Hello, amakry-ga!
Individual vendors are likely to offer up rave reviews of their
web-based learning software. Therefore, in order to find objective
opinions, I accessed several articles that compared the particular
Web-based learning systems you highlighted (as well as others).
It is important to note that I cannot recommend one system above
another. Each system includes features that will be best suited to a
particular course and instructor, and experience with a particular
learning software product will ultimately be the most effective
evaluator.
Nevertheless, the following articles do offer some effective criteria
for evaluation. If you want to compare only a few distance learning
programs, it will be most efficient for you to refer to the charts
within each article, and select the software you want to evaluate.
Only you can determine the criteria which you feel is most important.
====
"Evaluation of Web-Based Educational Systems," by Kyriakos V.
Mamoukaris, Anastasios A. Economides and Nikoleta E. Delchanidou.
University of Macedonia.
http://www.abe.villanova.edu/proc2000/n115.pdf
The above article offers an excellent evaluation of LearnLinc,
LearningSpace, Virtual-U, Top Class and WebCt. Numerous features of
each program were measured and compared against one another. The main
groups of criteria evaluated, which included numerous sub-criteria,
were Technology Features, Access Control, Friendliness and Ease of
Use, Collaboration, Professor Assistance, and Usability. Features
measured among the five systems follow:
Platform Independence
Access from Internet/Lan
Web Browsers
Universal Resource Locator
Internet E-mail
External E-mail
Video
Audio
Database
Access Control
Course Restrictions
Testing
Support Question Types
Test Submission and Correction
Reports of User's Progress
Knowledge of HTML
Friendly User's Interface
Glossary
Off-line viewing
Annotation
Index
TextSearch
Learning Goals
Discussion Area
Audio Conference
Video Conference
Bulletin Board
Whiteboard
Application Sharing
Remote Authoring
Adaptable Welcome Page
Building Motivations
Adaptable Courses
Syllabus
Creating Actions
Script Language
Question Pools
Import/Export Courses
Import a Course (doc format)
Import a Course (ppt format)
Crash Recovery Tools
The article is complete with charts that highlight the rankings of
each learning system in relation to the others.
Since criteria are valued differently according to the user, it is
hard to evaluate which program is best. There are many other features
which make up an "ideal" educational web-based program and these
components are mentioned as well.
Under "Choosing the Right Educational Tool" the authors summarize
some other evaluator's opinions and comparisons of various programs
and the articles are referenced with links.
As the article stresses:
"Deciding for the proper software tool to build up an educational
environment is rather perplexing. Generally, the difficulty of
assessing the best product rises from the differentiation of the
software tools regarding their special features........Naturally, it
is narrow-minded to pursue a tool just because many others have
selected it as the most valuable. However, the unlimited alternatives
may cause confusion, unless a logical estimation of the desired goals
is produced. The first step for making the most suitable choice is to
keep in mind the actual purposes and objective intentions aimed by
applying an educational tool for constructina course. One should
identify those important criteria that characterize a web-based class
according to the project's conditions and the instructor's
preferences......"
====
"The Design, Development and Delivery of Internet Based Training and
Education." Center for Learning Technologies (March 2000)
http://teleeducation.nb.ca/content/media/03.2000/ddd-ibte/
highlights the results of an evaluation of numerous web-based learning
programs, which are listed below:
Allaire Forums
Authorware
CourseInfo
Cu-Seeme
Docent
eAdministrator
Eloquent
FirstClass
Generation21
KnowledgePlanet
KoTrain
LearnLinc
Mentorware
Norton Connect
Phoenix Pathlore
Pathware
PlaceWare
Quest
Question Mark
RealEducation
Saba
Serf
SiteScape Forum
Symposium
TeamWave
Virtual-U (TeleLearning NCE)
The Learning Manager (TLM)
Toolbook
Trainersoft
VCampus
Web Course in a Box
WebCT
These programs are evaluated based on the availability of a host of
criteria outlined in the "Evaluation Criteria Glossary" and charted in
Appendix A, B, C and D. There is no attempt to rank the programs from
best to worst, as it has been established that different criteria are
valuable according to different uses.
The article also contains a complete overview of each learning system.
Another chart evaluates each system based on whether they are
Synchronous (real-time) or Asynchronous (time-delayed). The article
does stress that "optimal group learning programs would use both
instructor-led and collaborative learning." The chart clearly
evaluates each programs according to this important feature.
===
The following article provides a brief overview of the most popular
web-based distance education software, followed by links to several
"choice" articles out of the "millions" that contrast and compare
these software systems.
See "Systems and Software." Rutgers Newark Distance Education Resource
Center
http://newark.rutgers.edu/~derc/new_page_10.htm
(Refer to article for brief descriptions of popular systems.)
==
Edutools
http://www.edutools.info/course/compare/index.jsp
will allow you to compare distance learning programs by Product name,
Features, by Preselected Groups and by Products as an Entire Group.
(This feature did not have Learn Linc or Learning Space)
===
"Tools/Reviews and Comparisons." OSC
http://www.osc.edu/education/webed/Tools/review.shtml
provides links to numerous studies comparing web-based distance
learning software programs. The most recent comparisons appear to be
from 2001.
====
I hope the above references provide you with a sufficient source of
objective opinion regarding web-based ODL software programs. They were
the most comprehensive and up-to-date articles I could find which
included the programs you mentioned.
If I can clarify anything further, please do not hesitate to ask
*before* rating this answer and I will be happy to help if I can.
umiat-ga
Google Search Strategy
comparing ODL programs
"virtual U" +pros and cons
"learn ling" evaluation |
