The design and implementation of a low-cost e-learning system

Yip Pak-ching
Caritas Francis Hsu College
Hong Kong SAR, China

Nowadays, information and communication technologies (ICT) have replaced chalk and blackboards in classrooms. ICT can provide many benefits to both teachers and students, including: making classes more interesting; making complex concepts easier to understand; providing a student-centred learning approach; and overcoming the problems of time and space limits in traditional classrooms. However, in Hong Kong, many students are passive and show a strong dependence on their teachers; they are shy and unwilling to ask questions and discuss issues openly in class. We can gain the benefits and overcome the problems mentioned above by using widely-adopted e-learning systems in the teaching-learning process.

There is a wide range of commercial and freely distributed systems for e-learning on the market -- including Blackboard (the former WebCT), Lectora, Tooling U, Virtual U, Moodle and Sakai -- all of which have proved to be powerful tools -- though some of them have been criticized for being too difficult for non-IT teachers to use. Also, as the annual subscription fees for commercial web-based e-learning systems have risen sharply in recent years, small-scale teaching institutions may not be able to afford them, and so have to resort to using a freely distributed e-learning system or developing their own system. In developing e-learning systems, flexibility and extensibility are very important: making easy-to-use and/or tailor-made tools for teachers, and being able to refine them, are critical to the success of an e-learning system.

WebTL, a web-based teaching and learning system, has been designed and implemented by Caritas College for promoting a web-based e-learning approach among both teaching staff and students. It provides various online functions for IT and non-IT teachers, as well as students, to enrich the teaching-learning process. This paper presents the design and implementation of WebTL, the roles of the users, how to reduce the development cost, how to improve teachers' efficiency and effectiveness in creating course materials, and how to set up a low-cost server.