Microsoft SharePoint Learning Kit to replace Class Server
Microsoft is currently working on a SCORM 2004 compliant e-learning tool for Microsoft SharePoint 3.0 products and technologies named the SharePoint Learning Kit. This education-specific technology will replace Class Server in the next generation Microsoft Learning Gateway solution in early 2007. The SharePoint Learning Kit will run all of your Class Server content and will be available at no cost.
Microsoft SharePoint Learning Kit
The Microsoft SharePoint Learning Kit (SLK) is a standards-compliant e-learning tool that integrates with the Microsoft Learning Gateway solution. This combination makes it easy for educators to deliver both interactive and basic documents.
SLK helps users deliver, track, and grade e-learning content with full SCORM 2004 compliance. It also supports basic functions for any electronic document. To empower community extensions and enrichment, SLK is designed to support developer accessibility and will be released under a community-license agreement at no cost.
Microsoft Learning Gateway enables educational institutions to quickly build and deploy a security-enhanced Web-based learning environment with rich collaborative tools that deliver line of business applications in one fully managed environment-and it connects the right people to the right information at the right time.
SharePoint Learning Kit Overview
SharePoint Learning Kit (SLK) is a SCORM 2004-conformant e-learning delivery and tracking application built as a SharePoint v3 solution. It works with either Windows SharePoint Services 2007 or SharePoint Portal Server 2007, and has the following core features:
Microsoft E-Learning Solutions
Effective e-learning offers students of all ages and abilities the chance to learn anywhere, at any time and at their own pace. e-Learning enhances the learning process by offering a different way of delivering education.
Microsoft Case Studies of SharePoint in Further Education
Microsoft Portals in Education
Microsoft's portal solutions offer a rich suite of easy-to-use tools and help simplify data management within a network. They can also give users immediate access to resources, and control over when and how they share information. Portal technology offers even more advantages when integrated with a management information system (MIS).
Recent trials indicate that Microsoft SharePoint products could be the information-sharing technology of choice for education professionals. A number of Microsoft Partners have already begun working with universities, colleges, schools and local education authorities (LEAs), with the aim of demonstrating the value of portal technology in supporting strategic organisational change.
Microsoft Higher Education Portals
With Microsoft portal technologies, colleges and universities can offer self-paced, online learning opportunities; make it easier for students and faculty to collaborate through online communities; and provide services such as class registration and financial aid from a single point of entry through a Web browser.
SharePoint Solutions USA has had an ongoing consulting project with Central Michigan University for the past nine months. The project involved the design and development of a new student portal based on SPS 2003. CMU has had a homegrown portal for students, but it had become outdated and they wanted something that was more flexible and had more features. They also needed the portal to be the front door to a new SAP Campus Management System that has been under development for over a year.
The new CMU Student Portal launched in early July 2006.
CMU has approximately 20,000 students that will be using the portal. One of the most exciting aspects of the design is that each student will get their very own My Site. Prior to the new portal, students did not have a single place on the CMU network where they could store all of their important documents. Each college/department had its own network storage and students could use those file shares as they were enrolled in courses for a given college/network.
Now, with My Sites, students will have one place to store their documents AND it is accessible from anywhere they can open up a browser and get on the Internet and authenticate to the CMU SharePoint servers. This will be a vast improvement over what they have had.