ELearning in the web 2.0 era - Lessons from the development of the lingro.com language learning environment

Abstract

Recent advances in Web technologies have enabled the creation of new kinds of eLearning applications which have the potential to supplement existing solutions. In contrast to traditional educational software often developed by large corporations leveraging their existing customer base and distribution channels, Web 2.0 educational platforms are commonly created by small technical teams with limited advertising and development budgets. In this work we use our first-hand experience from developing Lingro, a popular on-line language learning environment, to compare and contrast the traditional and new approaches for creating eLearning systems. We introduce Lingro as an example of a next-generation language learning application, and use it to illustrate Web 2.0 concepts and industry trends, as well as their relation to traditional practices. We provide a general overview of relevant development and business issues, analyzing changes in software development methodologies, ways of acquiring and creating educational content, learning styles and financial and marketing information. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.