Web-based Instruction - Annotations

Course (or Instructional) Management Systems ../Library/link%20to%20presentation%20pages

Course management systems are integrated pieces of software for facilitating many of the tasks associated with teaching:

There are two slightly different approaches to instructional management tools. The one which appears to be most popular is the containerized approach. In this approach instructor creates and manages classes inside of a shell. All material created has the same "look and feel". The other approach is the modular approach. Here the management software creates components which can be inserted into Web pages or linked from Web pages. This gives more flexibility but is not as much of a turnkey solution.

Naturally there are hybrid solutions as well. Many of the popular products provide only one or two of the major services listed above but are often used as the core course management system. Courses are often built using conferencing software as their basis and I recently found a company which is a SoftArc reseller but has written quizzing software that accompanies TopClass.

The number of course management systems is growing rapidly. There were less than 10 in 1996. In November of 1997 the TeleEducation list (see below) had 25. The May, 1998, list has 40. A typical set of features is the following, taken from a small company which can be accessed at http://www.edusoftor.com/.

How do the products in the Instructor Suite work together?
  • I-Book Writer is used to write lesson plans, instructions to students, or an entire course.  Students use I-Book to view the instructions and course materials.  The table of contents becomes a to-do list for the student using I-Track.
  • I-Test Writer is used to create tests and quizzes.  Students use I-Test to take the quiz and I-Track shows the test scores in the to-do list and sends it to the instructor.
  • I-Teach is used  for three purposes: to create a web site describing the course, to accumulate information from student's to-do list and store in grade books, and to communicate with students using Email and conferencing.

The presentation slides have links to some sample systems, and the demo course will give you a chance to look ot our Oregon State University home grown system called QuestWriter.../Library/link%20to%20presentation%20pages This is a modular approach. I have created a "guest account" at WebCT with the ID edmedia and password edmedia. WebCT typifies the containerized approach.

Evaluating Systems.

A question heavy on the minds of those contemplating creating Web-based instruction is how to evaluate course management systems. This is difficult since there are so many and since the perspective of the evaluation greatly affects the outcome. In the presentation slides we take a look at the features of course management systems from first a technological point of view and then a pedagogic point of view. Our point is that the right system is the one which best supports the classroom (distance or not) practices and philosophies you will apply.

Robert Roberts has recently taken the work of Reeves (see the presentation slides) and created a sort of chart for looking at Web-based material. This may be accessed at http://interact.uoregon.edu/bc/w_dimensions_image.html or downloaded as a PDF file. This exercise is a helpful one to go through.

Another important issue in choosing a management system is the level and nature of support available at your institution. A well-funded operation with a cadre of programmers, system administrators, graphic artists, and instructional designers can make a different choice than a small group of individual faculty designing Web-based material with little institutional support. A business school heavily invested in Lotus products might first look at Learning Spaces.

At the high end of the turnkey solution spectrum are companies like RealEducation which offer to provide all of the support necessary to put courses on-line. These solutions have so far impressed me as being expensive and insensitive to the diversity of instructional needs within the typical university. The claims made by "one-size-fits-all" marketing are almost surely exaggerations. But buying the complete package looks very attractive to an administrator or executive charged with finding a solution for a large organization.

The List ../Library/link%20to%20presentation%20pages

As part of the presentation we have included a list of all "integrated systems" maintained by New Brunswick TeleEducation. The list is not complete - for example, the product whose feature list is quoted above is not on it - but it contains all of the major competitors and is the most comprehensive list of which I know. Take some time to visit some of the sites. Many offer trials or limited downloads and if you are serious about buying something, there is always a ready and willing sales force at your service.

You might like to take a look at some of the reviews others have written. There are some links to them in the presentation, and there are some threads in the WWWDEV archives which are relevant.


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