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Virtual Learning Environments – the Future of InternetMarketing?
by Stuart Marshhttp://www.beardygeek.com 
I have been thinking recently about Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs), as they seemto be ideal for the delivery of ‘paid for content’. In particular eCourses, which couldrange from Internet Marketing to Knitting!This type of delivery is going to become huge in Internet Marketing. eBooks will stillhave a place out there, but with the increase in computing power, and the speed of theaverage net connection, rich media is the way forward for content delivery.There are various ways this type of content could be delivered:
Blogs
 Your material could be put on a blog. The advantages here are that it is a very flexibleplatform to publish any sort of media on, from videos and podcasts to articles andimages. Plus it would be very quick to get set up.The downside is that if you have quite a lot of content, this format doesn’t lend itself wellto structured learning. How do you tell people what material you need them to look atfirst, without having to create an index page that links to all your content pages and blogentries?
Content Management Systems
I looked at CMS systems such asDrupalquite seriously. You can customise them quiteeasily, and add navigation through various administration panels. But it’s still really only1 step away from a blog, and has some of the same disadvantages.
Open Source VLEs
 Now we’re getting a bit closer. There is an open source package calledMoodle, which isbuilt specifically to administer and deliver courses. It has modules for payment, courseenrollment, blogs and forums. Various media can be embedded in it’s pages.But I found that this might be a little too structured, depending on your needs of course.If your material is to be delivered over a fixed period of time, Moodle is probably ideal.But if your content is a little more open ended, lets say for a membership site where thecontent just keeps on expanding, this format might not quite offer that sort of flexibility.
 
Custom Built
Now I can tell you what my next project is going to be! I found a new site called theEncyclopedia of Life. It’s aim is to catalogue every species of animal on the planet. NoI’m not getting into animal conservation. What I did notice is the layout of their pages.Just go and look at them now (if it’s working, they had some problems with their serversdue to load). Take a look at one of the animal entries. They are just beautiful.See how much content they managed to get on 1 page! Everything is Ajax, so there is nopage reloading. There’s a tabbed media frame at the top, which can display images,video, maps, audio. Then there is a contents panel on the left, with an Ajax refreshingcontent pane in the middle.
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