Do Social Media Eliminate the Need for Learning Management Systems?
Body
There's a large and vocal group of learning pundits who are vehemently anti learning management system. They view LMS as metaphorical feeding tubes rammed down the throats of learners, force-feeding them information they'll soon forget. Within a LMS learners are, they believe, like geese on a foie gras farm. In these pundits' eyes, a more ethical approach is for these learners to roam free, munching on the content they encounter on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, and elsewhere.
Social media provide exciting and engaging learning opportunities and can play a central role in blended learning programs. But, these don't replace the need for a centralized learning environment.
Within almost all organizations, you have:
- Super keen overachievers who will immediately head off and learn what they need to learn with little support and direction. Just make a passing mention that it would be good for them to have some project management skills and they'll be up until midnight surfing the Web to find out everything they can about the topic.
- The no-one-told-me-I-need-to-know-this type, who will only interact with learning content if it is mandatory and clearly assigned to them.
- Everyone else on a continuum between these two extremes.