An Investigation into the Requirements for an E-Learning System

The learning environment where students of the same age group learn together instructed by a teacher, was developed over the years and is known today as the traditional classroom. This traditional classroom may be changed by using the latest Web-based technology to replace and/or support the learning process. These new learning environments are accessible using the Internet as the main communication medium and by other remote means such as CD-ROM, and video. Many aspects of the current use of these new technologies reflect an approach to teaching and learning reminiscent of the “programmed learning” training material of the 1970s. This paper uses Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) to construct a Consensus Primary Task Model (CPTM) to analyse the requirements for a distance or e-learning system. In conducting the analysis, we investigate the alternative methods proposed for the construction of a CPTM.