Many of the educational initiatives in recent years have focused on improving the delivery of services by incorporating learning platforms that focus on the K-12 and higher education learning environments, such as WebCT or Blackboard. To determine how these learning platforms are being used today and for what learners, this paper will provide an overview of the features of learning management systems (LMS) that have assumed increasing importance for a wide range of corporate and government-sponsored learning environments. A comparison and evaluation of these platforms and their applicability to the different learning environments is followed by a summary of the research in the conclusion.

             Review and Discussion.

             Background and Overview. In their book, Handbook of Distance Education Technology, Anderson and Moore (2003) suggest that it just makes good sense to use the technological innovations that have emerged in recent years to improve the delivery of educational services at all levels, including grades K-12 and beyond. "Technology, as an enabler of distributed resources," they say, "furthers the practice of a systems approach requiring integration across the organization to maximize new capabilities" (p. 175). For instance, Granger and Bowman (2003) point out that learning management systems (LMS) successfully integrate the specific functions and services that students require in order to achieve academic success today; these functions and services include: .

             1. Access to courses, learning materials, and instructors; .

             2. Advising and tutorial assistance; .

             3. Library resources; and,.

             4. Interactions with other learners.

             Learning Management Systems Applications Today. Emerging technologies, including distributed learning management systems, portals that connect a variety of resources (admissions, library access, advising, and technical support) under one user-friendly gateway, and electronic databases that store and merge information resources, are capable of providing the infrastructure for the redesign and integration necessary (Granger & Bowman, 2003).