One size fits all? Experiences with a Learning Management System (LMS)

Once upon a time there was a Greek king named Procrustes. He loved having guests, and loved it even more when they stayed overnight. He had a special bed that was guaranteed to fit the guest. Was the bed adjustable? In a way. If the bed was too large, Procrustes had the guest stretched until the bed was just right. And if the bed was too short, Procrustes had the guest shortened to fit the bed.

And that's most LMSes in a nutshell.

In the LMS I've had some experience with (which shall remain nameless) everything to be learned must be in a "course" and it must be the same format as all the other courses. And you must access the courses through the LMS.

What if you just want to look up something you read a while ago? You can't just look up a piece of information; there's no indexing by content -- only by course. And if a piece of information is in a course that wasn't defined as part of your job role -- you're out of luck again.

And in some LMSes, once you took the course, or read a section and passed the test, you couldnt even access it again!

Who remembers everything he or she's ever read or learned?