US university upgrades e-learning offerings

US university upgrades e-learning offerings:

Online learning facilities offered by the University of Texas (UT) at Dallas in the US have been upgraded, the educational institution has revealed.

Blackboard Learn is the new system to be used by students at the university and it has been described by Dr Darren Crone, UT Dallas eLearning director as less of a "walled garden" than the scheme it has replaced.

Selected summer classes will be used to trial the new online learning facility before it is rolled out later in the academic year, with the full campus set to be using it by next spring.

Dr Crone explained the e-learning product was created as a result of input from people such as professors, administrative leaders and faculty and student focus groups.

"We respect that people throughout campus are impacted by the system, so it’s only right that they have input," he said, adding students will be reached out to by the new system through the use of social networking sites such as Facebook, as well as text messaging and email.

"The new system will provide immediate notification of changes with a more modern look and feel," Dr Crone said, highlighting the fact that it is cloud-based, which means it is less likely work will be lost as it is stored on the internet.

Infrastructure such as networks, applications and storage are being hosted remotely, which decreases the risk of a security problem at the UT at Dallas.

Dr Crone explained the e-learning scheme is going to fit in, noting: "Blackboard Learn will integrate seamlessly into the university's existing systems right out of the box."

This comes shortly after research conducted by Bournemouth marketing company TA Solutions indicated that distance learning is proving to be a more popular option for students in the UK, due to the fact it is more cost-effective than going away to university for at least three years.