Managed learning environment |
A Managed Learning Environment (MLE) is a Software system designed to facilitate teachers in the management of online educational courses for their students, especially by helping teachers and learners with course administration. The system can often track the learners progress, which can be monitored by both teachers and learners.
These systems usually run on servers, using one or more Databases and a programming or scripting language such as PHP to serve the course to students as internet pages.
Components of these systems usually include templates for content pages, discussion forums, chat, quizzes and exercises such as multiple-choice, true/false and one-word-answer. Teachers fill in these templates and then release them for learners to use. New features in these systems include Blogs and RSS (protocol). Services generally provided include access control, provision of E-learning content, communication tools, and administration of user groups.
=Similar Terms=
It is a computer program that facilitates computerised learning or E-learning. Such e-learning systems are sometimes also called Learning Management Systems (Learning_Management_System), Course Management System (Course_management_system), Virtual Learning Environments (VLE), education via computer-mediated communication (CMC) or online_education.
Also called Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Learning Management System (LMS), Course Management System (CMS), Learning Support System (LSS) or Learning Platform (LP).
In the United Kingdom and many European countries the terms VLE and MLE are favoured. Becta in the UK have coined the term LP to cover both MLE and VLE as used in the schools sector. In the United States, CMS and LMS are the more common terms, however LMS is more frequently associated with software for managing corporate training programs rather than courses in traditional education institutions.
=Facilities=
An MLE should make it possible for a course designer to present to students, through a single, consistent, and intuitive interface, all the components required for a course of education or training. Although logically it is not a requirement, in practice MLEs always make extensive use of computers and the Internet. An MLE should implement all the following elements: *The syllabus for the course *Administrative information including the location of sessions, details of pre-requisites and co-requisites, credit information, and how to get help *A noticeboard for up-to-date course information *Student registration and tracking facilities, if necessary with payment options *Basic teaching materials. These may be the complete content of the course, if the MLE is being used in a distance learning context, or copies of visual aids used in lectures or other classes where it is being used to support a campus-based course. *Additional resources, including reading materials, and links to outside resources in libraries and on the Internet. *Self-assessment quizzes which can be scored automatically *Formal assessment procedures *Electronic communication support including E-mail, threaded discussions and a chat room, with or without a moderator *Differential access rights for instructors and students *Production of documentation and statistics on the course in the format required for institutional administration and quality control *All these facilities should be capable of being hyperlinked together *Easy authoring tools for creating the necessary documents including the insertion of hyperlinks - though it is acceptable (arguably, preferable) for the MLE to be designed so that standard word processors or other office software can be used for authoring.
In addition, the MLE should be capable of supporting numerous courses, so that students and instructors in a given institution (and, indeed, across institutions) experience a consistent interface when moving from one course to another.
=Popularity=
university and other institutions of higher education are increasingly turning to MLEs in order to: *Economise on the time of teaching staff, especially when they are also involved in research and administration. The extent of the economy over traditional talk-and-chalk teaching is not yet clear, but using an MLE almost certainly absorbs less instructor time (and requires less expertise, while producing a more professional result) than creating a home-grown website for a course. *Provide a service for students who increasingly look to the internet as the natural medium for finding information and resources. *Ensure that quality control requirements are met by providing a standard vehicle for collecting the required information *Facilitate the integration of distance and campus-based learning. or of learning on different campuses.
A major problem with solutions available at the start of 2005 is that there is often no easy way of transferring a course site from one package to another, so that the considerable investment in time required to fit a course to one MLE package is likely to be wasted if an institution changes its MLE supplier, if an instructor moves from one institution to another that uses a different MLE, or if institutions using different MLEs wish to collaborate. Some organizations have addressed this issue by defining standards for learning objects, such as the Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) used by the US Department of Defense and the IMS Content Packaging specification.
Some institutions have attempted to combat this problem by agreeing in collaboratives to share common platforms. Use of open source MLEs such as Moodle have more recently enabled institutions to share content more easily.
=Systems available=
For those wishing to deliver e-learning there are many free open source and several proprietary MLEs available for use. Open source MLEs are increasingly popular and can be easily installed and customised with little programming knowledge.
Setting up an MLE typically requires access to a web server which supports the language that the MLE is written in (PHP is common), as well as a database backend. MySQL and PostgreSQL are popular whilst proprietary backends like MS SQL and Oracle are not frequently used with open source MLEs.
Given the rising popularity of functional free systems will reduce the restrictive cost of proprietary MLEs or drive them to focus on particular niches. For example, Knowlagent is now designed to integrate with the PBX systems of call centers and push content during times of low call volume.
==Open Source==
The community which surrounds a particular open source MLE is often the determining factor in its success. New or less popular open source MLEs might be distributed as is, leaving the user to fend for themselves. Popular MLEs however, (such as Moodle and Dokeos ) provide both free tech support communities as well as pay-for-support vendors from a variety of sanctioned companies.
==Commercial==
There are a number of commercial (proprietary, closed source) MLE software packages available. *[http://www.angellearning.com ANGEL Learning LMS and ePortfolio] *[http://www.blackboard.com Blackboard (which has acquired WebCT)] *[http://www.desire2learn.com Desire2Learn] *[http://www.ecollege.com eCollege] *[http://www.netdimensions.com NetDimensions Enterprise Knowledge Platform (Gold/Silver/Bronze)] *[http://www.gradepoint.com Gradepoint] *[http://www.webct.com WebCT (potentially being acquired by Blackboard)]
=See also=
*Content Management Framework *E-learning *Computer-assisted language learning
=References=
*Paulsen, M. F. 2003. Online Education and Learning Management Systems - Global Elearning in a Scandinavian Perspective. Oslo: NKI Forlaget.|
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