Information Technology Investigation - Coursework Example

Information Technology Investigation MIS 352 Individual Project Fall 2008 - Online Table of Contents Introduction 2 of Information Technology Topic 3 Business Applications of the Information Technology 4 Analysis and Discussion 5 Conclusion 7 References 8 Introduction I am investigating the application of Internet based technologies to design better learning platforms in the education industry. I will investigate a newer breed of web based learning management systems that is helping educational service providers offer a new, adaptive and holistic learning opportunity to users over the Internet. "LMS, or Learning Management Software is a "Software that automates the administration of training. The LMS registers users, tracks courses in a catalog, records data from learners; and provides reports to management. An LMS is typically designed to handle courses by multiple publishers and providers. It usually doesn't include its own authoring capabilities; instead, it focuses on managing courses created by a variety of other sources." (An E-Learning Glossary, 2008) E-learning has evolved along with the spread of the Internet, and today e-learning is one of the new innovations that are helping educators and administrators reach out to students across boundaries and time zones. E-learning has also ushered a new breed of entrepreneurs who are leveraging web based learning management systems to offer innovative, low cost and customized learning tools to students across the world. I was a part of an educational start up that offered a range of preparation tools for select international tests. I was a part of a small sub-team that analyzed the web based LMS landscaped and identified the most suitable LMS for the firm. Through this software investigation, I aim to identify the present trends in web-based LMS and e-learning. I also aim to identify the future evolution of e-learning. Description of Information Technology Topic A web based learning management system offers a holistic and all encompassing training and assessment set up that allows tutors and administrators to design, create, manage, deliver, adaptive, interactive and innovative online learning tools. A web based learning management system creates a low cost yet highly effective learning and assessment environment that can help an individual satisfy individual knowledge and learning requirements. In addition to this, a web based learning management system also offers both the user and the tutor the flexibility to create or access content at their discretion. Most e-learning software applications come with a administrator/admin module that lets the tutor easily create and upload content with a authoring tool and a web browser. A typical web based LMS system also has features that allow the tutor as well as the learner assess and monitor the learning, thereby making the learning process highly interactive and customized. LMSs have evolved to be modular and they can often be integrated with other software applications like student information systems, online libraries and web analytics. This modularity and the ability to be integrated with other applications allows the administrator/decision maker utilize the data captured to design highly focused learning and assessment tools. Despite the fact that e-learning and LMS is a relatively old phenomena, it is yet to mature and stabilize. The LMS landscape does not have a clear leader, and is still rapidly evolving. The future potential of LMSs is highly promising, and the LMS of future should be an open ended learning platform. While the present LMSs use in-house generated content and is primarily a tool to manage and track content usage, the LMS of future should be a flexible, adaptive environment that will be integrated with the greatest content depository- the internet. The truly futuristic LMS should be able to intelligently source content from the web and complement that content with content generated in-house and offer much better learning tools. Business Applications of the Information Technology A highly suitable web based LMS, coupled with excellent web marketing abilities and a robust content creation process can help test preparation companies target a huge number of segments. Most of the emerging as well as developed economies has a very strong education system that is characterized by a huge number of students competing for the select few world class campuses. This has led to the development and usage of assessment tests that help universities identify the best students. Intense competition among students has, in turn, led to the growth of test preparation firms. Assessment tests like GMAT, SAT and GRE attract millions of aspirants. Additionally, there are numerous other niche assessment tests like CAT (Common Admission Test, India), GAMSAT (Graduate Australian Medical School Admission Test, Australia, UK and Ireland), LNAT (National Admission Test for Law, UK), sweSAT (Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test) that attract huge number of aspirants locally. With LMS at their disposal, localized test preparation firms now can aim for markets that are spread worldwide and was valued at about $700 million in 2005. (Pofeldt E., July 2007) The abilities and attributes preferred by the best of the universities across all countries are overlapping in nature. Hence, it is possible to have a relatively large depository of content that can be selectively used to offer preparation tools for a wide range of assessment and eligibility tests. Analysis and Discussion Though there is a large number of web based learning management systems, they can be broadly categorized under two heads- open source and proprietary. Open source learning management systems are free, community created and are highly flexible. There are many open source learning management systems, and they are mainly build around LAMP (Linux, Apache, mySQL and PHP). The most widely used LMSs are Atutor, Moodle and Ilias. Among proprietary LMSs, BlackBoard, eCollege and WebCT are the most well known one, and are build around development platforms like Java and Microsoft.NET. Most of the LMSs offer the following advantages to its users: LMSs allow synchronized and integrated learning to users. LMSs also allow asynchronized and anytime / anywhere learning. LMSs offer great management tools to administrators and gives a range of feedback and reports to the decision maker. LMSs also allow the administrator offer customized and interactive learning tools to users. However, few of the disadvantages are: 1. Interoperability: Despite the presence of standards like SCORM, there are a lot of problems that is plaguing tutors and authors. 2. LMS, or learning management system is a highly flexible and powerful tool. However, even the best of the LMSs cannot replace the experience of a classroom learning environment. 3. Despite years of innovation and R&D, LMSs are still not able to completely satisfy the requirements of users as well as administrators. It has been estimated that as much as 81% of LMS users were not satisfied with LMSs. (LMS Satisfaction, July 2007) 4. While developed economies have a robust IT infrastructure in place, the emerging and underdeveloped economies pose a serious challenge to present LMSs. Present day LMSs require high speed net connectivity, thereby severely limiting he adoption of e-learning in emerging/developing economies. Conclusion One of the most critical factors that are hindering the growth of LMSs are interoperability issues. There are a lot of authoring tools, and tutors and content creators have their own set of authoring tools they are comfortable with. This severely limits the growth of LMSs that use only specific data input types. Once a truly global standard is implemented, it will allow a lot of authors adopt LMSs. (Hultin J., March 2003) Additionally, LMS vendors have to innovate and develop new technologies that will let tutor reach out to student bases that have only limited access to Internet, or have low speed Internet. References An E-Learning Glossary, (2008), Imperial College London, retrieved December 5, 2008, from http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/ict/services/teachingandresearchservices/elearning/aboutelearning/elearningglossary Hultin J., (March 2003), Learning Management Systems (LMS), retrieved December 5, 2008, from http://www85.homepage.villanova.edu/timothy.ay/DIT2160/LMS/Review%20of%20Learning%20Management%20Systems%5B1%5D.pdf LMS Satisfaction, (July 2007), retrieved December 5, 2008, from http://www.cramersweeney.com/cs_id/trainingblog/2007/07/lms-satisfaction.htm Pofeldt E., (July 2007), Startups on Fire, retrieved December 5, 2008, from http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/fsb_archive/2005/11/01/8360973/index.htm Read More