Electronic Courseware in Higher Education

The rising costs of education often lead to the call for a change from the traditional, space–and–time bound institutions to ones that offer increasingly cost–effective, technologically enhanced programs. As institutions of higher education turn to technology, primarily Internet–based, to address these challenges, the use of electronic courseware is dramatically increasing. In order to effectively utilize electronic courseware in the classroom, educators not only need to be aware of terminology, functions, and uses of the most popular types of electronic courseware, but also (and perhaps more importantly) educators need to develop and critique pedagogically based research that can, at the broader level, help educators at various levels of technological expertise learn and adapt their teaching styles to maximize student learning.

In this paper we consider electronic course management systems from a pedagogical perspective, with the goal of aiding educators to effectively utilize electronic courseware in the classroom. By discussing the basics (such as terminology, functions, and uses of the most popular types of electronic courseware) and examining pedagogically based research we hope, at the broader level, to help educators at various levels of technological expertise learn and adapt their teaching styles to maximize student learning.