SOFTWARE SUPPORTED DISTANCE LEARNING

Abstract

Special attention is paid to distance education development in the world. A great number of world higher education institutions have this form of education in their curriculum. Intensive implementation of information technologies in educational processes is priority of modern higher education institutions all over the world. A suitable software platform is necessary for a modern distance education system. Basic features of software package for distance education, made by LINK Group from Belgrade, and experiences of its application in LINK Group in education of information technology are presented in this paper. The basic elements of the system are: learning materials, and managements system. Learning materials are comprised of texts, multimedia contents, dictionary, and frequently asked question. The examples and case studies are included. Assessment system contains assignments, projects, papers, tests, tasks and reports. Management system includes learners, authors, instructors and system administrators. Subsystems for the learners are: student progress tracking system, assessment system, notification system, communication, consultations, support and help with learning. Subsystems for the authors are: support and notification system. Subsystems for the instructors are: student progress tracking system, assessment system, notification system, communication with the learners, consultations with the learners and support. The software platform is fully applicable to formal higher education and secondary education. The application of the system is proved simple and successful in practice.