Online learning Essay

Online nurture tools argon of great profit they are widely utilise in learning practice. Market offers a variety of ascendents that differ in their train of sophistication and functions offered. The purpose of this paper is to discuss three operational solutions and specimen their utilization in learning process, namely FlexTaining, Rollbook, and Moodle. The FlexTraining Total e-Learning Solution by National Training Systems is effective bundle for e-learning management. Since online education is becoming increasingly more common and popular, e-learning management solutions have gradu all(prenominal)y started to gain great relevance.The software is utile and user-friendly, therefore it elicit be effectively used during the online learning phase. It provides for a possibility to incorporate various file data formats, including Video, PowerPoint, Flash, and PDF it can be used to crate a truly multimedia environment. The solution has won recognition from leading educational i nstitutions, major multinational companies, and political agencies alike. The software is powering e-learning for Duke University, Stanford University, Microsoft, Phillips, U. S. Department of Labor, U. S.Department of Air Force, and a host of unlike institutions and organizations. The tools offered by the FlexTraining Total e-Learning Solution include Visual Course detergent builder (allows creating classes), Assessment Tool (allows creating online tests), FlexAuthoring (allows developing course content), and Reporting and Analysis (allows introduce students performance). While or so of the functions offered by the FlexTraining are available in early(a) software solutions, its unique feature and most useful tool is, in my opinion, FlexAuthoring. It offers template-based authoring for creating lesson plans and course content.It is an invaluable tool for inexperienced instructors who need guidance in structuring their material. An other(a) powerful feature of the FlexTraining is pre- and post-assessment. It is useful as a observe tool that enables teachers to determine whether training needs have been fulfilled. It can farther become the basis for teachers self-assessment and continuous improvement. Availability of interactive exercises is also a useful feature of the FlexTraining. It compensates for lack of face-to-face contact with a teacher lack of such contact is often cited as one of the biggest disadvantages of duration education.In addition, the software offers opportunities for self-paced training, thus being accommodating students preferences for instructor-led or various(prenominal) learning. Searchable document libraries make navigation easier both for teachers and students. All these functions can be of enormous use during the online learning phase and are enabling for students in their work in online environment. Rollbook by Intellum is usually used for corporate training, unless it has a number of unique features that can be of great ut ility in classroom settings.This software solution is rather simple as compared with other programs available on the market. Its unique features include a schedule (a personal schedule of events and authorized sessions), a branching group structure (a structure that allows forming smaller subgroups within large groups and customizing functions such as reports or mailing lists for these smaller groups), learning paths (a function that groups relevant courses into learning tracks) and initiation of course certificates. An alterative to the proprietary FlexTraining and Rollbook is the blunt source solution called Moodle.It offers most of the functions FlexTraining and Rollbook have (such as chat, forum, polls, assignments, quizzes, etc. ), yet it has several advantages. The strength of all open source technologies, apart from the apparent cost cutting, is the ability of different software developers to continuously improve and update solutions. Moodles focus is on interaction betwe en teacher and students and especially among students. For instance, similar courses can be grouped together as a meta course, allowing students fro different yet relate course to interact with each other.Moddle is also better suited to declare multimedia students can upload multiple files in any format as one assignment (for instance, if a research project consists of a text file, several images, and a video, this function is very handy). All the said(prenominal) resources enable students to use the Internet in an estimable, legal, and educational way. All these software packages, by virtue of their functional orientation, are empowering tools, since e-learning makes education more available and affordable for all.Their focus on continuous education is another large advantage of online learning method. The FlexTraining software also allows teachers to check for plagiarism. All the documents uploaded to the trunk by students can be compared with Internet sources, sources from the Document Library, and previous plant submitted by the same student or other students. This function gives teacher an opportunity to detect plagiarism immediately and take appropriate administrative action. Plagiarism is one of the most widespread and harmful examples of dishonest donnish practices.Although this phenomenon is condemned by all educational institutions, plagiarism still pervades many spheres of education. Therefore, it is of preponderant importance to ensure that students academic essays and papers are original. A student who engages in plagiarism deprives him/herself of the opportunity to benefit amply from the education s/he is undertaking. Since every assignment is designed in order to help students to gain deeper knowledge of a certain subject, evading individual research and analysis hinders the continuity and integrity of the education process.Copying the ideas of other people without proper acknowledgement is a practice that all teachers should generat e to eliminate completely. This is possible to do only with special software. Helping students to register and avoid plagiarism is the key to introducing them to Internet use following the principles of ethical, legal, and educational approaches. As concerns Moodle, its open source philosophy is the softwares added pry together with better quality, it makes students reflect on the differences between proprietary and open source programs.Such a critical reflection on the portion of the Internet in challenging the fundamentals of capitalism and empowering creative car park might make students more aware of the problems of Internet governance and ethical use of this powerful tool for the benefits of all and not only intimate few. Rollbook and Moodle have a closer focus on individual and peer-to-peer learning, as opposed to the FlexTrainings focus on instruction-led teaching and strict get up monitoring.Thus, Rollbook and Moodle are better suited to educate students about Internet s ability to offer innumerable opportunities for individual and collective learning. References Intellum, Inc. (2008). Hosted Learning charge System. Retrieved July 4, 2008, ffrom http//www. intellum. com/web2006/hosted_lms National Training Systems. (2008). FlexTraining Total E-Learning Software Solution. Retrieved July 3, 2008, from http//www. flextraining. com N/a. (N/d). Moodle. Retrieved July 3, 2008, from http//moodle. org