Mind over matter: Transforming course management systems into effective learning environments

The quick acceptance - indeed, the enthusiastic embrace - of course management systems (CSMs) by college and university faculty and students is leading to numerous questions: What is happening in he general slow-to-change environment of teaching and learning that is permitting this swift adoption? Why would an often clunky, nothing-new-in-the-software application become so swiftly de rigueur in disciplines across higher education? Why would pedagogy that changes at the pace of a snail on holiday suddenly adopt the CMS for an anytime, all-the-time classroom experience?