Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
LMS, a number of limitations and disadvantages
were reported from users and researchers:
instructors have additional needs, such as, to
monitor a learners' progress with means that can
be easily handled by a typical non IT specialist
instructor and to communicate with learners in
real time. Diplek offers a special tool for monitor-
ing purposes, which records a learner's activities
through a session in video format; this recording
can be interpreted at a later time by the instructor
to extract conclusions about the learners' progress
and the course's contribution in achieving its
purpose. Moreover, the system can be operated
without an internet connection or a web browser.
This flexibility comes in handy in situations where
the equipment is old and the connection between
workstations is limited to a LAN.
The remainder of this chapter is organized as
follows: In the following sections user require-
ments for LMS are presented, together with
currently available solutions. Then, a detailed
presentation of Diplek educational platform and
its services, tools and features is provided. Finally,
the chapter presents future research directions
and conclusions.
1. The platform complexity and difficulty of use
require the continuous IT support and hence
require a high investment for instructors and
training of supported learners (Mendling,
Neumann, Pinterits & Simon, 2005).Due
to this complexity these systems cannot be
easily used by people involved in lifelong
learning and training programs.
2. Low level of reusability and portability of
learning content due to the non-standard-
ized way that the educational material is
stored (O'Droma, Ganchev & McDonnell,
2003; Avgeriou, Koutoumanos, Retalis, &
Papaspyrou, 2000)
3. Limited number of available tools and ser-
vices for proper monitoring of the learners'
activities throughout the course duration.
(Mazza & Dimitrova, 2007)
4. The dependence on web technologies most of
the platforms have, obstruct the deployment
of distance learning services to internet-less
communities and institutions.
5. Most currently available platforms empha-
size on technology that facilitates interaction
among learners and instructors and neglect
personalization of the learning environment
(Cheung, Hui, Zhang &Yiu, 2003)
USER REQUIREMENTS
AND EXPECTATIONS
Over the past fifteen years LMSs have been
embraced by as a technology of significance
for creating new revenue streams, reaching new
markets, connecting with students in new ways,
and/or teaching more efficiently.
At a recent research study done in UK, 90%
of schools use LMS or even have more than
one LMS in the institution (Baziukaitė, Vaira &
Idzelytė, 2008).The reason for this wide accep-
tance and usage of LMSs is the many advantages
that they bring:
The purpose of this chapter is to describe the
design and development of Diplek an open-source
educational platform that uses to support the
needs of instructors with reduced IT competence
throughout the main phases of course management
lifecycle. There is a plethora of LMS out in the
market that can be used. Diplek is not trying to
compete with existing LMSs. More likely Diplek
is intended to be used in smaller educational do-
mains where computer experts are hard to find
and the need for an easy to use LMS is prominent.
Most LMS simplify only the services that relate
to the content management process; nevertheless,
•
Users can manage and track their own
learning
•
Personalization of learning
•
Access to worldwide learning material
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