Digital Education, Learning Management Systems: Shifting Paradigm of Education Technology Within Digital Ecosystems

Introduction

Education can be found in all corners of the world as majority of the population thrive to have more knowledge. Being in the Information Age, there is always alternate ways of doing anything. The world was introduced to e-Learning in the beginning of the Information age and it has improved in an immense rate throughout the decades.

The backbone of e-Learning is the Learning Management System (LMS). This system was created to build an entire institution into the virtual world of the internet. The purpose of LMS is to build a virtual curriculum, overseeing the process of online students, and trying to achieve a similar learning environment as the traditional classroom. To clarify, e-Learning is the universe that the Learning Management System is in. Many systems emerge with the past few decades, systems like the Canvas, Blackboard and Moodle. LMS is widely used to improve skills or for businesses to train employees for additional skills for the workplace. Before LMS helped e-Learning, the earlier system known as Computer Based Training was immensely used to increase the speed rate of education and knowledge across United States of America.

Nowadays, people are called as digital natives as they are exposed to the evolution of technology (Biggins, 2017). The growth of technology gives developers ideas to develop a new paradigm of education to ease and practise new techniques in learning and so, e-learning is designed. E-learning has emerged known as “online learning” or “virtual learning” and has now become a trend. Learning Management System (LMS) is one of e-learning tools that has been implemented and used globally in educational institutions specifically higher educational institutions such as colleges and universities. Canvas and Moodle are two LMS application software that have been implemented in University of Brunei Darussalam (Noorhalim, Takoh, Azman, & Saif, 2016).

Learning Management System is a collaboration of technology computer and network to create a virtual traditional class environment to strengthen and enhance students’ learning technique and experience. Network which is the Internet is vital for linking the users using LMS’s application software around the world (Adzharuddin & Jing, 2013).

LMS is the framework that handles all aspects of the learning process. The discovery of Learning Management System facilitate lecturers and students as it provide features that is beneficial in many ways without being limited to the typical physical classroom setting lectures. For instance, searching for information is more efficient and less time consuming, and users can easily communicate and interact without concerning about the time and place to access it. There are multiple types of LMS available in the market nowadays. After proprietary LMSs such as Blackboard was developed, companies then started to create open source LMS application software which are made easily available to users.

There is also cloud based LMS, the descriptions of these three types of LMSs are provided below:

• i.

  Proprietary LMSs– they are licensed application software that requires certain hardware to develop and install the system for an organization’s use according to Dobre (2015). For example, Blackboard Learn, Design2Learn, etc. It has exclusive access in customizing based on what is demanded.

• ii.

  Open-source LMSs - made available for anyone with any purpose and it is free of charge. Moodle is a well-known type of open-source LMS. With free licensed, it has limited features unlike proprietary, where it can be built based on what is desired.

• iii.

  Cloud-based LMSs - featured with cloud computing and the Internet that can be accessed everywhere at any time. For instance, TalentLMS, DoceboSaaS LMS, and more.