I think you frame the issues surrounding the future directions of IT beautifully here. There are some really big, serious questions surrounding these open tools vs. the proprietary systems that are trying like mad to integrate that “Web 2.0 feel” and package the whole thing at an exorbitant cost (especially when you consider what you get for your money). Point is that the open web is a powerful LMS in and of itself, and we need to be teaching and learning within that space.

This doesn’t mean everything has to be open, but we need to cultivate a culture of learning where we are using relevant tools to collaborate, share, and publish. If it can be open, all the better, but as you trace here, the systems we are asking students to think and learn within currently are increasingly more irrelevant, and we are losing them in droves. Why should we ask them to work hard on discussions and sharing within a closed silo that they have no option to make open, then take all that work away from them at the end of the semester and delete their intellectual labor?

Part of it is that we still don’t indicate to students that the work they do is valuable and should be shared, which really needs to change. The other factor is that the axis of focus has remained on the course for too long with these “teaching” technologies. We need to move the focus to the individual and use the beauty of RSS to feed it out to class spaces that are flexible. I’m thinking an aggregator blog, netvibes, pageflakes, or what have you. A syndicated framework that is light and lays over these loosely joined tools that will forge a space of connection and aggregation, but still entitle everyone to their own work, allowing them to frame their knowledge as they see fit. Part empowerment, part pragmatism, all punk ;).