The learning management system (LMS) has dominated Internet-based education for the past two decades. However, the traditional LMS is failing to keep pace with advances in Internet technologies and social interactions online. To support technological diversity, current frameworks such as the E-Learning Framework (ELF), the IMS Abstract Framework, and the Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI) have defined the initial steps toward service-oriented e-learning platforms. Nextgeneration platforms will be based on these service-oriented visions. Here, the authors discuss LMS evolution and present core challenges that must be addressed to achieve information interoperability in next-generation e-learning platforms. As Internet technologies proliferate into our daily lives, we come closer to realizing new and exciting online opportunities. One such opportunity is in e-learning, in which more dynamic platforms are emerging and replacing traditional, passive ones. Active e-learning employs a broad range of Internet technologies, such as personalization, simulation, and mobility, to achieve pedagogic scenarios otherwise inaccessible to traditional forms of learning.1 Thus, today's elearning platforms must deal with an increasing set of requirements.The demand for modularized and personalizable e-learning platforms is growing. 2 Traditional platforms can't support architectural flexibility due to their monolithic designs. E-learning vendors are addressing this demand by providing toolkits that support customization or by making their source code available for modification under various open source licenses. This indicates an emerging shift from generic solutions to specific applications. Future e-learning platforms will support a wider range of needs by providing interoperability architectures for various existing and emergent services. These needs include federated exchange among services (information and control), various levels of interoperability (intradomain and interdomain), and service composition (orchestration and choreography). Howev- er, these next-generation platforms also introduce wide-ranging issues from numerous research areas, including the Semantic Web, adaptive hypermedia, dynamic services, and federated modeling. Here, we explore e-learning platforms' evolution and illustrate some key challenges to information interoperability in next-generation platforms. E-Learning PlatformsTraditional e-learning platforms, or learning management systems (LMSs), provide holistic environments for delivering and managing educational experiences. They present suites of tools that support online course creation, maintenance, and delivery, student enrollment and management, education administration, and student performance reporting. We can group LMSs into two main categories: Open source LMSs are typically built on extensible frameworks that let implementers adjust and modify the systems to suit their specific needs. Although the proprietary sector hasn't widely adopted it, this approach is emerging through such initiatives as W...

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Developing adaptive, rich-media, eLearning courses tends to be a complex, highly-expensive and time-consuming task. A typical adaptive eLearning course will involve a multi-skilled development team of technologists, instructional developers, subject matter experts and integrators. Even where the adaptive course attempts to reuse existing digital resources, considerable effort is still required in the integration of the adaptive techniques and curriculum. This paper tackles the fundamental challenges of extending adaptivity across not only content (based on prior knowledge, goals, learning styles, connectivity etc.) but also across adaptive pedagogic approaches, communication tools and a range of e-activity types which are required for effective, deeper learning. This paper identifies key activities and requirements for adaptive course construction and presents the design of a tool to allow the rapid construction of such courses. The paper outlines the usage of this tool in the form of a case study and presents its research findings.

Academic psychiatry departments have two principle roles within undergraduate medical education. The first is to increase knowledge about psychological and psychiatric disorders and their treatments. The second is to help students develop the clinical skills to sensitively, effectively and accurately interview patients with psychological problems (General Medical Council, 1993) and to assess the mental states of patients.

Online simulations an efficient and effective means of delivering engaging educational experiences. Soft skill simulations, which utilize rich media, are particularly immersive. There are many advantages in using online rich media simulations such as educational effectiveness and reduction in cost. The key barrier to their mainstream adoption is the complexity involved in their designing developing and testing them (authoring). This paper focuses on a state of the art survey of existing authoring tools for online soft skill simulations and identifies and describes the key requirements needed in an authoring tool.