Jeffrey Yamaguchi writes about a problem that I have also faced for years in trying to build student discussions in a classroom setting using online learning platforms. He wrote about Blackboard, my experience with Moodle isn’t much different either. Moodle of course is a seriously bad case of design disaster from the perspective of UI/UX, and as Yamaguchi writes here, the design of the online learning spaces is part of the hindrance why we cannot build good interactive discussions.

I have also faced another issue. The demands of a school or academic discussions also stifle true interactions. When you expect students freely should interact with each other, the apprehensions of everything needs to be cited and no opinion kind of environment also stifles engagement. This is an area where a freedom of constraints enables better engagement in sites such as product hunt or Quora,or for that purpose even Facebook.

Bottom line: there is a need for design reconsideration for learning management systems. Can we?