The fragmentation of the e-learning market provided a challenge in writing this article. It is hard to define product categories, because there are large areas of overlapping functionality among products and a lack of agreed-upon definitions. At the Online Learning Conference & Expo held in September 2002 in Anaheim, California, the list of exhibitor products was classified into seven broad categories. A look at the list of subcategories for only one of these—enterprise systems—illustrates the number of product types, both those designed specifically for e-learning and those that are related and may already exist inside your organization. The enterprise systems category listed exhibitors and products in subcategories as diverse as collaboration software, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, learning management systems (LMSs), knowledge management systems, and training management administration.
This article will focus on the technology categories designed specifically for e-learning: courseware authoring tools, LMSs, and learning content management systems (LMCSs); provide an overview of each category; identify leading products by category; and suggest some of the features/capabilities to consider when making selection decisions for e-learning technologies.
As an information professional, you may be involved in the evaluation and selection of enterprise e-learning tools/systems, most likely in partnership with human resources (HR) training or information technology (IT) professionals. You might also consider e-learning tools to design and deliver learning on information products, services, or skills. The key to choosing the right software application is to understand the gap in skills and knowledge you are trying to fill and at the same time to understand the business issues that are driving the need for an e-learning solution in your organization. You need to consider the following basic questions:
What type of organization are you in? Large organizations need solutions to manage learning opportunities, while this may be less critical for smaller ones. Organizations in some industries (e.g. pharmaceuticals) have strict requirements for skill attainment and need to monitor learning using products that assess and analyze it. Academic organizations have a history of leading the way in online learning using course management software tools.
What do you need the technology to do? Are you seeking learning content that is likely to be readily available off the shelf (as is the case for business skills, sales training, technical skills training, and computer applications training), or is what you need specific to your organization? If so, what tools do you need to assist you in developing and delivering customized e-learning content? Or is content development not the issue and what you really need is help to manage and administer learning (of all types)?
What will work in your culture? Are you in an organization where technology solutions are well received? Or does "starting small" and taking a longer road to e-learning make sense? How does e-learning fit with the organization's goals? Does your existing technology promote ease of access or is technology often perceived as a roadblock to getting things done? How competent are employees at using information technologies?
What resources can be devoted to e-learning initiatives? Many e-learning products entail a significant outlay of money; for example, LCMSs, the newest and most sophisticated of e-learning software, have a price range from $90,000 to $1 million. (From Web-based Training: Creating E-Learning Experiences, 2nd ed. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 2002). Others require considerable expertise and the time of instructional developers and IT professionals. Does an in-house or hosted solution work for you?
Tools Designed for E-Learning
Content Development: Authoring Tools
Authoring is the act of developing instructional content; this is done through one or a combination of three ways: through HTML programming, using general purpose tools such as PowerPoint or Dreamweaver, or using specialized authoring packages. Authoring tools offer elements such as templates for creating courses, features for building tests and quizzes, and schemes for chunking pages into educational units such as lessons, courses, and modules. There are specialized tools to create specific types of content or focused applications such as assessments or simulations right through to products that create traditional online courses. These tools are helpful to course developers, because they eliminate the need to reinvent the wheel by creating navigation devices and site structure specific for learning.
Web-based course management systems are an extension of this category. They combine tools for content development with learning management features—student registration, tracking and assessment—designed in particular for the education market: schools, colleges, and universities. Course management systems are distinguished from LCMSs, covered further on in this article, in that the content development is not based on learning objects but rather is designed to deliver complete and traditional courses.
Authoring Tools Products
• Toolbook Click2learn (formerly Asymetrix Learning Systems) [http://www.asymetrix.com/en/toolbook/index.asp]
• Authorware Macromedia [http://www.macromedia.com/software/authorware/]
• Trainersoft Professional Trainersoft [http://www.trainersoft.com/]
Course Management Systems Products
• WebCT WebCT Inc. [http://www.webct.com/]
•Blackboard Learning Systems Blackboard Inc. [http://www.blackboard.com/]
Content Development: Learning Content Management Systems
An IDC research article describes an LCMS as a "system used to create, store, assemble, and deliver personalized e-learning content in the form of learning objects." In order to understand an LCMS, one needs to understand that learning objects are a new way of thinking about learning content. Instructional designers in the past typically thought about course hours, but learning objects are two 15-minute learning "snippets" that are self-contained, are reusable, can be aggregated, and are tagged with metadata. They may be comprised of PowerPoint slides, quiz questions, video clips, etc. They can be organized for delivery in infinite combinations to meet the needs of individual learners and applications. LCMSs hold great promise for organizations that develop large amounts of content, have strong internal processes, and teach material that is stable enough to benefit from reuse.
LCMS Products
Two of the vendors listed for LMS products, Docent and Click2learn, also have LCMS products. Other prominent products include the following:
• KM Studio Knowledge Management Group Inc [http://www.kmg pinc.com/]
• KnowledgeOne Content Manager Leading Way Knowledge Systems [http://www.leading way.com/elearn.htm]
• TopClass LCMS WBT Systems [http://www.wbtsystems.com/ products/lms]
Training Administration: Learning Management Systems
It is unfortunate that LMS and LCMS have such similar names, because they have two very different functions. While the focus of an LCMS is to manage and deliver content, LMSs manage and administer learning. Understanding the difference can be confusing, because most LCMSs have built in LMS functions. The primary objective of an LMS is to manage learners, keeping track of their progress across all types of learning activities, including classroom and online. To do this, LMS software tracks courses in a catalog, schedules and registers students for courses, and tracks and reports on learner progress. The latter may be in the form of course completion or rudimentary tests but more sophisticated LMSs provide more in this area. An LMS will also launch e-learning courses. LMS users in the organization are generally training managers, instructors and administrators—not content developers—as an LMS does not include its own authoring capabilities.
LMS products
• Saba Learning, Enterprise Edition Saba [http://www.saba.com/english/index.asp]
• Aspen Learning Management Click2learn (formerly Asymetrix Learning Systems) [http://home.click2learn.com/en/aspen/aspen_lms.asp]
• Docent Learning Management Server Docent [http://www.docent.com]
The Features/Capabilities to Look for in E-Learning Tools
As well as reviewing organizational considerations, there are the following e-learning tool characteristics to consider in the "best for you" choices:
• Ease of use, including an appropriate level of technical ability requirements, an intuitive user interface, features that permit quick and easy addition of material into the product, and quick and easy retrieval
• Ease of integration with other business applications, such as Microsoft Outlook, financial and HR systems, customer relationship management (CRM) and ERP
• Compliance with standards, including interoperability with other learning components such as actual online content, as it is dependent on the product supporting learning technology standards
• Scalability, which includes the capability to serve large organizations with multiple types of learning—formal, informal, offline as well as online and distance learning
• Availability of specific features that meet learner's needs, including an assessment that goes beyond rudimentary testing to sophisticated competency mapping and skill gap analysis and may lead to the need to have multiple language options or additional modules for features such as learner collaboration/communication during and after course completion • Ability to incorporate an array of media types
• Support and training with a variety of options such as classroom or online, customer site or offsite (Assess the independent support services available for the product through consultants and contractors, newsgroups and forums, and third-party books and training.)
• Offsite hosting (In e-learning, most categories of software are offered as hosted solutions, but not every product in a given category may be available.)
• Customization (Can you easily extend and customize the product to meet your exact needs?)
• Viability and maturity, including assessing the financial condition and longevity of the supplier and its product
E-learning holds great promise for individuals and organizations. In order to avoid the often-documented perils of e-learning—underutilization and "drop-out"—one critical step is to carefully match your requirements with the available software. Given the proliferation of product types and tools, this is no easy task, but the potential of "just-in-time, just-for-me" learning is worth it.
