Here’s a recap of a three tweet conversation exchange today. It started with a live tweet by Jesse Stommel of Jim Groom’s presentation at #et4online. Derek Bruff responded with a very fair question, and I responded as you see below…
I believe I was moved to respond that way, in part, because just the day before, John Hendron (actually, now DR. John Hendron) caused me to revisit something that Steve Jobs once said:
If computers are like bicycles for our mind (and I believe they are!), the Learning Management System (LMS) is perfectly analogous to the training wheels. Riding a bicycle with training wheels on is relatively safe and it can get you from point A to point B, albeit slowly. But, one hasn’t *really* learned to ride a bike until the training wheels come off. Taking the training wheels off liberates the operator of the bike and affords her the freedom to really move and soar and do amazing tricks. Taking the training wheels off of the open web liberates the learning and affords the teachers and the learners to really move and soar and do amazing things.
Taking your analogy one step further, I would agree with you that the LMS functions as training wheels. The problem is, that like training wheels, the LMS teaches the wrong skills. Sure it helps us peddle and move forward, but we haven’t learned the most important thing first, balance. Now a balance bike (no peddles and two wheels) allows kids to learn balance first. The peddling is the easy part, especially once you’ve learned to balance. In this analogy I see platforms like WordPress to be the balance bike. It forces you to learn by feeling it out. Coming up with your own way of building an environment for learning. As Jim says, “The messiness of the experience is crucial to learning.” The LMS just teaches bad habits like PowerPoint.