What will this mean for the design and teaching of distance education and the new wave of distributive courses?
The Future of Course Management Systems
What is the future of CMS software? Green and Spencer present the results of surveys regarding the top trends in eLearning for 2015 and beyond. These include:
• Mobile and wearable access to eLearning materials
• More sophisticated collaboration tools
• Growing Cloud-based LMS services
• Personalized learning using pull technologies putting the learner in control
• Augmented and gaming learning environments providing practical experiences46,47
What will this mean to faculty and students? What will this mean for the selection of CMSs?
Institutions are or have considered adding mobile ability in the criteria for selection of CMS or LMS software. Does this mean that colleges and universities that make this decision will require students to have a tablet or wearable device like glasses, watches, or bracelets of some sort? Think about how this might affect education of patients with articles like “Wearable Enhanced Learning for Healthy Ageing: Conceptual Framework and Architecture of the ‘Fitness MOOC.’”48 What will this mean for the design of learning materials and learning experiences? What will this mean for educating our learners in how to work with patient educational experiences?
Another area of growing technological development is collaborative tools that are smarter (i.e., remember who users are, what they like, and what they were doing [Web 3.0]) and provide relevant information to each user. Users should also see more lifelike virtual 3D worlds integrated into the LMS or CMS software. These virtual worlds will make use of the latest technological capabilities, such as Google’s augmented reality 3D glasses and Corning’s view of the future. The Corning vision integrates glass surfaces to access information and to interact in the virtual world. Imagine a time when bathroom mirrors remind students that work is due, when students can interact with their world on their TV screens, and when students can chat with classmates and the professor through their kitchen counter. (See YouTube video—“A Day Made of Glass.”) What will this mean for the design and teaching of distance education and the new wave of distributive courses?