History of the Learning Management System
People around the world have always wanted to make education accessible, better and faster. To make that happen, a number of devices were developed over the years one such being the cloud-based system, the Learning Management System (LMS).
The LMS is a software application, which can be used for administration, documentation, tracking, delivering, and reporting of e-learning courses. The system provides study materials to the students, act as a way of communication between students and teachers, and can help in the administration of exams and the grading procedure.
However, this system was not always like the way we experience it today. It has developed over several decades and what started off in the 1920s is now one of the most highly recommended learning tools in the world.
The following is an overview of some of the major advancements made in this technology over the years:
The Development of the LMS
The first major advancement was made in 1924, when a professor at Ohio State University invented a teaching machine, which was similar to a typewriter and could be used to administer multiple-choice questions.
Then in 1954 Gordon Pask and Robin McKinnon developed the SAKI (Self-Adaptive Keyboard Instructor), which was an adaptive teaching system that adjusted the difficulty level of the questions based on the learner’s performance.
In 1960 the world’s first computer-assisted instruction program PLATO (Programmed Logic for Automated Teaching Operations) was introduced which helped users such as teachers, authors and trainers interact with each other and create course material and send it to students who could complete the material online.
Next, in 1983 MIT announced Project Athena, a research project with the aim of exploring how computers can be used for teaching. The Athena system is still used in MIT and allows third party education applications to be used into coursework.
After that in 1990, the first Learning Management Software FirstClass was launched by SoftArc and it worked on the Macintosh rather than on mainframe computers like other teaching systems of that time.
In the 1990s many other learning management software were released by companies such as GeoMetrix Data System and ePath but one of the more significant ones was CourseInfo which was introduced by The Interactive Learning Network. This was the first e-learning system of its kind and used a relational MySQL database. This system is installed in a number of universities even today.
Then in 2004, SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model) was released. Even today, many modern systems are based on this model.
In 2006 eLeaP LMS went live allowing any company of any size to quickly and easily create and track online training without needing to physically install anything on services. The next major development was in 2008 when Eucalyptus was released and this allowed Learning Management Software to run entirely online without being installed on computers or on networks.
Finally, from 2012, the Learning Management Systems have been able to take advantage of cloud-based technology. This has made LMS technology very easy to use and accessible from different devices. The modern software has also helped companies save money, as they no longer have to develop their own in-house systems. http://www.eleapsoftware.com
