Is there a role for the LMS/VLE in the emerging personal learning environment?

Dr. Philip Long's (Centre for Educational Innovation and Technology/University of Queensland) lecture focused on emerging technologies and the future of the VLE, reiterating the Australian/New Zealand version of the Horizon Report. I’ll not say too much as you can read it yourself. The 2011 edition will be published in October. But I thought the private clouds (1-2 yrs) and location-based learning, and smart objects and devices (4-5 yrs) were quite interesting and I think it would be a good AI team activity for each to take something we aren’t familiar and presenting it to the rest (like we did around Easter – I remember it being Easter because I brought in Easter eggs!).

But the things of real interest to me were around Gradebook Harvesting (see: http://wsuctlt.wordpress.com/2009/01/20/harvesting_gradebook/) essentially allowing students to bring their work wherever it happens onto the VLE and the integrated learning assessment platform at Brigham Young University (there’s some info in this presentation: http://www.slideshare.net/jonmott/eli-2010-the-genius-of-and-the-cms-the-oln-2958774) essentially submission by URL.

Anyway I did wonder when he was actually going to say anything about VLEs…And he did - the challenge of VLE 3.0:

• A source for real time data about academic activity and student behaviour
• Balance between institutional responsibility and students to proactively own their own learning through tools of their choice
• Incorporate the social opportunity for learning into the hybrid VLE/PLE mix