There is currently a wide range of technology-based products and content-based solutions available in the e-learning market. As the e-learning industry continues to evolve, so too will this portfolio of products and services. However, there are a few generally accepted categories of products which will be addressed in this chapter.
We refer to an integrated view of e-learning architecture as an organization's e-learning landscape (see Figure 5-3). The key components include:
Learning management systems (LMS)
Learning content management systems (LCMS)
Content development tools
Collaborative learning tools
Live e-learning (synchronous) tools
Assessment tools
Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS)
Learning portals
Figure 5-3: Core and Integrated Components of the e-Learning Landscape
Learning management systems provide end users with a single point of access to disparate learning objects and components (see Figure 5-4).
Figure 5-4: Content Accessed Via the Learning Management System
The learning management system is designed to support the management of learner performance by tracking progress and performance across all types of learning activities. It also has functionality for management, administration, and measurement of learning. Typical functions and processes supported by an LMS include:
Managing courses and course registration
Tracking student registration, access, and progress
Course scheduling and administration including instructors and physical facilities Reporting
From a technical perspective, the LMS is the software that links together and integrates all the other software components that make up the technical solution, integrating also with existing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications, such as financials and human resources. The LMS provides two fundamental capabilities:
Learner self-management, access, and administration of self-paced e-learning, virtual classroom, and classroom-based learning and support
Training administration, including training records and curriculum management; course publishing, tracking, and reporting; and competency management
An LMS ideally provides functionality to manage events ranging from classroom-based instruction, to offline media such as CD-ROM, and online e-learning. Most, however, have a clear area of focus and capabilities in a subset of these areas. For example, an LMS initially developed for management of classroom training will include more functionality around the management of physical training assets, including classrooms, course materials, instructors, and other types of inventory. An LMS initially developed for administration and assignment of e-learning components will include less, or sometimes no functionality, for managing physical facilities, but will provide a much more extensive array of services for tracking access to content and launching content, and will accommodate Web-based, network-based, or CD-ROM-based content. A key factor in determining the right LMS for the enterprise is the portfolio of content platforms that must be supported by the technology architecture.
While Saba, THINQ, Click2learn, Docent, and Vuepoint are perhaps the most prominent best-ofbreed LMS providers, other successful entrants into this technology space include Anlon, Integrity e-learning, IntraLearn, Avaltus Jupiter Suite, KnowledgePlanet, Knowledge Solutions (UK), Pathlore, and WBT Systems.
Today a major decision is whether to integrate best-of-breed e-learning packages, or to utilize the emerging learning applications and solutions which are part of enterprise and infrastructure application suites. Over the past two years, the leading enterprise software companies, including SAP, PeopleSoft, Oracle Corporation, Siebel, and Sun Microsystems have introduced significant applications covering a range of learning management and content management capabilities. For companies with an enterprise software platform, especially in the human resources (HR), portal, and infrastructure areas, serious consideration should be given to these learning applications.
These solutions are designed to integrate with the HR, information systems (IS), and finance systems, as well as with the core underlying technology infrastructure. Since 2000, the leading enterprise software companies have accelerated their investments in these offerings including acquisitions of smaller e-learning technology players. This consolidation and the role of enterprise software companies in the learning technology market will continue and become more critical for larger companies as integration, maintenance, and support increase in importance.
A key consideration in selecting an LMS provider may also be the organization's ability to deliver the LMS using an application service provider (ASP), which uses secure networks to provide LMS capabilities to small and mid-size firms. Some firms choose an ASP-based LMS solution rather than investing in their own infrastructure, frequently for reasons of cost. Among the many e-learning companies to develop ASP offerings and host LMS and content are Generation 21 Learning Systems, Saba Software, Inc., and THINQ Learning Solutions, Inc. An ASP solution may provide a welcome alternative to organizations whose existing technology infrastructure and bandwidth cannot support the technical requirements of a more traditionally hosted LMS.
Most well-crafted, blended learning programs with e-learning components typically consist of a set of sequentially assembled smaller learning objects, such as those shown in Figure 5-3. Organizations with an interest in creating well-designed blended learning programs would be well advised to explore the capabilities of learning content management systems. The LCMS provides authors with the ability to locate existing learning objects, create new learning objects, and assemble them into standards-compliant e-learning courseware.
According to Stephen Downes, faculty member of the University of Alberta, the LCMS typically contains four essential features: an authoring application; a collection of learning objects (called a repository); a means of sending the completed course to a delivery system (called a delivery interface); and administration tools.
The advent of the LCMS is much more recent than that of the LMS, but is gaining significant press and attention for those organizations attempting to build a common and centralized repository of learning content that can be shared and accessed by both the designers and learners. The ability to decompose traditional learning objects/programs into tagged metadata categories, and to reuse that content for multiple audiences and subject areas, is very compelling for sophisticated e-learning providers.
The LCMS stores online learning content in a central learning object repository as objects, which are managed primarily in the form of XML. These objects are often delivered on the basis of a learner profile, thus enabling highly personalized, just-for-me learning. These learning objects are provided to the learner in a composite format on a just-in-time basis to address a specific learning need, and permit reusability across various learning interventions, ranging from online to offline, and from self-paced to collaborative learning.
A Learning Portal is not a specific product, but rather a concept to consider in the content access strategy, as it provides a coherent access point to a wide array of learning information and services. Typically, these portals are used to organize information on a specific topic or area of interest, and may include significant variety in their content. It is critical for learners to be able to easily locate content and/or have content presented to them. Typically a learning portal will include course catalogs, course registration, assessment and feedback mechanisms, instructional support, and learner forums, such as communities, bulletin boards, and chat.
Many organizations have set up their own internal learning portals for employees and customers, using the LMS as a base. These are termed business-to-employee (B2E) portals. These portals enable the organization of the plethora of information available on the Internet and on company intranets. Similar to the LCMS, most sophisticated portals include the capability to profile the intended audience, and to push information and content to the user population based on their personal and organizational interests, thus providing more strategic mapping of learning content to the appropriate audiences.
Learning portal technologies are also frequently embedded in LMS and LCMS product offerings. Using those products, "hierarchies" of portals may be developed at different levels to provide a more extensive structure for the dissemination of knowledge and learning content.
The next wave of learning portals will focus on the integration of learning as part of larger employee performance and employee relationship management (ERM) solutions. Learning is part of a large suite of content and services which need to be integrated to increase employee performance, as was described at the conclusion of Chapter 1.
Collaborative learning tools are technologies which support learning through the exchange and sharing of information and knowledge among learners. These tools support the principles of collaborative e-based learning though real-time document sharing and editing, discussion forums, brainstorming and idea generation, multimedia documents and group productivity. Various studies show that learners who work in collaborative groups appear more satisfied with their learning. As Curtis Bonk, faculty member at the University of Wisconsin, points out: “Communication and conversation are among the keys to learning.”
Paul Stacey, business developer for the e-learning Innovation Centre (eLINC) at Simon Fraser University, sees peer-to-peer learning within an extended online learning community as the “killer app” of e-learning, enabling “peers to explore, discuss, and access experiences with others who share a common interest or background. The resulting learning goes far deeper than anything we ever experienced in a classroom or lecture hall.”
Bonk argues that collaborative learning tools will play a significant role in the expansion of e-learning, and are thus a critical part of design of the learning technology infrastructure. The most common examples include e-mail, instant messaging, whiteboards, bulletin boards, breakout rooms, online surveys, online file transfer capability, chat lines, online presentation tools and mentoring capabilities.
While many vendors are scrambling to enter this highly popular field, WebEx, Centra, and PlaceWare are currently some of the most significant providers of collaboration software products. In addition to these companies, who concentrate primarily on these e-learning software technologies, many of the major e-learning content providers and LMS providers (best-of-breed and enterprise software companies) are also known to offer many of these types of software products and capabilities as integrated complements to their courseware offerings.
Many Human Resource Information Systems, such as SAP, PeopleSoft, and Oracle, are implemented to support not only the storage of personnel information and the management of benefits and payroll activities, but also to support competency and performance profile functionality.
These systems are often the primary source used to populate active directories which facilitate integrated access to all other downstream systems, such as a LMS. By linking the LMS and the HRIS systems, the ability to target learning to a learning customer is greatly enhanced. The ability to profile each learning customer's learning goals and needs, and to push learning out to them is a powerful aid in providing just-in-time learning to the employee base.
This capability, however, comes at a significant cost. To effectively map the HRIS to the downstream learning systems, most organizations must undertake fairly extensive capability and competency mapping initiatives to identify key competency and capability requirements by role and level unique to their own organizations. While many HRIS providers can provide a standard deck as part of their products/services, to use those decks effectively, substantial resources will be required to map those capabilities to organizational strategies and business priorities; and then to map the resulting set of capabilities to knowledge and learning offerings available to the end user.
Today, learners of all ages, from preschool through university and beyond in the corporate environment, are participants in learning programs that are delivered over computer networks.
Live e-learning, also frequently termed synchronous, marries the beauty and benefits of classroom learning with the sophisticated technologies available through Internet technologies. Live instructors have the ability to engage groups of students in multiple geographic locations and time zones simultaneously, while eliminating the cost of travel and accommodations for the learner. These virtual classrooms are increasingly replacing physical classroom training, as more and more vendors provide increasingly advanced features and functions to enhance the attractiveness of the overall learner experience. Students have the ability to raise their virtual hands, ask questions, chat, and share their own documents and deliverables, often never leaving the comfort of their home office or learning studio.
Most live e-learning technology providers have developed products that include capabilities to:
Manage group discussions
Facilitate small group breakouts
Share applications
Conduct pre-, ad-hoc, and post-assessments
Explore intranet and Internet Web sites
Provide handouts
Conduct private and public chats
Prepare and edit recordings of the session for those unable to attend live sessions
Offer voice over IP
Provide one- or two-way video
Most live e-learning products are designed to run over a standard Web browser and make use of its Java capabilities for various functions, with the majority designed to operate on either of the two dominant browser platforms.
Examples of major live e-learning providers include: Centra, Interwise, PlaceWare, Lotus, Mentergy, and WebEx. Each of these providers provides a very different set of capabilities, and selection of the appropriate live e-learning vendor is highly dependent on the specific functionalities important to the organization's e-learning strategy.
Programs that help to prepare content for multimedia delivery are called authoring tools. There are several authoring tools designed specifically for e-learning. These tools enable nonprogrammers to create a learning program by linking together objects such as animations, audio, and graphics, by defining the objects' interrelationships and by sequencing them in an appropriate order. A rich set of features also offers programmers the ability to quickly develop engaging interactivity. Course designers who use authoring tools can produce attractive and useful learning content.
The most prevalent vendors in this area include Macromedia (Authorware and Flash) and Click2Learn.
Other general purpose content authoring software of interest to e-learning designers includes: HTML packages (Dreamweaver and Frontpage); animation tools (Flash and Shockwave); 2D and 3D illustration packages (Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, and 3D Max); and video tools (RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, and Quicktime).
Again, the critical success factor in evaluating various options in the content authoring tools arena is to review the content strategy of the organization, and to then map that strategy to the tool portfolio and functions available in the industry, as well as to the embedded capabilities that may already be available through existing vendor content or technology relationships.
e-Learning assessment tools help to analyze learner capabilities, progress and knowledge, and can ensure a uniform learning standard across the modern global organization.
According to Academy Internet (see Figure 5-5), assessment tools provide functionality to support:
Figure 5-5: e-Learning Assessment Model
Pre-course assessment: Testing what is known before the learning experience
Post-course assessment: Testing what has been learned during the learning experience
Academy Internet cites that pre-assessment testing results can be used “to model an adaptive learning path” for a specific learning customer by using an LCMS to aid in identifying and compiling learning content applicable only to that learner.
Assessment capabilities and tools are important; however, there are a number of assessment tools available through LMS, LCMS, or authoring tool portfolios, which are designed to work with those tools to track the progress and course completions of the learner. The critical decision point for most organizations is to evaluate the robustness of the assessment tools, which are already embedded in their existing technology products/vendors/options, and to evaluate any additional assessment functionality that is not already included in that product suite. For example:
Can the tool handle the insertion of graphics?
Does it have the ability to compose different types of questions (multiple choice, free text, true/false) pulling from a bank of questions?
Is it able to give weight to the questions?
An example of an assessment provider is Questionmark Perception.
An emerging trend in the industry is that top LMS/LCMS providers are delivering complete solutions that include: learning management, learning content management, live e-learning, competency management, authoring tools, assessment, and reporting and tracking capabilities.
(Examples are: Docent, Saba and Vuepoint.)