Configuration Management for Web-based Instructional Systems

The design of web-based instructional systems is largely conducted on an intuitive, ad hoc basis, thus resulting in inefficient systems that do not capitalise on the strengths of networked technologies. Among these strengths, one could mention: multiple media delivery formats, synchronous and asynchronous communication and relaxation of constraints in place and time of instructional delivery. Moreover, the web-based instructional systems are inherited the growing problem hidden beneath the tremendous benefits of the World Wide Web (WWW) which is the management of the web’s infrastructure and its content. Change is inevitable when computer software is built, but the web-based systems undergo changes more often and quite extensively, in their development and operational period. Additionally, a web-based instructional system must be developed through an evolution rather than a revolution, meaning that it is not released in one “big bang” at the end of the project. This is because the client’s perception (either learner’s or teacher’s or institutional organisation’s) of the complete end product is a “moving target”. So, there is a need for a disciplined approach to managing the evolution of such systems. Such a disciplined approach that is applied throughout the software engineering process is called software configuration management (SCM). This paper begins a discussion of how the development of web-based instructional systems could benefit from SCM techniques and tools in order to achieve better learning effectiveness as well as development efficiency.