Building, Testing and Assessing a Learning Management System

Abstract

This paper summarizes the experiences of our research group in managing the full process of building, testing and assessing a Learning Management System for a educational institution. We will show how we moved across the “make or buy” dilemma that normally educational institutions have to face when deciding to implement a support for online and distance learning activities. We will deal with this theme by referring to systems and prototypes developed by our research group. Specifically, we will describe our experiences in realizing systems for making didactic material available on Internet, such as in the Learning Management Systems - LMS. This experience is based on what has been developed, tested, and put to use in some faculties of the University of Trento, where non-traditional learning environments in which students require more than the traditional face-to-face lessons are becoming ever more important. The prototypes produced are based on platform-independent technologies, and they make it possible to broaden one’s horizons, even for those students, such as lifelong learners, who want freedom from time constraints and also freedom from some technological constraints that are imposed by some forms of distance education currently available on the market. Some extensions to mobile tools like PDA, tablet PC, cellular phones etc. are presented, with regards to the impact of their introduction on the LMS and in general on the information system of the institution.