Just wanted to add my voice to Joseph's. Don't try to make WP into an LMS. It won't work anyway (for example, you have to choose your authentication method and there can be only one, so you're either an open system or a closed one--no way to have partly-open, partly-closed). But if we can find areas where the full library of WP, including plugins and widgets, is weak in terms of higher education, then improving those would be most welcome.<div>
<br></div><div>I too am an advocate of mixed systems. My virtual courses all, consist of an open area that anyone can read, with a closed discussion forum (to respect students' privacy). Even there, authentication is an additional burden, but as my classes have only about 30 students, I'm willing to put in the extra time.</div>
<div><br></div><div>My courses are old (oldest dates to 1994) and are showing their age--web pages with an external forum, and no WordPress in sight--but they might serve as an instructive comparison to the really excellent work Joe has done. The home page of each has links to the others, so I'll just list one.</div>
<div><a href="http://boisestate.edu/courses/crusades/">http://boisestate.edu/courses/crusades/</a> </div><div>I do blog about this a bit</div><div><a href="http://knoxhistory.blogspot.com/">http://knoxhistory.blogspot.com/</a> </div>
<div>and yeah that's Blogger. I'll get it moved one of these Fine Days.</div><div><br></div><div>Anyway, folks can look at mine and Joe's and see even in these two areas how radically different approaches can be -- and the range would be greater if we had someone from Health Sciences or Architecture or the Performing Arts or Physics. I echo Joe's basic objection to the big LMS systems: one size doesn't fit all and going down that road is actually a significant deviation from the basic principle of a university (which is a collection of different disciplines). And I second his preference for the loose collection approach.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I have a couple of things I'd love to see as improvements. One, a way for *me* to rate posts in discussion and to have those accumulate. Secondary to that, a way for me to reference my rubric quickly while rating, and a way to browse on two axes: by student and by thread. Nobody does this really elegantly yet.</div>
<div><br></div><div>The second thing I'd love to see is a versioning system. I've modified my courses over the years and in so doing I simply overwrite what was there before. I'd like to be able to have kept each version of my course *and* to have kept each forum with each course, so that any of my students could return not only to the course the way it is today, but the way it was when *they* took the course. Imagine how useful this would be if all students could do this with all their courses.<br clear="all">
<br>Skip Knox<br>Boise State University<br><br><br></div>