ABSTRACT
Higher education in the 21st century is challenged by changes, many of them instigated by the promising potential of new technologies in teaching, especially the Internet and web-based tools. These web-based tools are often clustered in so-called e-learning environments, or Learning Management Systems, that aim to support and even improve learning. In these environments different components and tools like bulletin boards and online syllabi are put together into one application, usually set up so that these tools can be used in separate courses. Well-known and heavily used environments in higher education are WebCT, Blackboard, Moodle, FirstClass, N@tschool and Claroline. In higher education these environments are put to use in different ways, extending from supporting face-to-face teaching with an additional online component, to supporting full online courses where all learning activities take place within the e-learning environment (Kotkamp et al. 2005).
