How I frame my portfolio:

Digital and networked learning represents complex difficulties and many unknowns to all educational institutions. They also represent immense opportunities, and in many ways a mission for educators.

Demographic and economic realities mean that organizations need to adapt and perhaps transform themselves in an environment of severe resource constraints.

The very model of higher education is increasingly questioned, competition is only going to get more fierce, students have more options than ever and are increasingly savvy, discerning and demanding in exercising them. This is particularly true with how they interact with and judge online experiences.

Thompson Rivers University is taking steps to focus its Learning Management System activities into a single learning environment:

Capturing on-going consultation, planning, research, prototyping and development on an open wiki: https://kumu.tru.ca/Documentation:Learning_Environment

Learning considerations:

Feature requirements, scope

Interface Design

Privacy and security considerations versus open, publicly-engaged pedagogy, reducing silos within TRU

Learning Analytics

Sustainability Considerations:

Governance (who does and is responsible for what), and role definition (who has the power inside the decision to do what)

Design, production, support processes

Limitations of any Learning Management System

Disclaimer: on record as a critic

Create silos: lock students out of their own courses on completion, actively prevents drawing of connections across topics, courses, programs

When compared with other popular online environments, perceived to by clunky and unintuitive to use

Complex and difficult to support

They do nothing to promote development of digital and online literacies (by students, and he institution itself), they are designed to prevent the sorts of interactions that develop them

Image Credit: cc licensed (BY-SA) flickr photo by cogdogblog: http://flickr.com/photos/cogdog/15732870610