without some copyright-restricted materials, of course) might be used to facilitate this more open learning. But even these tools can’t make students want to participate, and then actually participate, in this more broad, developing learning process.
More reading on the topic…
- Learning Management Systems: Hub or silo?
- Learning Silos — the biggest barrier to learning in post-secondary
- Course Management Systems: Trapped Content Silos or Sharing Platforms?
…dan wheeler