E-Learning & Remote Teaching
COVID-19 pandemic has forced nearly all the schools, colleges and universities in the developed world to abandon normal face-to-face classroom education and switched to remote learning where students receive their education electronically using communication networks and Internet.
Almost all the educational institutions in the developed have been using Learning Management Systems (LMS) over the last few decades. Academics use the LMS platform to provide their lectures notes, slides and other educational materials where the students can access from anywhere.
These LMS systems play a major role in remote learning, where instructor can communicate with students by sharing their computer screen with students who will be far away. Communication platforms such as MS-Teams, Zoom, SKYPE for business and other packages can utilised for this purpose. Various types of LMS will be discussed next.
Learning Management Systems (LMS) and eLearning
The advancements over the last three decades in computer and communication technologies have enabled the educators to provide electronic learning knows as eLearning which has been utilised by many universities, colleges, schools and other organisations in the developed world.
For any institution to embark on eLearning for their students, they must have a Learning Management System (LMS) which may cost the institutions relatively huge sums of money. An LMS provides the backbone on which the workflow of education runs. An LMS can be adopted for various purposes including sharing notes, introducing assignments, lecture slides and post grades and the students can turn in their work and essays trough the same platforms.
There are over hundred software companies which develop LMS every year. Examples of the popular LMS systems which most universities in the developed world employ are follows:
To utilise these and other LMS systems, educational institutions and other businesses must pay in some instances huge premiums every year for the services provided these and other LMS providers.
Beside the above traditional LMS systems, some businesses and educational institutions opt for cloud based LMS systems which does not require huge local infrastructure where the proposed LMS system can be installed and launched. Some examples of cloud based LMS system are follows:
Docebo
LittleLearning.com
Learning Bank
Kallidus Learn
TalentLMS
Looop
Fortunately, some of the main companies which developed LMS systems offer Open Source Learning Management Systems (OSLMS) that offer limited services compared to their premium based services; however, such services are more cost effective and may be enough for some educational institutions to provide online education. Examples of the companies which offer OSLMS systems are as follows:
Blackboard
Moodle
Schoology
Google Classroom
Chamilo
Open edX
Totara Learn
Beside educational institutions, LMS based systems have been used for blending learning in sectors such as ecommerce, game development, Mobile learning, Social learning and video conferencing.
The advantages of LMS together with the availability of low cost plans offered by the traditional cloud based LMS software companies make these companies to grow much faster. The market for LMS according to experts is expected to grow and will exceed $30 billion by 2025 according some sources. Leading industries to utilise LMS will be education, technology, manufacturing and government, however, the LMS will be primarily dominated by academic institutions.