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Distance
Education Technologies
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Computer-Mediated Distance Education (continued)
There are several different options available today to deliver online courses. Course management systems (CMS) are a popular tool at many colleges and universities for delivering web-based and web-enhanced courses.
Course management systems are essentially template-driven web sites which make it easier for faculty to translate their traditional in-class curriculums into web-based delivery. Course management systems focus on ease of use and generic tools such as gradebooks, quizzing tools, and communication tools.
Commercial vendors are competing to develop web-based products for use in distance education courses. The most popular online course management software platforms include:
Another option for creating online courses is for colleges and universities to develop their own home-grown course management systems. These are proprietary systems, which create online course templates that include many of the tools that come packaged with commercial systems.
Open-source course management software is another alternative to commercial course management systems. Open-sources software is attractive because it resides in the public domain and the underlying code can be downloaded for free.
© Copyright 2003 by Kathy Keairns