Opening Learning Management Systems to personal learning environments

Abstract

New ICT technologies are continuously introducing changes in the way in which society generates, shares and access information. This is changing what society expects and requires of education. eLearning is acting as a vector of this change, introducing pervasive transformations in and out of the classroom. But with Learning Management Systems (LMS) users have reached a plateau of productivity and stability. At the same time outside the walled garden of the LMS new transformative tools, services and ways of learning are already in use, within the PLE and PLN paradigms. The stability and maturity of the LMS may become yet another resistance factor working against the introduction of innovations. New tools and trends cannot be ignored, and this is the reason why learning platforms should become open and flexible environments. In the course of this article the reasons for this change and how it may be addressed will be discussed, together with a proposal for architecture based on Moodle.