Designing an Online Learning Management System Framework

Introduction to Online Learning Management Systems

In defining an online learning management system (LMS) framework, considerations of how to enable a high level of collaboration — both among students and between individual students and instructors — are essential for long-term learning to take place. Diametrically opposed to the concept of "drill and kill" as a teaching strategy is the development and continual refinement of learning frameworks. As this literature review illustrates, combining pragmatic and proven theoretical concepts that promote long-term retention of knowledge is achievable through the use of LMS frameworks.

Learning management system frameworks have grown from relatively simplistic causal models to more complex approaches to defining entire online learning ecosystems, as exemplified by Dr. Badrul Khan's models (Khan, 2003). Dr. Khan's models capitalize on the growth of empirical and pragmatic research related to the Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) model (Bannon, 1989; Kanfer, 2001). One of the most promising areas of development within the CSCL framework is the creation of student-tailored scaffolding (Yang, Yu, Chen, & Tsai, 2005), where learning strategies are selectively defined on a per-student basis to create a customized learning approach, enabling higher overall levels of student achievement.

Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL)

One of the basic requirements for education in the future is to prepare learners for participation in a networked, information society in which knowledge will be the most critical resource for social and economic development. Educational institutions are being compelled to find better pedagogical methods to meet these new challenges, beginning with the vision of creating a generation of critical thinkers who can assess, analyze, interpret, and respond to the changing global dynamics that affect them and their careers. In this development, computers are expected to play an important role in restructuring teaching and learning processes to better prepare students for future challenges.

Computer-supported collaborative learning is one of the most promising tools for improving teaching and learning through modern information and communication technology (Lehtinen et al., 2004). Research on cognitive peer interaction indicates that socio-cognitive conflicts emerging in interactive situations facilitate cognitive performance superior to that of individuals working alone (Li, 2002). Furthermore, evidence supports the claim that certain environments are more likely to facilitate adaptation through the development of new cognitive competencies and higher-level expertise (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993). First-order environments are static and changeable, while second-order environments are characterized by conditions to which an agent must adapt dynamically as a function of other participants' progress (Bereiter & Scardamalia, 1993).

CSCL appears to engage students in in-depth inquiry over substantial periods of time and to provide socially distributed cognitive resources for comprehension monitoring and other metacognitive activities. Active participation in comprehensive collaborative activity may support not only advanced conceptual understanding, but also the emergence of new metacognitive beliefs about knowing — and particularly about the importance of understanding (Hatano & Inagaki, 1992; as cited in Lehtinen et al., 2004). The typical classroom does not have the resources needed for successful collaboration because there are not enough anchor points at which action and attention can be coordinated. However, "computers and the accompanying capabilities of computers present an opportunity for mediation tools that assist students in focusing their attention on objects that are mutually shared" (Järvelä, Bonk, & Lehtinen; as cited in Lehtinen et al., 2004).