AN EVALUATION FRAMEWORK FOR LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Learning Management System (LMS) is a major tool used in most universities and institutions for online/distance education purposes. Several LM systems are being used in different universities and institutions, and these LM systems are also updating their versions and patches to stay in competition. The selection of an appropriate LMS is not only an important but also critical task as it is expected to manage and support online learning environment. There are online comparison sheets available for different LMS which have generally been scored on the basis of online feedbacks. These online comparisons are not only lacking a comprehensive features and functions’ list but also a generalized LMS scoring function to evaluate different LMS. Apart from this, many researchers have presented their work on the evaluation of different LM systems w.r.t. their features and functions, but these studies are not inclusive and ignore many features and functions’ list. This study aims to propose a framework to evaluate existing learning management systems (LMS) for their available features and functions.

The features have been categorized into seven main heads namely:
(i) Platform and Architecture;
(ii) Administration and Reporting;
(iii) Academic Support Features;
(iv) Content Management;
(v) Smart Features;
(vi) Learners’ Support;
(vii) LMS Support Tools.

All these heads are further explained by more than 20 respective sub-features. Furthermore, evaluation of features and functions is scored through a generalized scoring function. This scoring function computes quantitative score of any learning management system. Lastly, widely used LMS systems including Blackboard, Moodle, and Canvas have been evaluated using the proposed framework and scoring function.