The Distance Education and e-Learning Landscape: Volume 1: Learning Management Platforms, Software and Tools

Abstract

Several traditional dividing lines have existed as methods of defining distance education and e-Learning.

These have included:

• Synchronous (real-time) versus asynchronous (on-demand)
• Brick-and-mortar (physical universe) versus online learning
• Learning moment versus learning reinforcement (live or on-demand)

This report series is meant to serve as a broad overview of today' s state of the distance education and e-Learning markets. Wainhouse Research has made a conscious effort to narrow its coverage to those companies that offer some type of strategic differentiation or go-to-market messaging unique to one of three major markets: corporate training, higher education, or K-12.

Five major technology areas and their applications are covered in the three volumes of The Distance Education and e-Learning Landscape report series:

• Provides industry overview of LMS and corollary software tools, with profiles of Adobe, Blackboard, Cisco, GeoLearning, IBM, Learn.com, Linden Lab (Second Life), Plateau Systems, Saba Centra, and SumTotal Systems. Other companies and/or products discussed include Angel Learning, Desire2Learn, Microsoft, Moodle, Oracle, Sakai, and SkillSoft..

• Provides industry overview of videoconferencing and streaming video products and services for distance education, with profiles of Cisco, Haivision, IOCOM, Polycom,RADVISION, Sonic Foundry, TANDBERG, and Vbrick. Other companies discussed include LifeSize Communications, Safari, Aethra, and SONY.

• Provides industry overview of web conferencing, classroom management, and virtual classroom products and services for distance education, with profiles of Adobe, Cisco, Citrix Online, DyKnow, Elluminate, IBM, Interwise (AT&T), Interwrite Learning, Linden Lab (Second Life), Mimio, Saba Centra, Smart Technologies, Wimba, and WebEx. Other companies and/or products discussed include iLinc, Microsoft, Polyvision, Promethean, and others.

This report series focuses on vendors and service providers who create technologies that are used to deliver instructional content, and to manage (or create context for) evolving relationships between educator/trainer and learner. Figure 1 illustrates the types of technologies covered by this report series, and what might be referred to as a unified collaboration environment for distance education and e-Learning. The “unification process” is only just underway, but will continue to evolve for years to come.

Each volume of this report series contains a market overview, vendor profiles of key and up-and-coming vendors, market forecast, and predictions and probabilities for a wide variety of future directions for the covered industries. Those predictions are offered in terms of percent probability by fall 2009 and fall 2012.

Each market overview describes:

• Market dynamics
• Ability to execute contrasted with depth of offerings
• Buying and deployment behaviors
• Strategies for and approaches to the education and e-Learning markets
• Depth of offerings/ability to execute comparisons between vendors

Wainhouse Research held one or more briefings with every vendor profiled. Some briefings included product demonstrations. Additional primary research was conducted through interviews with a select group of educators and trainers, and with some vendors not covered through profiles but discussed in the market overview. Secondary research consisted of reviews of numerous research reports and online data sources. We combine these efforts with our past coverage of distance education and e-Learning, most of which has surrounded videoconferencing, web conferencing, groupware, and streaming video applications, best practices, and uses cases.