The use of SDMS in developing e-learning systems in South Africa

Abstract

The main focus of this study is to determine if systems development methodologies (SDMs) are being utilised in the development of electronic learning systems in South Africa. Electronic learning, or e-learning, is being employed to educate millions of learners, students and employees around the world and it is a critical component of modern educational systems. To ensure that e-learning systems of outstanding quality are being developed, it is therefore crucial that systems development methodologies are being used as they can have a significant impact on the development process. By utilising a survey as the main research method meaningful results were obtained. This study gave some insights into how learning management system procurement and development is being done in South Africa and revealed that the use of open-source systems currently exceeds the use of proprietary systems. The results of the research showed that systems development methodologies (e.g. Object-Oriented Analysis and Rapid Application Development) are being used in the development of e-learning systems