Those who know me also no that I’m no big fan of the Content Management System that holds the lion’s share of the market. (Avoidance of “Learning Management System” in the previous sentence is deliberate.) For argument’s sake, let’s say its name is “BlackBoard.”

Words I frequently use to describe the aforementioned Content Management System include; antiquated, dysfunctional, worthless, broken, irreparable and completely unreliable. I’ve also used several very strong expletives when describing this system, but consider them inappropriate for publication in this public forum. If there is anything with the potential to put a halt to the growing popularity of eLearning it is BlackBoard.

I was fortunate this week to have the opportunity to see the capabilities and possibilities of a Learning Management System that never seems to gain much attention in the eLearning blogosphere or the “trade journals” that frequent my desk - The Angel Learning Management System. To say that I was “impressed” would be grossly inadequate. Words such as amazing, extraordinary, phenominal, and WOW! seem far more appropriate.

Headquartered in Indianapolis, IN, Angel Learning was founded in July 2000. Tired of the limitations and constraints of their previous course management system (sound familiar?), the Angel Learning Management System evolved from research and teaching experience at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. The initial research system deployed in 1996 became Indiana University’s OnCourse. Angel LMS was created using early system concepts and was made more generally applicable and maintainable with a tailorable user interface, flexible backend database integration, and a high performance, reliable component architecture. Today, though ANGEL Learning has grown from a campus-based organization of university researchers and instructors to a profitable firm with global reach, the company stays loyal to its academic roots. From its conception, Angel Learning has maintained its commitment to open-source programming concepts.

So what makes the Angel LMS so special? Where do I begin.

First, Angel is lightyears ahead of any other Learning Management System I’ve seen in terms of employing Web 2.0 technologies, pedagogical philosophies, and current theories of online cognition and learning. A clean, intuitive, and dead-simple student and instructor interface add a significant amount of “life” to any course or any development project. The student interface alone can be customizd by the individual student to add that special touch of personalization that will make them feel a sense of ownership; essentialy to providing an engaging experience. The interface can be customized even further to provide larger text, 508 compliance, as well as visual capabilities for PDA or mobile phone delivery. You don’t even need to dig through 15 layers of windows and buttons, one or two clicks and you are presented with a list of interfaces, with previews for each.

The Angel LMS make the latest, proven methods of active learning and collaboration available as an integral part of the system; not as special modules that must be purchased separatel and probably don’t work anyway like the aforemention system. Included in the system is:

• Wikis- The collaboration wikis enable – websites that can be edited by those who have access – make them especially valuable for active peer-to-peer learning and student interaction. ANGEL wikis support threaded discussion, can be graded like any lesson item and are simple to administer.
• Blogs- Blogging as a classroom application is being recognized for allowing enhanced comprehension and communication among students as well as for promoting active learning and building deeper understanding. ANGEL Blogs include a timeline of posts, a complete table of contents and list of content tags in the blog.
• Email – Secure, fully integrated ANGEL Course Mail is a powerful, full-featured communication system. It handles folders, multiple attachments, blind carbon copies (BCC), HTML formatted messages and links for speed. Flexible permissions and capabilities tailor ANGEL Course Mail to the specific needs of the educational enterprise. Manage unacceptable behavior with fine levels of control.
• Online Journal — Learners can make private notes about any or all of their courses in their private ANGEL journal. Notes can be shared with instructors and attached to resources.
• Unlimited Threaded Discussions — Share ANGEL discussions across groups, a course, a department, or your entire institution. Instructors can define discussions by type of post to stimulate effective discussion. Learners can categorize posts as problems, explanations, scientific explanations, comments, evaluations or summaries. Multiple team permissions allow for multiple, pedagogically-based models such as Fishbowl, Hot Seat, and Debate to positively impact the learning experience.
• Community Groups — Online clubs, interest and study groups in ANGEL create community. Students can send email to their groups, use a shared chat space, calendar and announcements, and share material privately within the group. Students from different courses can interact in a system-wide chat rooms or discussion forums.

High on the “way cool” scale is a feature of the discussion boards, we’ll tentatively call “Blind Discussion.” Here’s the cool part: The instructor posts the discussion question and can prevent a student from seeing their classmates responses until after they’ve posted their response. As a result, the student has to put some though behind their response instead of the current practice of posting “I agree with Bill” and expecting credit for making a contribution to the issue under discussion.

Capabilities from the Instructor’s side are equally as awe inspiring. From built-in learning games (crossword puzzles, etc) to drag-and-drop course construction and layout - it’s all there. But Angel takes the online learner-instructor and learner-to-learner interaction to new levels with built-in:

• Virtual Office Hours— More than chat, learners meet and interact with instructors and fellow students in real-time in Angel’s Virtual Office. The instructor can work with learners one-on-one or allow a group to enter the “office” for collaborative learning.
• Desktop Sharing — Instructors demonstrate and share any application on their computers with one or multiple learners in a group, course or the virtual office. Even pass control to learners for hands-on learning.
• Controlled Chat and Instant Messaging — Communicate online in the modes of today’s learners - in real time. Participating in peer-to-peer chat reinforces concepts and builds community. It also frequently reduces questions and email to instructors.
• Whiteboard — An exceptional learning tool for free-hand illustrating to share imagery and explain complex concepts

Built in to the system, not an “add on” like you know who, is an tremendous Learning Outcomes Mangement caability and allows an instructor to map a learning outcome to a specific assessment or activity. Reports can be generated to identify which outcomes have been mapped and which have not.

Need to know what has been going on in your online course since the last time you signed on? The folks at Angel were mindreaders on that issue as well. Log in to Angel and the instructor immediately sees charts of activit that has gone on since the last log in. Hover over the charts and tool tips provide more specifics. A separate section, available a click away, lets in instructor know exactly how many discussion posts were made, how many assignments were submitted and are awaiting grading, the number of student emails awaiting replies, and any number of other activities that may have occured.

While not technically open-source, Angel bills it’s system as “open architecture” and actually encourages is very active user community to add to the code and share it with other community members. Don’t feel like writing code? Angel has capabilities to create “Agents” or macros of specialized actions the instructor needs. Agents can be easily created for, say, an email message twice a day to the instructor aprising them of the days activities.

With features far too numerous to mention, it is little wonder that this system has been the recipient of:

• IDEA Growth Award
• CODIE Awardfor best post-secondary course management system two years in a row - Recognized for “outstanding achievement and vision in education technology” by the Software and Information Industry Association, ANGEL is the only product to win the SIIA CODiE Award for Best Postsecondary Course/Content Management Solution two years running.
• IMS-Global Learning Consortium Customer Satisfaction Award - Independent research conducted by the IMS Global Learning Consortium identifies ANGEL as number one in satisfaction among users of all types of learning technology.

This is truly an extraordinary system with the built-in capabilities all education technologists dream of. Do yourself a favor, visit Angel Learn’s Web Site and be prepared to be amazed.