Learning Management Systems in Academic and Corporate Distance Education

Abstract

Present-day development of information technologies is making deeper and deeper incursions into all spheres of human activity, both social and economic. It is only natural that they greatly influence the educational industry, changing the approaches, methods and forms of education. Currently e-learning and distance technologies are being actively introduced into both academic and corporate education, as complementary to traditional forms. The efforts of teachers are aimed at finding effective models of blended learning. All this determines the relevance of the present study. The abstracted article is aimed at developing frameworks of a distance learning model based on the use of modern learning management systems. To obtain thorough and reliable results the authors make use of two research approaches: acmeological and competence-based. They review the features, the scope and use of the existing LMS platforms and work out tools for the development of e-learning system. In addition, they assess the compliance of e-learning tools with the preferences of X, Y and Z generation users. The outcome of the research is the development of a universal competency that can be applied to the study of modern methods and approaches with reference to both academic teaching and learning, and to corporate training. It is quite apparent that pros and cons of the learning management system and its possibilities should be carefully studied and thoughtfully used. The effective e-learning requires constant monitoring of equipment, proper work of host servers and considering user-friendliness of the platforms. This is related to the fact that public educational organizations, including schools, colleges and universities, especially in low developed countries, prefer traditional teaching methods and are slowly moving to innovative models. The research findings can be viewed as a step forward in creating user-friendly and flexible e-learning platforms, suitable for separate users, institutions and businesses. They can be applied for further assessment of existing learning models, especially for the younger generation, and for research and development of new strategies and methods of using learning management systems and platforms.