Preparing for the Long Tail of Teaching and Learning Tools

Abstract

In this paper we apply the concept of "the long tail" (Anderson, 2006) to teaching and learning tools to discuss how the limitations of current Learning Management Systems (LMS) can be overcome to allow instructors to customize the technology they use to support their own classroom practices. Learning tools in the long tail are those that are widely used by a subset of instructors - tools specific to large courses or tools specific to a particular field, and tools that are only used in a few courses or a single course. Using several examples from courses taught on our campus, we show how to put extensibility in the hands of the instructors to create knowledge-age learning technologies that are customizable, interactive and controlled by users.