Courseware Management & Delivery Systems (includes WebCT)

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MODwiki Table of Contents (Main Page)

1 Overview
2 Guidelines
- 2.1 WCET EduTool for Course Management System Comparisons
  - 2.1.1 Feature Comparisons
  - 2.1.2 Products Evaluated and Compared in WCET EduTools
3 Resources

[edit] Overview

[edit] Definitions

Courseware Management Systems, Learning Management Systems, and Virtual Learning Environments are different terms used to describe the creation, delivery, and management of educational modules and courses. Software and servers are used to distribute content and assessments in the time and place of the end user's or learner's choosing.

A definition is offered from an article in the Wikipedia entitled Virtual Learning Environment...

A Virtual learning environment (VLE) [Course Management System] is a software system designed to facilitate teachers in the management of educational courses for their students, especially by helping teachers and learners with course administration. The system can often track the learners' progress, which can be monitored by both teachers and learners. While often thought of as primarily tools for distance education, they are most often used to supplement the face-to-face classroom.

These systems usually run on servers, to serve the course to students as internet pages. Components of these systems usually include templates for content pages, discussion forums, chat, quizzes and exercises such as multiple-choice, true/false and one-word-answer. Teachers fill in these templates and then release them for learners to use. New features in these systems include blogs and RSS. Services generally provided include access control, provision of e-learning content, communication tools, and administration of the user groups.

If you enjoy reading about the development of the ideas and implementations behind Courseware Management and Virtual Environments for learning, the Wikipedia offers a nifty timeline of key people and events in an article entitled History of Virtual Learning Environments.

[edit] Functions & Features

There are many functions and features that are now commonplace within Courseware or Learning Management Systems. In fact, these features are fully expected to be present and integrated by those managing such systems, educators creating content for such systems, and the learners interacting with those systems.

A partial itemization of functions and features is provided below. Again, we extract from the Wikipedia article Virtual Learning Environment (since the authors have summarized the topic so well)...

A VLE should make it possible for a course designer to present to students, through a single, consistent, and intuitive interface, all the components required for a course of education or training. Although logically it is not a requirement, in practice VLEs always make extensive use of computers and the Internet. A VLE should implement all the following elements...

The syllabus for the course
Administrative information including the location of sessions, details of pre-requisites and co-requisites, credit information, and how to get help
A noticeboard for up-to-date course information
Student registration and tracking facilities, if necessary with payment options
Basic teaching materials. These may be the complete content of the course, if the VLE is being used in a distance learning context, or copies of visual aids used in lectures or other classes where it is being used to support a campus-based course.
Additional resources, including reading materials, and links to outside resources in libraries and on the Internet.
Self-assessment quizzes which can be scored automatically
Formal assessment procedures
Electronic communication support including e-mail, threaded discussions and a chat room, with or without a moderator
Differential access rights for instructors and students
Production of documentation and statistics on the course in the format required for institutional administration and quality control
All these facilities should be capable of being hyperlinked together
Easy authoring tools for creating the necessary documents including the insertion of hyperlinks - though it is acceptable (arguably, preferable) for the VLE to be designed so that standard word processors or other office software can be used for authoring.
In addition, the VLE should be capable of supporting numerous courses, so that students and instructors in a given institution (and, indeed, across institutions) experience a consistent interface when moving from one course to another.

[edit] Open Source or Vendor Proprietary?

The selection process for a Courseware Management System is not striclty determined by the functions and features available within a specific suite of software. Rather, the merits and costs of implementing either an Open Source or a Vendor Propriatary system are debated.

According to the Open Source Initiative (OSI), Open Source is summarized as...

...a development method for software that harnesses the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost, and an end to predatory vendor lock-in.

In an attempt to distinguish "Open Source" software from "Free Software," the OSI has crafted a multipart definition that doesn't just mean access to the source code. The distribution terms of open-source software must comply with [ten] criteria.

Free Distribution
Source Code Availability
Accommodation for Derived Works
Maintenance of Integrity of the Author's Source Code
No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups
No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor
Extension of Licensing to All
License must not be Specific to a Product
License must not Restrict other Software
License must be Technology-Neutral

http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php

Vendor or Commercial Proprietary software and systems are those developed, tested, marketed, sold, maintained, and upgraded through individual companies whose bottom line is usually motivated by monetary returns on their investments. A distinct and committed relationship is established between the provider and the consumer of the software and its systems, often times creating a mutually beneficial environment for after sales support and continuing upgrades and innovations.

[edit] The Sakai Project

A notable example of an open source course management suite of tools is The Sakai Project. The Sakai Project is developing free/open source educational software. Its aim is to create a course management system that both competes with and complements commercial systems such as ANGEL Learning, Blackboard/WebCT, and Desire2Learn. In discussing The Sakai Project, no endorsements or recommendations are implied by the University of Utah.

According to the Sakai Project website...

Sakai is a free and open source product that is built and maintained by the Sakai community. Sakai's development model is called "Community Source" because many of the developers creating Sakai are drawn from the "community" of organizations that have adopted and are using Sakai.

http://sakaiproject.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=103&Itemid=208

A listing of Sakai developers and deployments worldwide is found on the Project's website at this URL link...

http://bugs.sakaiproject.org/confluence/display/PROD/Implementations

The tool sets included in Sakai are familiar functions and features...

COLLABORATION TOOLS: Announcements; Drop; Announcements; Drop box; Email archive; Resources; Chat room; Forums; Threaded discussion; Message center; Message of the Day; News/RSS; Preferences; Presentation; Profile / Roster; Repository search; Schedule; Search; Web Content; WebDAV; Wiki; Site Setup

TEACHING TOOLS: Assignments; Grade book; Module dditor; QTI authoring; QTI assessment; Section management; Syllabus

PORTFOLIO TOOLS: Forms; Evaluations; Glossary; Matrices; Layouts; Templates; Reports; Wizards

TOOLS UNDER DEVELOPMENT (MAY 2007): IMS Common Cartridge; SCORM; Blog tool; Shared whiteboard; Shared display; Multipoint audio; Poscasting; IMS Tool Interoperability

[edit] Moodle

Another open source courseware management system of note is Moodle http://moodle.org. According to their website...

Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities. You can download and use it on any computer you have handy (including webhosts), yet it can scale from a single-teacher site to a 50,000-student University.

Moodle has a large and diverse user community with over 200,000 registered users, speaking over 75 languages in 175 countries.

There are over 170 Modules and Plugins for Moodle. They are itemized at this URL link...

http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13&page=0

By registering with Moodle, you gain access to documentation, helps, source code, and courses.

[edit] Vendor Proprietary Products

For a listing of prominent Courseware Management Systems provided by commercial vendors, refer to the GUIDELINES and RESOURCES sections of this article, below.

Conduct a Google search on the phrase "open source vs proprietary software" and hundreds of articles, papers, blogs, and opinions are offered. This MODwiki will not enter into the debate of Open Source vs Proprietary Software when the choice of purchasing, installing, and maintaining a Courseware Management System is faced. Instead, we identify the potential issue and move on, letting specific requests for proposals and purchases balance their requirements against the needs of particular projects (and the IT infrastructures available at an institution or organization).

[edit] Guidelines

[edit] WCET EduTool for Course Management System Comparisons

The WCET--Western Coooperative for Educational Technology maintains an extremely helpful website that reviews major commercial and open source courseware management tools and systems, comparing products, and providing a selection tool based on one's requirements and needs. The site is freely available at this URL link...

http://www.edutools.info/static.jsp?pj=4&page=HOME

[edit] Feature Comparisons

Features are evaluated and compared across courseware management products. The webpage at http://www.edutools.info/feature_list.jsp?pj=4 not only itemizes criticial features, but offers explanations and annotations for each of these features...

LEARNER TOOLS

Communication Tools

Discussion Forum

Discussion Management

File Exchange

Internal Email

Online Journal/Notes

Real-time Chat

Whiteboard

Productivity Tools

Bookmarks

Calendar/Progress Review

Searching Within Course

Work Offline/Synchronize

Orientation/Help

Student Involvement Tools

Groupwork

Community Networking

Student Portfolios

SUPPORT TOOLS

Administration Tools

Authentication

Course Authorization

Registration Integration

Hosted Services

Course Delivery Tools

Test Types

Automated Testing Management

Automated Testing Support

Online Marking Tools

Online Gradebook

Course Management

Student Tracking

Content Development Tools

Accessibility Compliance

Content Sharing/Reuse

Course Templates

Customized Look and Feel

Instructional Design Tools

Instructional Standards Compliance

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Hardware/Software

Client Browser Required

Database Requirements

UNIX Server

Windows Server

Company Details/Licensing

Company Profile

Costs / Licensing

Open Source

Optional Extras

[edit] Products Evaluated and Compared in WCET EduTools

Courseware Management Systems, both Open Source and Vendor Proprietary, are evaluated and compared on the WCET EduTool website. From this web page http://www.edutools.info/item_list.jsp?pj=8 the following products are reviewed. No endorsements or recommendations for products are implied by the University of Utah. Go to the WCET EduTool link, and from there, each product is hyperlinked to reviews and its official home page on the web. These and other products are also listed and linked in the RESOURCES section of this webpage.

.LRN
ANGEL 6.1
ANGEL 6.2
ANGEL 6.3
ATutor 1.4.2
ATutor 1.4.3
ATutor 1.5
Avilar WebMentor 4.0
Bazaar 7
BlackBoard 5.5
BlackBoard 6
Blackboard 6.2 Enterprise
Blackboard Academic Suite
Bodington
BSCW 4.0.6
CentraOne 6.0
Claroline 1.2.0
Claroline 1.4
ClassWeb 2.0
Colloquia 1.3.2
COSE 2.051
Desire2Learn 7.2
Desire2Learn 7.3
Desire2Learn 7.4
eCollege AU+
Educator
Eledge 3.1
FirstClass 7.0
Fle3
ILIAS
Internet Course Assistant 2.0
IntraLearn SME 3.1.2
Janison Toolbox 5.81
Janison Toolbox 6.2
Jenzabar Internet Campus Solution 1.03
Jones e-education V2004
KEWL 1.2
KnowEdge eLearning Suite
Learnwise
LON-CAPA 1.2
LON-CAPA 1.3
LON-CAPA 2.1
Manhattan Virtual Classroom 2.1
MimerDesk 1.5.3.1
MimerDesk 2.0.1
Moodle 1.4
Moodle 1.5.2
Sakai 2.0
Teknical Virtual Campus
TeleTop
The Learning Manager 3.2
The Learning Manager Enterprise Edition
Unicon Academus
Virtual-U 2.5
WebCT Campus Edition 3.8
WebCT Campus Edition 4.0
WebCT Campus Edition 4.1
WebCT Campus Edition 6.0
WebCT Vista 2.1
WebCT Vista 3.0
WebCT Vista 4

[edit] Resources

WCET--Western Cooperative for Educational Technology: Advances the effective use of technology in higher education; http://www.wcet.info/home.asp

WCET EduTools Course Management System Comparisons and Selection Tools: http://www.edutools.info/static.jsp?pj=4&page=HOME

Wikipedia article on Virtual Learning Environments and Course Management Systems: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Course_management_system

Wikipedia article on the History of Virtual Learning Environments: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_virtual_learning_environments

MIT Open Courseware Initiative: http://ocw.mit.edu/index.html

The Sakai Project: http://www.sakaiproject.org

Sakaipedia (collection of articles related to courseware management and Sakai tools): http://bugs.sakaiproject.org/confluence/display/ENC/Home

Sakai Knowledge Base: https://www.indiana.edu/%7Esakaikb/

PRODUCT LISTINGS

WCET Product Evaluations and Comparisons Listings: http://www.edutools.info/item_list.jsp?pj=8

Wikipedia partial listing of Virtual Learning Environment Systems (with hyperlinks): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Course_management_system#List_of_some_Virtual_Learning_Environments

.LRN: http://dotlrn.org/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.LRN
ANGEL Learning: http://angellearning.com/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANGEL_Learning
Apex Learning K-12: http://www.apexlearning.com/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apex_Learning
ATutor: http://www.atutor.ca/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATutor
Avilar WebMentor: http://www.avilar.com/:
Blackboard: http://www.blackboard.com/us/index.Bb; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackboard_%28e-learning_platform%29
Bodington: http://bodington.org/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodington
BSCW: http://bscw.fit.fraunhofer.de/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSCW
Claroline: http://www.claroline.net/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claroline
ClassWeb: http://classweb.ucla.edu/
Colloquia: http://www.colloquia.net/
COSE
Desire2Learn: http://www.desire2learn.com/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desire2Learn
Dokeos: http://www.dokeos.com/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dokeos
eCollege: http://www.ecollege.com/indexflash.learn; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECollege
Educator: http://www.ucompass.com/2003/flash/?url=&sessionid=1178234019
Edumate: http://www.edumate.com.au/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edumate
Eledge: http://eledge.sourceforge.net/
FirstClass: http://www.softarc.com/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FirstClass
Fle3: http://fle3.uiah.fi/;HarvestRoad
ILIAS: http://www.ilias.de/ios/index-e.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILIAS
Internet Course Assistant: http://www.nicenet.org/
IntraLearn SME: http://www.intralearn.com/
Janison Toolbox: http://www.janison.com.au/janison/default.asp
Jensabar Internet Campus Solutions: http://www.jenzabar.net/
Jones e-education: http://www.jonesknowledge.com/
KEWL: http://kewl.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=splashscreen
KnowEdge eLearning Suite: http://www.knowedge.net/
Learnwise: http://www.learnwise.com/
LON-CAPA: http://www.loncapa.org/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LON-CAPA
Manhattan Virtual Classroom: http://manhattan.sourceforge.net/
Moodle: http://moodle.org/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle
OLAT: http://www.olat.org/public/index.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLAT
Sakai Project: http://www.sakaiproject.org/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakai_Project
Scholar360: http://www.scholar360.com/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholar360
Teknical Virtual Campus/SERCO Learning Systems: http://www.teknical.com/
TeleTop: http://www.teletop.nl/en/
The Learning Manager: http://thelearningmanager.com/
Unicon Academus: http://www.unicon.net/products_519.html
VClass: http://www.vclass.net/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VClass
WebCT (Blackboard): http://www.webct.com/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebCT

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