What are the students' needs for an appropriate eLearning Platform?
There are many options to realize the distance learning part of Blended Learning. The study of practical implementation of courses offers the following list:
- Simple download of documents (for example from Google Drive) with an upload directory for developed results
- WIKI as a tool for providing content, communication tool in the learning group and as a platform to upload results (for example WikiSpaces)
- Mixture of tools like SkyDrive as a repository, a general blog for communication and presentation of results.
- Implementation of a central eLearning platform (like Moodle)
eLearning Platform
To provide a high level of quality the use of an eLearning Platform is recommended. This platform should offer
- course management including user management
- Communication
- Content and resources
- Working area and assessments
Definition of an eLearning Platform
A learning platform is an integrated set of interactive online services that provide teachers, learners, parents and others involved in education with information, tools and resources to support and enhance educational delivery and management. A Learning Platform is a comprehensive system enabling secure, web-based training and e-learning solution that employs a simple and intuitive user interface[1].
The Consortium's findings
The summary of the findings of the cosortium is available in a PDF-Document: Platform-requirements.pdf (WP 04)
[1] From: Timeless Learning Technologies Inc, 1105 Waverly Way, McClean VA 2210, US http://www.timelesslearntech.com/learning-platform.php (accessed 7/23/2014 3:30 PM)