My concern is that we close our eyes to soon if we get numbers that are satisfactory. For example: if somebody asks me about the e-learning at our university I can show that the number of courses that are supported by the LMS is constantly increasing. I have impressive diagramms :) (We even have more courses registered in the LMS than actual courses.) To my surprise my audience has never asked how the LMS is used!
Anna, when I've asked that question (how the LMS is used), the most common responses were:
The best thing to do is to volunteer that information.
- That is information about individual courses and teachers, and we're not permitted to give that information (i.e. it is considered spying, running counter to privacy rules, academic freedom, etc.).
- The 'system' does not permit us to extract that information.
- We do not have the resources (i.e. people and time) to extract that information (alternately phrased as interfering with people's work of supporting the LMS).
- A reference to one or two 'successful' (cherry-picked) courses to give the impression that it is common across campus.
- A broad generalisation, of a listing of tools and what 'can' be done.
- Any combination of the above (#1 is very effective when used in conjunction with #4 and #5).
The best thing to do is to volunteer that information.