Wave as LMS? I ' ll not Say Never, but ...

Today I saw a post on the Chronicle's blog about Google Wave as the next LMS and its pushed me to revisit that line of thinking. BTW, the money quote from the post was,

"Just from the initial look I think it will have all the features (and then some) for an all-in-one software platform for the classroom and beyond," wrote Steve Bragaw, a professor of American politics at Sweet Briar College, on his blog last week. Mr. Bragaw admits he hasn't used Google Wave himself ...

Does the Wave have "all the features (and then some) for an all-in-one software platform for the classroom and beyond" as Steve Bragaw says? Well ... in a lot of ways it does contain most of what many of us dream of needing -- a way to really easily connect with students. What it lacks are the tools that lots of our faculty rely on ... Dropboxes, Quizzes, Roster Management, and Teams come to mind instantly. Wave won't do the classroom management piece. As far as I can tell.

I've been lucky enough to have a developer account (although my real invite is still not active) and have spent time writing about my thoughts and reactions to what Google Wave might mean for us. This afternoon after getting another pointer to that Chronicle post I thought I'd go back and revisit my own early thoughts. This quote is what jumped out at me from something I wrote in June:

The big talk across the edublog space is that it could mean the end of the LMS. I’ll just say it, that’s crazy talk. What it probably means is that we might get a better footing in the LMS contract world and that we’ll have new opportunities to innovate. This platform can do quite a bit for us in the teaching and learning space, but as far as I can tell it probably will not be suited for testing on a real scale and it probably cannot replace the basics of the LMS definition — learner management. We need the LMS to do lots of things, but we also need new tools to support pedagogy that works to engage students. I think Wave will begin to even the playing field so that we have easy to use teaching and learning platforms alongside our real need to manage assessment, participation, and the like. Wave represents a new opportunity.

I still stand by that assessment and I am not ready to jump into the Wave as LMS conversation quite yet. I am also not willing to dismiss it quite yet either. As a member of our Institutional committee reviewing CMS/LMS futures I am aware of the challenges ahead for teaching and learning with technology -- especially as they relate to centrally managed mega-systems like our course management environment. I know they cannot live up to the hope and hype that emergent technologies can. I know they can't do real time collaboration like google docs (or Wave for that matter) and I know they don't offer the open publishing space that our blog platform does. They just can't and won't ever be as sexy as the things that matter to us the most in this moment. The One Button Web is taking over in every single web interaction I have except perhaps in the CMS space. We can argue that that is a good or bad thing until the end of the Internet, but at the end of the day it really doesn't matter.

Do we like the functionality of the "old systems?" Not really. Are we enamored by the emergence of what is happening outside the walls of EDU? Absolutely. Our job is to find elegant ways to bring the learner management stuff together with the agile stuff so we can suit the needs of most of our constituents. As more of us get our hands on Wave we'll start to unravel the real potential here. BTW, if I were Google I'd make sure instructional technologists at as many Universities as possible had accounts so the real work could start ... we can't even do a Hot Team here to kick the tires. So with all that I am still hanging out over by the fence waiting to see how well Wave does empower new pedagogies. Because when we add it all up, the emergent tools we work so hard to understand need to usher in new classroom practices. The Wave will be no different -- another tool that challenges and then changes pedagogical practice.

Comments

[Jamie Oberdick]

Maybe since it is open source, someone can figure out a way to make it so it complements or enhances a CMS? Run parallel with a CMS?

Although I myself haven't seen Wave as yet....I haven't even got an invite. Talk about marketing via the velvet rope.

[Roberta (Robin) Sullivan]

"If I were Google I’d make sure instructional technologists at as many Universities as possible had accounts so the real work could start..."

Do you have any leads about how an instructional designer from SUNY Buffalo might get their hands on an invite for Wave?

The use of Google Apps for Education has been growing right alongside Blackboard. It would be great to compare Wave into this mix.

[Jim Gordon]

I sure do! Go to this URL:
https://services.google.com/fb/forms/wavesignup/

[Cole Camplese]

@Jamie, I think that is the point. Most of what we want to use needs to be available as an optional technology to support specific teaching practices. I don't even really think it is stuff we need to run ourselves ... in a lot of cases it just has to be supportable. It would also be nice if we figured out federated identity to a point where we could easily participate in outside spaces with our institutional credentials.

[Roberta (Robin) Sullivan]

Thanks Jim. If anyone has any pull out there for processing Wave requests I'd appreciate any help.

[Brad]

Wave will not be an LMS, but wave may be the medium of an LMS.

[Jeff Swain]

I think you're getting to the crux of the issue: how do we marry the ability to create authentic learning experiences with the necessary management and administrative things we need to do. IMHO we need to start from the former (the pedagogy) and build in the latter. Teaching and learning built from an administrative perspective is stifling.

[araba yarışı]

IMHO we need to start from the former (the pedagogy) and build in the latter.