MEKTEP: a next generation course management system

Course management systems (CMS) are an increasingly important part of academic systems in higher education. However, they introduce challenges in their deployment especially when the budgets are constrained, and their use becomes more confusing as the numbers of users increases rapidly. Due to the inherent difficulties, these tools, which were once considered to be the promising environments, are entering a difficult stage where dealing with changes in teaching and learning becomes an important issue. Therefore, to complement the qualities of service provided, more efficient approaches must be in place to meet the evolutionary expectations of users. The CMS environment, called modular environment for knowledge tracking and extension process (MEKTEP), introduced in this paper is designed to meet the user's requirements by providing an environment based on open architecture. The time, cost, and reliability spectrums are used to promote the effectiveness of the proposed architecture. We hold the opinion that a CMS system should not demand significantly more time for learning, usage, and maintenance. With its modular architectural design, user-friendliness and flexibility, MEKTEP defines standards for the next generation of course management systems.