To what degree do corporate designed portal software solutions support K-12 learning needs?

Murphy, Eoin Patrick (2010) To what degree do corporate designed portal software solutions support K-12 learning needs? Masters thesis, Dublin, National College of Ireland.

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Abstract

This study investigates what value software supplied by corporate vendors brings to an education environment. The study explores to what degree corporately produced Knowledge Management and collaborative software that is primarily developed for corporate environments can be of benefit to K-12 educators and students.

This study is based on the implementation of a content management system based on Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server (MOSS). Many school districts in the United States use this system.

This study took a twofold approach to collecting data; key product stakeholders were identified and interviewed. The stakeholders ranged from sales and marketing individuals to more technical focused individuals. The data collected from the interviews was validated in an online survey with 28 teachers from a school in Gilford County, North Carolina participating. The participants are all frequent users of the MOSS based content management system.

In general the vast majority of teachers are satisfied with the content management system however most felt that the system is not being used to its full potential as there are numerous requests for more digital content to be made available.

The system had an extremely quick time to market as a lot of the system features came "out of the box" with MOSS. System administrators claim ongoing support of the system is challenging, this is primarily due to the skills required to administer MOSS. MOSS governance means that tasks such as data migration and iterative releases are time consuming in comparison to custom built solutions.

Findings suggest that most users are not aware that the system is MOSS based and that they are impressed with the systems collaborative offerings. Troubleshooting support issues are frustrating as unique MOSS skills are required for such interactions.

This study discuses the perceived advantages and disadvantages that were identified. Although the system is of benefit to users the study concludes that such a system has a negative impact on the overall K-I2 learning environment, this is mainly due to maintenance overheads and high costs of the system.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	L Education > LC Special aspects / Types of education > E-Learning L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1501 Primary Education Q Science > QA Mathematics > Computer software T Technology > T Technology (General) > Information Technology > Computer software
Divisions:	School of Computing > Master of Science in Learning Technologies
Depositing User:	SINEAD CORCORAN
Date Deposited:	28 Feb 2011 20:20
Last Modified:	14 Jan 2015 11:00
URI:	https://norma.ncirl.ie/id/eprint/484

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