Abstract:

As universities attempt to transform teaching and some endeavour to position themselves to be part of the Web 2.0 era, traditional models of teaching and learning are being called into question and new pedagogical paradigms are beginning to emerge. Academics wanting to embrace emerging pedagogies, however, may find themselves attempting to incorporate social learning approaches within or alongside traditional learning management systems. In this paper the intention is to reflect upon the on-line delivery of a postgraduate subject that was attempting to utilise social learning approaches using a traditional learning management system as the main learning platform, augmented by a number of Web 2.0 approaches. The author reconciled teaching online with his previous extensive face-to-face teaching experience, unaware of the commentary that appears to create a dichotomy between the use of learning management systems and Web 2.0 technologies. When considered through a lens of e-learning pedagogy, the author concludes that it is possible to challenge the perceived limitations of a learning management system so that effective learner-driven, social and participatory approaches to learning activities and assessment are possible.

Keywords:

on-line teaching and learning, learning management system, Web 2.0, pedagogy, higher education.