Building optimised learning management
The philosophy behind Ped-Care's application tool is one, which recognises that when it comes to e-learning, technology, pedagogy and business are merged. Therefore, LRM (Learner Relationship Management) methodology aims to improve the manner in which channels of student-teacher communication are managed as well as the tracking and evaluation of student progress. In order for this methodology to be applied, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) techniques were implemented and tailored toward education. This included designing a toolkit with five main applications that are streamlined to close any existing gaps in current Learning Management Systems (LMS). Thus, Ped-Care's overall aim includes increasing student satisfaction through optimised monitoring and evaluation of their progress. The toolkit applications are made up of several architectural components that have different functions. For example one of them is the Intelligent Messages Manager (IeMM) that helps teachers manage communication channels and enhance learner relations. IeMM can take student questions sent to the teacher via eMail, SMS, etc analyse the nature of the question and chose the best answer available. The answer can then be sent to the student automatically without any human interaction making it more efficient. Another option is for the teacher to receive a confirmation. This way, a learner profile can be compiled. When the teacher is not available another option is for the question to be forwarded to other departments. In this way the FAQ page is automatically updated. The IeMM has a more personalised aspect to it as well since it can take the learner's segment of classification into account. Besides the IeMM, the toolkit has many other architectural components. These include the Market Campaigns Manager, Contents Manager Tools, Monitoring Tools and Help-Desk, Pedagogical Segment Manager, Information Analysis Tools and M-learning. The Ped-Care toolkit can be installed in only one server and any distributed architecture is acceptable so no additional investment on software licenses is required. It can be widely used by e-learning platform providers and education providers as well as in the training process of any organisation that offers education services via Virtual Campus or LMS.
