Abstract: This paper present online learning management system. Described electronic access to hypermedia and multimedia based resources. Showing evaluating e-learning platform’s through SCORMs Specifications, MOODLE- An Evaluation Basic Features and Operation, Limitations of contemporary LMS’s. Described online learning courses development models, Wrap around model and The integrated model. To some extent, this integrated model dissolves the distinctions between “teaching” and “learning” in favor of the facilitation of learning. Also present management and implementation of e-learning.

Key word: electronic access, hypermedia, multimedia, SCORM, MOODLE, LMS.

Electronic access to hypermedia and multimedia based resources.

The term e-learning comprises a lot more than online learning, virtual learning, distributed learning, networked or web-based learning. As the letter “e” in e-learning stands for the word “electronic”, e-learning would incorporate all educational activities that are carried out by individuals or groups working online or offline, and synchronously or asynchronously via networked or standalone computers and other electronic devices.

Information and communications technology also enables the capture and storage of information of various types including print, audio, and video. Networked information and communications technologies enable access to this content in a manner that is not possible within the spatial and temporal constraints of conventional educational settings such as the classroom or the print mode. In the context of this distributed setting, users have access to a wide variety of educational resources in a format that is amenable to individual approaches to learning, and accessible at a time, place and pace that is convenient to them[1]. Typically, these educational resources could include hyper-linked material, incorporating text, pictures, graphics, animation, multimedia elements such as videos and simulations and also links to electronic databases, search engines, and online libraries.(Fig.1).

Fig.1. Educational resources

Designs for e-learning. The origins of this debate and discussion on the influences of media on learning date back to the invention of radio and television. On developing a camera that used film rolls, Thomas Edison had expected that the motion picture would revolutionize education and make schooling a lot more attractive and motivating for students. Commentators of that time had suggested that instead of wanting to stay away from school, students would rush back to school and not want to leave school. While we know that this did not actually happen, the moving image did influence our ability to represent many things in many different ways, in and outside of school.

Several decades after Edison's inventions, and based on the growing influence of radio, television and other media on our lives, Marshall McLuhan claimed that the “medium is the message”. With this aphorism, McLuhan was suggesting that each medium has characteristics and capabilities that have the potential to shape, direct and enhance our capabilities. As such McLuhan saw media as “extensions of man” which is the subtitle of his classic book .

The 1960s and 70s saw growing enthusiasm in the use of computers in education. This was naturally followed by similar interest in the impacts of computers on learning with many researchers concluding that while media may have some economic benefits, they did not show any benefits on learning. Several leading researchers of the time argued that learning and any learning gain is actually caused by the way the subject matter content is presented via a medium, rather than the medium itself.

A prominent contributor to this discussion on media research - Richard Clark - has in fact proclaimed that “media will never influence learning” He has in fact suggested that “media are mere vehicles that deliver instruction but do not influence student achievement any more than the truck that delivers our groceries causes changes in our nutrition”. Clark concedes that media can have important influences on the cost and speed of learning, but argues that it is only the instructional method that can influence learning.

Optimizing the influence of media in learning. Therefore, it is arguable that in most contemporary technology enhanced learning environments where media is skillfully integrated with the instructional method, media can and do play a very influential and critical role in learning and teaching. Some prominent examples of such educational environments are the Jasper Woodbury Series and Exploring the Nardoo. In these contexts, media play a critical and a very important role in achieving the intended learning outcomes for the students. They serve to motivate students with clever use of sound, pictures and animation. They are also very useful in representing contexts and situations from the real world which are harder to bring into the classroom for live demonstrations[2].

Skillful integration of media and instructional method (i.e., learning and teaching strategies) is critical in the optimization of the influence of media in learning. This has to do with careful selection and matching of media attributes with learning and teaching strategies. Contemporary information and communications technologies afford a wide range and variety of opportunities to re-think and re-engineer the nature of our teaching and learning practices. A major part of this re-engineering process includes shifts in the roles of teachers from being providers and deliverers of subject matter content to becoming moderators and facilitators of learning within the context of a learner and learning-centered approach to education.

Learner and learning-centeredness is regarded as a desirable trait in education and training generally. Learner and learning-centered educational environments are those where the learner and the learning process is the focus of program design, development and delivery. In such educational settings, the learner — not the teacher, organization, or technology — is in charge of the learning experience.

Pedagogical designs for optimizing e-learning.

It is widely acknowledged that the role and influence of media (i.e., information and communications technology) on learning and teaching is optimized especially when it is skillfully integrated into the educational experience. For this to happen we need to focus our attention foremost, on the careful design of the learning experience rather than the presentation of the subject matter content or the technology. This means careful orchestration of what the learners are going to do in the learning environment.

This concept of “learning by doing” has been popularized, among others, by Roger Schank and his collaborators and it is at the heart of pedagogical designs that stand to optimize e-learning. These pedagogical designs include “scenario based learning”, “goal-based learning” , “problem based learning”, “case-based learning” , “learning by designing”, and “role-play-based learning”. These pedagogical designs are grounded in the principles of constructivism and situated cognition, and in the belief that learning is most efficient and effective when it is contextualized and when it is based on real world or similarly authentic settings.

Scenario-based learning. A very good example of learning by doing is scenario-based learning. Scenario-based learning is a pedagogical design where one or more learning scenarios serve to anchor and contextualize all learning and teaching activities. The scenarios in these educational settings are usually drawn from real life situations. They may be contrived but they aim to be as authentic as possible and reflect the variety and complexity that is part of real life situations. For the teacher and the tutor this scenario provides a meaningful context which can be used to explain abstract concepts, principles and procedures a lot more easily. For the learner, it serves to make learning relevant, meaningful and useful.

Typically a good learning scenario will reflect a common occurrence from the relevant field. It may be a case, problem or incident that is commonly encountered in the workplace. Using such cases, problems or incidences from the workplace in the education of learners serves to more adequately prepare them for the workforce as opposed to focusing their attention on the mastery of the subject matter content. The use of such scenarios is particularly relevant and meaningful in professional education.

In order to attain the goals that learners are assigned in the scenario, and complete all the required activities, learners will have access to a wide range of relevant resources. These resources could include textbooks and other relevant reading material, multimedia content, and also experiences from the field of how expert practitioners have gone about solving or dealing with similar cases, situations, problems or incidences.

The learning scenario, its accompanying learning activities, and the assessment tasks serve as essential scaffolds for promoting and engendering meaningful learning activity. They also serve to contextualize learning and motivate learners who are turned off by too much focus on the mastery of the subject matter content and not enough on practical and generalizable skills. The assessment tasks and learning activities which the students are assigned are critical to the achievement of the intended learning outcomes. It is therefore essential that they are congruent with the intended learning outcomes for the subject. While they are embedded within the learning scenario they must be carefully designed and skillfully applied to direct students to the core subject matter content. By successfully completing these assessment tasks and learning activities, it is expected that learners will have accomplished the intended learning outcomes of the subject[3].

Online learning management system. Online learning management systems are a suite of software tools that enable the management and facilitation of a range of learning and teaching activities and services. In large-scale operations, online learning management systems(Fig.2.). (or LMSs as they are commonly known) can save costs and time. In conventional educational settings, online-learning management systems can help to improve the speed and effectiveness of the educational processes, communication among learners, and also staff and students.

Fig.2. Online learning management systems

Use of LMSs in nontraditional educational settings (such as in distance education contexts) allows organizations to maximize their value by enabling flexible access to its resources and services. A few of the widely known LMSs are: Blackboard TM, Web CT TM, First Class TM, Moodle TM, and Lotus Learning Space TM (http://www.studymentor.com/studymentor/).

Most online learning management systems also incorporate a learning content management system (LCMS), which is a set of software tools that enables the, storage, use and reuse of the subject matter content.

Recent studies conducted by industry analyst Brandon Hall suggest that there has been a steady rise in the use of LMS for education and training over last few years (http://www.brandonhall. com/).

MOODLE- An Evaluation Basic Features and Operation. Moodle presents an excellent platform for resources and communication tools. It was created by Martin Digammas, a computer scientist and educator who deeply believes that a CMS should be created by an educator and not by an engineer.

It’s basic features include tools for creating resources and activities. These in turn provide the tutor managing the course various useful options. The Resources tab offers the tutor a choice of creating labels which are simply headings for each topic or week, creating text pages or web pages with a combination of text, images and links. Creating links to files or web sites/pages which can link to podcasts, videos and other files, creating directories which are folders one creates with a multitude of different files to be accessed by students or staff.

Another useful and collaborative section is the Activities tab which includes: assignments, chat, choice (one question with a choice of answers – answers are logged so statistics can be deducted), database which is a table created by the tutor and which is filled in by the students creating a database. Forum where everyone can post in response to discussion threads, glossary is a type of dictionary created by the tutor with terms used and their meanings.

Evaluating e-learning platform’s through SCORMs Specifications. SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Model) represents a “comprehensive picture of how a Learning Management System (LMS) might serve up Web-based learning content to learners in a standard way” . In other words, it describes a specific way to deliver e-learning content in different platforms. Its importance lies in the ability to represent educational contents which can be shared but also in the interface between these contents and the e-learning platforms that use them. In fact, multiple platforms, either commercial or open-source, support this specification.

The main SCORM components are:

- The CAM (Content Aggregation Model) that defines a model for packaging learning content.

- The RTE (Run Time Environment) that defines an interface for enabling communications between learning content and the system that launches it (e.g. a LMS).

The Content Aggregation Model component deals with Assets, Sharable Content Objects (SCO) and Content Aggregation Packages:

- Assets are single individual objects such as media or HTML pages, while SCO’S are collections of Assets. They should be independent of learning context and intended to be subjectively small units, such that potential reuse across multiple learning objectives is feasible.

- Content Aggregation Packages comprise one or more SCO’S or assets, that is, one or more learning objects. They should be structured in such a way that they are ready for delivery to a learner.

- The Run-Time Environment component deals with an API adapter and a Runtime service.

- The API (Application Programming Interface) adapter enables communications between learning content and the LMS that launches it.

- The Runtime service is provided by the LMS and it is responsible for providing the user interface to the learner.

Limitations of contemporary LMS’s. One of the greatest faux pas of virtually all contemporary LMSs has been their tendency to emulate, as best as possible, conventional classroom-based learning and teaching practices. In beginning with conventional classroom-based practices as the standard the developers of LMSs have continued to perpetuate the many pitfalls of these educational settings. This equates to a false start for LMS’s, because developers have failed to capitalize on the critical attributes of LMS tools. These include features such the flexibility it can afford, the variety of interaction it can support, and the type of study materials it can incorporate. Many contemporary LMSs tend to put learners in a rather passive role, where they can read large amounts of textual material, and engage in on-line discussions.

This does not offer much more than what is possible in a conventional classroom setting. Many of these LMS’s lack the tools and capability to engage learners and teachers in the development of complex cognitive and social skills, such as those that involve collaboration, professional judgment and decision-making and where there are many potential solutions, and no single straightforward answers[4].

The perfect LMS is still evolving. As users become more knowledgeable and comfortable with the use of LMS, they are beginning to demand advanced features and functionality, including support for wireless devices, better collaborative learning tools, and better content management capabilities. The next-generation of LMS’s will have to have improved functionalities, customizability, flexibility, interoperability, and scalability. Moreover, as users move beyond the thrills and frills of the technology, they are also focusing attention on the educational functions of the tools.(Fig.3).

Fig.3. Educational functions of the tools

This augurs well for both the developers and novice users, as it signals the development of robust learning management systems that are guided by pedagogical considerations and not by what the developers or the tools can do.

Online learning course development.

Contemporary online learning environments are characterized by a growing use of commercially produced learning management systems, which enable online access to subject matter content, asynchronous online discussions, collaborative learning activities, and online assessment. Organizations which seek to adopt online education are quickly realizing that it is not a cheap or easy option. Online education requires a great deal of resources and careful planning. Some of the strategies used as part of this level of planning include breaking large numbers of students into smaller groups, assigning them specific tasks, and providing them with direction and specific guidance, and setting timelines for discussion. Educators are becoming aware that open, unguided asynchronous online discussion forums can be very ineffective. Students will not give open-ended discussions their time and attention if they are not directed at specific learning or assessment activities.(Fig.4).

Fig. 4. Specific learning

They enable students to be easily grouped to work on a range of learning activities either online or offline. More importantly, LMSs enable small group work deliberations and activities to be accessible to teachers and tutors to see, critique and comment on. In conventional educational settings, these important aspects of learning would have been accessible only to the group members. Having access to these deliberations gives teachers added insights into group processes and the contributions of individual members to group work. This insight is critical in promoting fairer assessment practices of group work. Naturally, this kind of educational practice makes student work more visible and open to scrutiny just as the online learning and teaching environment breaks down the barriers to the lecture room walls and makes the teacher and the teaching more visible and open to critique.

Models of course development. Online-learning environments with their dependence on technology are very different, in several important ways from conventional educational settings.(Fig2.5). In conventional educational settings much of the responsibility for teaching and learning is in the hands of the teacher who is also the subject matter expert. In online-learning environments, the teacher who may also be the subject matter expert is no longer in complete control of all the activities. The technology for instance is usually managed and serviced by someone else. Someone else may also manage the content that is delivered by the technology, even though the teacher in charge may have developed it.

Fig.5. Online-learning environments

The choice of a particular approach to the development of an online-learning course is based on several factors including the academic tradition and resources available to the organization. Institutions that are dedicated to online and distance education have tended to adopt a more collaborative course team approach. Conventional campus-based educational providers, on the other hand have tended to adopt a lesser collaborative approach. In any event, the development of an online-learning course comprises a new experience for many.

Types of online-learning courses. Robin Mason of the United Kingdom Open University has suggested that most online-learning courses sit on a continuum of a “partially online” or a “fully online-learning course” (see http://www.aln.org/publications/ magazine/v2n2/mason.asp). A “partially online” course is one that integrates existing resource materials that are available either in print or non-print form such as textbooks etc. with some elements of online learning. Such courses promote the concept of what is commonly referred to as “blended learning”, where more than one mode is used to teach a course. Most distance educators have known such courses as “wrap around courses” because much of the teaching and learning activities in such courses are wrapped around existing resource materials such as textbooks.(Fig.2.7).

Fig.6. Teaching and learning activities

A “fully online” course, on the other hand, is one that will have most of its learning and teaching activities carried out online. I say “most of its learning and teaching activities” because invariably everything about a course could not possibly be carried out online. Moreover, it might not be advisable to do so. For instance, students would always be studying away from the computer from printed materials, textbooks and other resources from libraries. There would be no real need to put these online, and it might not be possible to do so for reasons that have to do with costs and copyright laws. Mason calls this “integrated courses”(see http://www.aln.org/publications/magazine/v2n2/mason. asp).

Wrap around model. This model of online-learning relies on study materials, which may comprise online study guides, activities and discussion “wrapped” around existing previously published resources such as textbooks or CD-ROMs etc. This model represents a resource-based approach to learning, as it seeks to use existing material that is relatively unchanging and is already available online of offline. Such courses, once they are developed, can be taught or tutored by persons other than the course developers. Collaborative learning activities in the form of group work, discussion among peers, and online assessments may be supported by computer conferencing, or mailing lists.

Unfortunately, quite often, these online learning elements tend to be added to the course and do not form an integral part of the assessment requirements of the course.

The integrated model. This model is closest to a full online-learning course. Such courses are often offered via a comprehensive learning management system. They comprise availability of much of the subject matter in electronic format, opportunities for computer conferencing, small group-based collaborative online learning activities, and online assessment of learning outcomes. For the moment though, some of the subject matter content will be best-accessed offline in already published textbooks and other sources. The learning and teaching in these courses takes place in the computer conferences, in which the prescribed readings and the assigned tasks are discussed. Much of this learning and teaching activity is fairly fluid and dynamic as it is largely determined by individual and group activities in the course. To some extent, this integrated model dissolves the distinctions between “teaching” and “learning” in favor of the facilitation of learning.

Management and implementation of e-learning.

E-learning, like any organized educational activity is a very complex undertaking. Many organizations seeking to engage in e-learning activities quite often overlook the fact that its successful deployment requires the same level of diligence and rigor in its planning, management and implementation that is necessary in setting up conventional education systems. In fact, e-learning has added elements such as the technology infrastructure that require attention far beyond that is necessary in conventional educational settings.

Furthermore, e-learning is neither a cheap nor an easy educational option. It does not offer a quick fix for problems associated with dwindling enrollments, distance education, or poor teaching and learning. Lack of careful planning and implementation of e-learning can actually lead to decreasing standards and morale, poor performance in learning and teaching, and wasted resources and loss of revenue.

Any efforts to embark on e-learning must be preceded by very careful planning. This would necessarily comprise, strategic and operational planning that are consistent with the values, mission and goals of an organization. Educational organizations that have a history of employing alternative approaches to learning and teaching such as distance education will have many of the prerequisites and dispositions for e-learning already in place which they can easily capitalize and build upon. However, conventional campus-based educational organizations that have traditionally relied on residential face-to-face classroom-based learning and teaching activity would need to reconsider their values, mission and goals of educational provision in order to adequately accommodate the adoption of e-learning activities[5].

Administrative requirements of e-learning. Like any organized educational activity, e-learning needs to be very systemically (ie., from a systems level) managed. Foremost this will include attention to the technology and the infrastructure that is necessary to support it. It will include different approaches to course design and development and strategies for generating and managing subject matter content from that which is suitable in conventional educational settings.

The technology. While this is crucial to the success of any e-learning activity, technology is not the driver of the initiative. It is there to serve an educational function and such, it is a tool for learning and teaching. However, it has to be robust, reliable and affordable. It is critical to ensure that this is so, just as it is important to ensure that in a classroom-based educational setting, the classroom is available and it is comfortable, and it has the necessary equipment such as tables and chairs and other tools for teaching and learning to take place. Most teachers and students in such educational settings would take these facilities for granted and they will be unaware of what goes on behind the scenes to ensure that the classroom setting works in the way in which it is expected to work. Staff and students alike would be very agitated if the computer, the projector, or the lights in the classroom did not work, as that would be very disruptive to their learning and teaching activities.

Course design and development. Like any other organized educational activity, e-learning, is a team effort, as a number of people and a range of expertise need to be brought together to make e-learning work. In conventional educational systems, course design and development is the sole responsibility of the subject matter expert who is also the teacher. E-learning will require the delivery of that subject matter content in alternative forms such as online or on a CD-ROM. Some teachers are able to produce their content themselves. However, this might not be the best use of their time and expertise in most educational settings. A more efficient and effective model of course development is the team approach, which brings together people with subject matter knowledge and expertise in the development of technology enhanced learning materials. However, the establishment and nurturing of such a team process is not to be taken lightly as it has implications on where the boundaries lie for various types of expertise and on the costs of supporting it across a large organization.

Implementation requirements of e-learning.

In conventional classroom-based educational settings, teachers spend a great deal of their teaching time in subject matter content presentation. This activity usually takes the form of lectures where teachers go through a body of subject matter content. Students on the other hand, spend a great deal of their study time in sitting in lectures taking down lecture notes. Irrespective of whether this is a good or bad educational practice; it is certainly an inefficient and ineffective use of teachers’ and students’ time. If subject matter content needs to be presented, then there are surely several more efficient and effective ways of presenting it. Sitting students down in a lecture room and having them take down notes, often not so accurately, is certainly not one of those ways. E-learning, with its use of information and communications technology, enables the presentation of subject matter content in alternative forms, as such freeing up lecture time which can now be more usefully devoted to the facilitation and support of learning activity.

However, e-learning in itself does not guarantee efficient or effective learning and teaching. For it to be efficient and effective, a great deal of care and attention needs to go into its implementation. This comprises attention to the recruitment and registration of students, facilitating and supporting learning, assessing learning outcomes, providing feedback to learners, evaluating the impacts of e-learning on the organization, and ahost of other issues related to these functions.

Student registration. Most educational and training organizations have rigorous systems and processes in place to manage student registrations and their graduation. Those who choose to adopt on-line learning would want to also ensure that they are able to recruit, registrar and manage their students online in the fashion of e-commerce and e-business. Doing so would be consistent with an ethos and philosophy of making one’s registration processes accessible online. This would require

administrative systems to be in place and that the staff members are appropriately trained.

Learner support. In the context of e-learning, learner support takes on an added importance, as learners become separated in time and place from the teacher and the educational organization. This does not mean that necessarily more learner support is required. What changes is how learner support is provided, where and when and how often it is provided and who provides it. An online learning course, may not be supported and facilitated by those who developed these courses.

Assessment of learning and the provision of feedback. While in e-learning, the fundamental and guiding principles of assessment of learning outcomes and providing feedback on learning remains the same as that for any other educational setting, what changes is how some of the learning outcomes can and might be assessed and also how feedback may be provided. Most educational settings must also deal equitably and fairly with unfair practices such as plagiarism and authenticity of student work. E-learning because of the flexibility it affords in terms of time and space independence are more prone to unfair learning and assessment practices. Opportunities for these occurrences need to be properly managed.

Evaluation of the impacts of e-learning. It is crucial to have processes in place for knowing how you are doing with what you have initiated. This will include how your staff and students are engaging in e-learning. Without this kind of evidence, you are in no position to know how you might be traveling and what changes and/or improvements are necessary. Evaluation of impacts is often neglected or inefficiently carried out in most educational settings. Evaluation of the impacts of your processes should be closely integrated into the planning and implementation of any e-learning activity.

REFERENCES:

[1].Naidu, S. (2003). E-Learning: A Guidebook of Principles, Procedures and Practices. New Delhi, India: Commonwealth Educational Media Center for Asia (CEMCA), and the Commonwealth of Learning. ISBN: 81-88770-01-9.

[2].Naidu, S. (2004). Learning design as an indicator of quality in teacher education. Paper presented at NAAC-COL Roundtable on Innovations in Teacher Education, Bangalore, India, 2004. In K. Rama, & M. Menon (Eds.) (2004) Innovations in teacher education - International practices for quality assurance (pp. 65-76) Bangalore:NAAC.

[3].Naidu, S. (2004). Supporting learning with creative learning and instructional designs. In J. E. Brindley, C. Walti, and Zawacki-Richter (Eds.), Learner Support in Open, Distance and Online Learning Environments, ASF Series Vol. 9, pages 109-11. Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany.

[4].Naidu, S. (2005). Evaluating Distance Education and E-learning. In C. Howard, J. V. Boettcher, L. Justice, K. Schenk, P. Rogers, & G. A. Berg (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Distance Learning, Volume 1-IV, Pages 857-864, Idea Group, Inc.: Hershey PA.

[5].Naidu, S. (2005). Researching Distance Education and E-learning. In C. Howard, J. V. Boettcher, L. Justice, K. Schenk, P. Rogers, & G. A. Berg