ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1 the concept of managed learning environments (MLEs) was introduced. The motivation behind this term was the recognition that, in order to be effective, a VLE needed to integrate with a number of other institutional systems, most of which would be legacy systems. In this chapter we will look at the relationship with some of these systems, and also at issues surrounding the language we use to talk about complex systems such as MLEs which are essentially hybrid in nature, consisting of a number of largely autonomous sub-systems.
