And here’s a fellow who’s trying it out, and he’s carefully specified exactly how he makes it all work, rationale, privacy concerns (he lets the students themselves pick the privacy settings on some of their work; other stuff is in private and secure dropboxes) etc :

http://prestidigitation.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2010/01/16/open-lms/

and part II

http://prestidigitation.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2010/01/31/alternate-worlds-part-2-the-class-begins/

And the class website itself is at
http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/alternateworlds/

If I were designing an LMS for an online institution, I think I’d try for an ‘ecologies’ approach: mashing together many different kinds of services, rather than searching for one overarching one. I’d frame it all around a ‘personal learning environment’ for the student, and a ‘personal teaching environment’ for the instructor, both of which would involve the individual actively pulling in the different components desired. I’d want social networking for both faculty and students… the social aspect of learning is underplayed and not well served in current LMS models, I think. I’m creating a VUE map that somewhat captures my thoughts, but wordpress.com won’t let me upload it here.