Managing Distance Learning Systematically: The Change of the LMS and Virtual Classroom Paradigm

Introduction

Distance learning, including the concepts of distance education, e-learning, and online learning is a form of education that focuses on overcoming physical distances among teacher and students via information and communication technologies. These technologies facilitate participants' communication and collaboration. The development of internet technologies and the more use of these technologies have contributed to the spread of distance education. The components of distance education are students, teachers, and course content. The software that brings together these components in different locations is called learning management systems (LMSs). This software provides management and realization of learning activities. LMSs have the following core features:

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  Managing lessons

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  Managing users

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  Sharing, archiving, and organizing learning materials

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  Assessment, evaluation, and exam processes

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  Discussion and communication tools

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  Providing feedback

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  Reporting

In the literature, two types of LMSs are mentioned in the classical sense. Open source and commercial LMSs. Each platform has its own advantages and disadvantages. Commercial LMSs can be easy to install and maintain, but they are costly. In contrast, open-source LMSs are free, but with maintenance and improvement costs. The common problem is that both platforms have long installation times and scaling issues. In the global coronavirus pandemic, these problems have arisen more because users want to switch to distance education quickly. In addition, the high demand for synchronous communication media has caused new problems for existing LMSs. Companies that appeal to the end-user have developed products such as LMS and virtual classroom software to solve these emerging problems. Users demanded and used these products at a high rate. These reasons are thought to differentiate the approach to learning management systems.

Considering the academic studies on the development of distance education, it is seen that the changes are experienced in the technology axis. Some of these studies, which are rare, deal with the changes in a sociological framework. Due to the global coronavirus pandemic, teachers and students who had never experienced distance education before had to meet with distance education. However, the technological infrastructure insufficiencies and the problems in the hardware supply increased the problems experienced by these users. Software companies that saw the gap in the market tried to meet the needs of users by showing a rapid adaptation. All these developments have brought about some changes in the perspective of learning management systems and virtual classroom defined in the classical sense. In this study, the sociological paradigm change on distance education, learning management systems and virtual classroom software due to the coronavirus pandemic is aimed to be shown. In this context, it will be looked at why the LMS and virtual classroom software used in universities changed and how they changed during the coronavirus epidemic. For this purpose, academic publications describing what institutions have done to switch to distance education during the pandemic process were examined. Also, the seminar and conference records in which the managers attended and explained what they did during the pandemic process was examined.

Background

In the 21st century, individuals have to keep up with the changes that occur, produce information and are always ready for development in order to survive in the society, in every field (Trilling & Fadel, 2009). Education is one of the most important ways to cultivate needs of individuals in the society. Nowadays, information technologies are commonly used in all areas,. By the way, educational processes have been improved. Internet technologies has become vital in education. E-learning has great role in getting information rapidly, with low cost when it is needed (Ouf, Nasr, & Helmy, 2010).