Without knowing the details, my guess would be that CMS would not be worth it for just CBT/LM use. But if you have a CMS anyway, it could be a big boost to CBT (Computer Based Training) development.
I have some experience with educational content and CMS. Clearly, testing, scoring, tracking student progress, course prerequisites - and managing all of the above - are not the purview of CMS, per se. My limited experience with these types of systems (as a student within a large corporation) tells me these can often have tight integration with existing systems, procedures, etc. I.e. many CBT tools can be thought of as specialized app development tools - more like VB and Delphi than Office or FrameMaker.
So far, so good. But where and how does CMS fit in? What I have seen is that there is no clear line between KM and training materials. I.e. new hires get trained on the current procedures, customers and regulations, etc. But these things are often dynamic, so all employees need to refer back on occasion. So, sure, some materials are more tutorial in nature. But many can serve dual purposes.
In theory, any CMS with a decent client API could be integrated into your CBT tool of choice (check the specs). As with any client application, some care should go into the interface so that applications are robust when content is added, changed or deleted - including minor style or layout changes.
A well thought out taxonomy of collection/subject/subtopic is a good start. Multi-valued attributes are important here to easily allow a single source document to appear in multiple categories. I have seen this approach work very well with educational materials included as part of a larger website. There is no reason a CBT app could not benefit from the same treatment.
take it easy,
Charlie
At 09:57 AM 1/24/2003 +0000, David O'Dwyer wrote:
I'm seeing some vendor driven confusion in the market place. We have a profusion of Learning Management System suppliers and now Learning Content Management Systems (following SCORM standards see http://www.adlnet.org) out in the market place. My perspective on this is (and I don't call myself an expert)
i) Functionality of LMS's (online learning usage and performance tracking, training management etc.) is necessary in many medium to large organisations.
ii) CMS's (imperative for any organisation with an internal or external web strategy)
iii) LCMS's at one level seem to be doing i) and doing part of ii) (mainly focusing on 'structured/planned learning')
Seems to me that we are missing the point somehow (or maybe I am?) Surely what we need is:
i) Full blown corporate content management capabilities that allows for a variety of user interface development tools with
ii) Tracking and usage functionality and
iii) Interoperability with other corporate systems (e.g. HR Management)
This can happen now with a lot of difficulty but what typically happens is
i) LMS 'content' is thought of as a different animal and as such gets seperated from the wider accessibility/content management strategy.
ii) LMS implementers and learning and development folk continue to live in the 'online training' paradigm rather than really looking at how the web can radically bring performance improvement.
Surely from the users perspective they are one and the same.
Anybody got any ideas/thoughts/experience with this?
LOVE to hear thoughts...
-- http://cms-list.org/ more signal, less noise.
