Learning
Management Systems Comparison
Dan McDowell
ET650 Distance Education
Dr. Fred Saba, SDSU Educational Technology Department
Through a link on the main page, the instructor can access a Control Panel. This menu has six categories with each category having 2-8 links. The category subjects include Content Areas, Course Tools, Course Options, User Management, Assessment, and Assistance. The links within each category are very clear and descriptive. Someone unfamiliar with the interface could navigate to the appropriate section.
The Administration Menu in PostNuke is also accessed through a link in the main menu. This menu is much more complex then BlackBoard. It contains links to all of the installed modules. Unlike BlackBoard, the modules are not necessarily administered in the same fashion. The open source PostNuke LMS has a number of authors who have contributed pieces to the larger picture. As a result, most of the menus for the specific modules are different.
The modules and menu items are added through “blocks.” For example, the forum is added as a block and then added to the main menu block so it can be accessed.
While PostNuke lacks the uniformity of the proprietary BlackBoard LMS, it makes up for it in its robustness. The number of core and add on modules provides instructors with many more options and choices.
Advantage: Both
Your skill level, the amount of time available, and the features you wish to incorporate must be considered before deciding which LMS has the advantage. BlackBoard is relatively easy to configure and upload information, but does not have much flexibility. PostNuke, however, can be tedious and confusing to set up and administer, but has so many more options.