Presentation
Integration of the two homegrown Learner Management Systems of
Deon van der Merwe & Johann Möller, UNISA and Technikon SA
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| Paper (19 pages) |
Both Technikon SA & Unisa (Africa’s two largest distance education institutions) have had a long history of traditional, mainly paper based, correspondence education. With the recent advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the educational sector both institutions allowed a few enthusiasts to explore the online environment for enhanced service rendering, academic support and augmentation of educational practices.
At both institutions the initiatives were initially driven by people with high levels of technical expertise. It was the passionate perseverance of these people and a small number of forward thinking academic staff who have driven the e-learning ideals within the organizations. Even though a great amount of resistance were encountered over the years (and still exists within the academic fraternity), approximately 20-30% of the students at both institutions were using the online facilities by the end of 2003. In January 2004 with the merger of Technikon SA, the University of South Africa and the incorporation of Vista University Distance Education Campus (Vudec) a new comprehensive institution dedicated to open distance learning was created. The merger of the institutions implied the merger of academic offerings, business processes and ICT systems, including the online systems.
The paper discusses the history of the two virtual campuses, reports on the current status of the merger of the two online systems into a single integrated system, and briefly explores future plans for the New Unisa’s online environment.