Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia
Abstract
In the past decade there has been a proliferation of courseware management systems being developed and promoted as a means of simplifying the creation and management of instructional websites. Implementing these systems can be resource intensive and require large budgets to cover aspects such as infrastructure, integration into legacy databases, training, maintenance and on-going support. With these costs in mind, deciding to implement such a system should be carefully considered. Are there other options? With the proliferation of many freeware applications, and powerful online databases, the ability to develop customised in-house solutions is now becoming more attractive and viable. This paper considers the design and development of a courseware management system that was created in-house, according to the needs of an academic department. The application services over 2000 students, is easy to maintain and allows customised tools to be quickly integrated