ASSIGNMENT TOPIC : LEARNING MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM

SUBMITTED BY

NAME : ANJANA RK

OPTIONAL : ENGLISH

CANDIDATE CODE : 165/14376003

INTRODUCTIONA Learning Management System (LMS) is a software application for

the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of electronic educational technology (also called e-learning), education process or training programs.

LMS range from systems for managing training and educational records to software for distributing online or blending/ hybrid college courses over the internet with features for online collaboration. Colleges, universities, school districts and schools use online courses and augment the lessons the teacher is giving in a brick and mortar environment not just replace them. Corporate training departments use LMSs to deliver online training as well as to automate record-keeping and employee registration.

The term LMS is currently used to describe a number of different educational computer applications. The key to understanding difference between LMS and other computer education terms is to understand the systematic nature of LMS. LMS is the frame work that handles all aspects of the learning process. An LMS is an infrastructure that delivers and manages instructional content, identifies and assesses individual and organizational learning or training goals, tracks the progress towards meeting those goals, collect and presents data for the organization as a whole.

A learning management system delivers not only content but also handles registering for courses, course administration, skills gap analysis, tracking and reporting. It should provide the ability to support a blended learning program, mixing traditional course delivery with newer digital and interactive tools, including online courses, virtual live sessions and discussion forum. A learning management system makes blended learning possible. Blended learning means having the opportunity to combine multiple forms of learning including eLearning, simulation based learning and mobile learning even classroom-based learning. This is because a learning management system is a central repository for all the modules and materials.

CONTENTLearning Management System (LMS) is the term used to describe a

server-based system that is designed to manage learning content and learner interactions. The LMS enables the learning content to be available online, allowing students to view and interact with learning materials through a web browser on essentially any computer—with any operating system— or even on a mobile device with browsing capability. There are many commercial LMS products available today as well as several open-source options from which educators and institutions may choose. The specific features and functions of these systems vary considerably, but certain core functions can be found across all of them. These functions include administration features such as student registration, course assignment, and tracking of test or quiz scores and completion status. From the student or learner perspective, the LMS provides personalized access to assigned course materials, messaging and notifications, and access to scores and transcripts.

HISTORY OF LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The goal of making education easier, better and faster through automation has been around for decades. Beginning in the early 20th century with a rudimentary device that resembled a typewriter through today’s sophisticated cloud-based system, the history of Learning Management Systems has been evolutionary. This evolutionary history has been closely tied to the development of digital technology and the Internet.

  LMS has its history in another term, integrated learning systems (ILS) which offers additional functionality beyond instructional content such as management and tracking, more personalized instruction, and integration across the system. The term ILS was originally coined by Jostens Learning, and LMS was originally used to describe the management system part of the PLATO K-12 learning system, content-free and separate from the courseware. The term LMS is currently used to describe a number of different educational computer applications.

LMS history is marked by a development that advanced rapid knowledge transfer and independent learning. These are some of the most important LMS milestones.

THE LMS TIMELINE

1924

Sidney Pressey invents the first teaching machine. The device resembles a typewriter with a window that could administer multiple-choice questions

1929M.E Lazerte invents the “problem cylinder” a mechanical device that presented a problem to a student and checked whether the solution steps taken by the student were correct.

1956Gordon Pask and Robin Mckinnon-wood invent SAKI, an automatically adjusted the difficulty of the questions, based on the learner’s performance.

1960

The university of Illinois at Urban-campaign develops PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operation). This system let different users types interact, including instructions and author who could create course material and students who could complete this material online.

1969The US department of defence commissions the creation of ARPANET, a precursor to today’s World Wide Web.

Hewelett-Packard introduces the first ever desktop personal computer, setting

1970 the PC market into motion and making widespread e-learning possible.

1982TCP/IP was introduced, giving birth of the world wide web. This made online learning possible.

1983

MIT announces “Project Athena”, a five-year initiative to computers for teaching. In just two years, 60 such projects were undertaken.

1992Geometrix Data Systems releases the LMS training partner.

1997

Course Info develops the interactive learning network. This was the first e-learning system of its kind to leverage a rational MYSQL database.

1999EPATH first releases its LMS system ASAP.

2002Open-Source, internal network LMS Moodle is released.

2004SCROM 2004 is released. This remains the current version that many LMS systems are based on today.

2005NACON consulting releases the distance education system, virtual on demand, which can train users in software programs. Using only a web browser, the army later uses this to train IT support personal.

2006OLAT 5.0, placing with ajax supports an emphasus on a collaborative environment.

2008Eucalyptus was released as the First Open-Source, AWS and API-Compatible platform for displaying Private Clouds.This sparked an explosion in cloud computing that eventually enabled learning management systems to exist entirely online without needing to be installed on an internal network

2012Today, most modern LMS systems are hosted in the clouds, freeing companies from the installing and maintaining in house systems

TYPES OF LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

There are now dozens of different types of Learning Management System, or LMS, used by organizations to manage e-learning and deliver course materials to employees. And while these systems typically share a common purpose — to manage and administer a curriculum to a large and sometimes scattered workforce — the individual features of each of these platforms can vary pretty widely.

In choosing an LMS, it’s important for an organization to consider how it plans to deliver training materials to students. Then match your organization’s needs to an LMS that offers the corresponding features. The following are the different types of LMS:

FREE Vs. COMMERCIAL

This is typically one of the first dilemmas organizations face when choosing an LMS: Free, Open-source software, or a Commercial platform? Certainly both have their benefits.Free open-source software has a pretty clear upside: it’s free. Also because the source code is open, it can be modified to be highly customizable for each organization.

Commercial software, on the other hand, offers users a support staff and tends to be much easier to deploy a and use. But of course it costs money. Among commercial LMS products there are typically two main forms: installed, or the service based cloud option.INSTALLED Vs. SAAS

One of the most important elements of an LMS is the ability to scale up or down quickly and easily. Commercial LMS products are typically sold as either a locally hosted enterprise product, which is hosted on an organization’s own servers or as a software as a service (SaaS) offering which is hosted on the vendor’s servers and is accessible from anywhere (the data is stores in ‘the cloud’).Cloud-based SaaS products offer trainers more flexibility when it comes to scaling up or down. The data does not have to be stored on local servers,

scalability isn’t a concern; most SaaS LMSs can ramp up or down by thousands of users with ease.

A locally installed LMS offers users the ability to individualize and customize their LMS. So if an organization already has an IT staff in place that can administer the system, handle support and customization and a scalability concerns a locally hosted LMS can be powerful. If not, a SaaS hosted platform may more sense.

COURSE- CREATING OR NOT?

Another thing to looks for in an LMS is whether it comes with the ability to create training content. In some cases, an LMS is simply a tool to distribute course content, which must be created in a Learning Content Management System elsewhere. LMS products and courses that have been written in code that adheres to this standard are readable by any other SCROM-complaint software. (For example, a CD can read by any CD player because it’s always formatted by the same standards. SCROM acts similarly).

INTEGRATED?

Learning Management Systems have come a long way from the earliest days of e-learning. As LMS systems become more sophisticated, one of the most exciting developments is the ability for the system to integrate with other applications your organization already uses whether that’s internal calendars, email or social networks like face book and twitter. Other LMS products may also integrate closely with talent management systems, which tend to focus on providing support to human resources staff functions like recruiting, performance management and payroll you may keep an eye out for an LMS that features this sort of application integration.

FUNCTIONS OF LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Course content delivery Student registration and administration Training event management system(i.e. scheduling, tracking) Curriculum and certification management system

Skill and competence management Skill gap analysis Individual development plan Assessing and resulting Reporting Training record management Courseware authoring Resource management Virtual organizations Performance management system integration

ADVANTAGES OF LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The changing face of education has given birth to various innovations. And Learning Management System or LMS is surely one such advancement that is taking education to the next level Learning or LMS is software used for proper planning and delivery of educational content to students. In fact, it is the anytime solution for content creation for learning, monitoring student participation and assess their performance.Learning Management System or LMS is surely the one solution for educational institutions looking forward to better management of learning activities and overall development of students and faculties as well. Below are some advantages that LMS offers to students, teachers and education in large!

LMS is anytime, anywhere learning: LMS is known for anytime, anywhere learning. Students can get access to study materials from anywhere and at any time, only if they have internet access to them. Institutes can upload all learning materials for the students to use them whenever required.

Learning costs reduced: Educational institutes using Learning Management Systems are offered a chance to save money with proper and easy management of teaching and training. The anytime, anywhere learning nature of LMS is perhaps the main driving force behind this low-cost concept. Teachers can upload learning materials and students or learners can get access to these sources from anywhere with the help of internet. Institutes can save on a lot of administrative costs with lower teaching costs, less traveling, no accommodation costs, etc.

 Reports and statistics for better monitoring: With LMS, teachers have statics and reports on student performance, thus offer better monitor. Tracking down the learning curve of students is easy and so is the future progress based on that. The easiness also allows teachers to conduct online quizzes, surveys and tests as well.

Easy customization of content: Since all the learning materials are uploaded in a central location, it allows learners and teachers to upload new content or modify the existing ones. Easy and fast access to information as allowed by Learning Management System supports fast addition or up gradation of content materials, thus giving the learners fresh new content all time.

 Personalized learning with LMS: Instructors dealing with LMS have the opportunity to develop interactive online courses using audio, video, images and texts which are excellent boosts for learning. Proper communication between instructors and learners is facilitated through discussion forums online, thus, making learning more interactive and personalized.

 Time saving: Above all, LMS saves a lot of time as compared to the traditional method of teaching. This is because of the courses that are just created and hosted for learners who can use them at their convenience. Physical classrooms doesn’t allow the flexibility of customization of courses and materials according to convenience of students.

DISADVANTAGES OF LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Conventionally, LMSs tend to be course centered rather than student centered. At this time, a LMS does not accommodate a complete range of teaching styles.

Some trainers have weak computer and information literacy skills and lack the information management skills needed to successfully use a LMS to support their teaching. Teaching staff in this situation must not only learn how to operate within these environments but also develop a critical perspective of their use of the LMS in teaching in a variety of modes (Samsonov & Beard, 2005).

Many teachers are challenged to design and organize a mixture of learning activities which are appropriate to the needs of the student, teaching skills and teaching styles. (Dwyer & Dwyer, 2003).

It is very easy to convert existing poor teaching practices to a LMS.

Some current research suggests that online teaching leads to an increase in teacher workload (Dralle, A. 2007)

ROLE OF INSTRUCTORS IN LMS

Most learning management system (LMS) users would agree that online learning software is becoming increasingly sophisticated. In the few relatively short years since the advent of online learning, LMSs have become staples that no thriving business can do without. It is truly amazing to consider the capabilities of eLearning software and the endless possibilities of its future development.

Software makes eLearning possible, but the people that manage social learning platforms are the factors that ensure successful online learning experiences. In reality, instructors have the ability to make or break an eLearning course. If a knowledgeable instructor is not involved, even a state of the art LMS will cease to be effective. Most instructors welcome e-Learning systems with open arms because they understand that LMSs are incredibly effective tools for promoting education. It also reduces the workload of instructors as well as learners. Here are a few ways trainers can fully utilize an LMS:

1. Offer support – Simply offering support to learners is a great way that instructors can ensure the growth of an online learning community. In fact, support has to be in place in order for learners to embrace the content of an eLearning course.

2. Guide discussions – In any type of educational setting, students look to teachers to guide group discussions. Learners see online course instructors as experts in eLearning, so trainers should not shrink back from constantly introducing new topics and steering online conversations in the right direction.

3. Offer courses – In addition to guiding discussions and offering support to learners, trainers must help design online courses of study. ELearning instructors should provide the layout of a course, as well as establish mid and end point goals. Ethics and other guidelines need to be established as well. Trainers should clearly communicate expectations to learners and expect them to be met.

4. Require participation – Just like any other person, a learner has a full life and is busy with pursuits beyond online learning. For this reason participation in an eLearning course must be required by a trainer. If participation is not a requirement, it’s unlikely that the information offered in an online course will be fully comprehended. More so, it has been reported that students are more engaged in courses when their participation is required.

5. Provide timely feedback – Learners enrolled in online courses have reported feelings of isolation when their work did not receive immediate feedback. Trainers have it in their power to prevent these feelings of isolation and strengthen social learning communities by providing timely feedback to those engaged in an eLearning course. This behavior is professional and will elicit respect from learners.

6. Communicate effectively – It’s amazing how many different opportunities for communication are made possible by LMSs. Trainers can maximize a learning management system by fostering communication via hosting conferences, public discussions and real time chats. Communication is perhaps the most important aspect of growing a community of online learners who are engaged and eager to assimilate the information presented to them.

CONCLUSIONWith the improvement of Computer Assisted Learning, Learning

Management Systems are gaining popularity as a convenient medium for delivering and managing teaching and or training to the distant learners. It is noticed that Current LMSs are lacking in some functionalities for which they can be used by educational bodies. This work tries to bring out those functionalities which can be incorporated in a standalone LMS to upgrade it into various educational bodies supporting LMS. Objectives of this work

were, to study about LMSs and different modules of an already existing LMS, to explore extra functionalities to transform a generic LMS into an LMS that supports various educational bodies, and to propose a Framework for an LMS that can act as a learning management system for various educational bodies.

The work is not complete in true sense because some of the functionalities like receiving feedback from the participating educational bodies, processing of accounting information and calculating credit transferable to the individual educational bodies are yet to complete. Moreover, more flexibility in program flow is required. In the proposed framework all the fundamental modules needed to facilitate actions for a consortium are identified. However, there could be more investigations needed in different aspects of versatile operation of such a consortium LMS like, extra modules for identifying the best content among the similar subjects, broadcasting any information from the participating universities, checking quality of the content etc, to incorporate quality of the services of the consortium.

The future work will concentrate on these needs and extend the proposed framework to incorporate those modules Moreover we have tried to implement some of the proposed modules and functionalities. But functionalities like receiving feedback from the participating universities, processing of accounting information and calculating credit transferable to the individual Universities are yet to implement. These can be taken as future work.

REFERENCE Ellis, Ryann K. (2009), Field Guide to Learning Management Systems,

ASTD Learning Circuits [20-06-2013 04:00 PM] http://foradian.com/the-advantages-of-learning-management-system-in-

education/ http://www.proprofs.com/c/lms/history-of-learning-management-systems/  Gilhooly, Kym (16 July 2001). "Making e-learning

effective". Computerworld 35 (29): 52–53.