We can’t all be jacks of all trades, even if we are masters of none. For those who have the aptitude to teach and the opportunity to use this gift in the world of online education, the biggest hurdle to achieving their goal is the lack of technical skills needed to actually set up a learning management system.

Thanks to the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) and the University of Auckland, this stumbling block is now removed. The two institutions have tied up to develop eXe, an open-source e-learning tool that can be downloaded from the Internet. The tool facilitates an editing environment that allows online trainers and academics to upload and manage study material on the web without the bother of writing program code.

eXe was funded by the Tertiary Education Commission and the e-Learning Collaborative Development Fund as a way to provide teachers a tool to create online learning material and incorporate the same into their learning management systems, thus creating easy access to the content for students. The materials can be a combination of text documents, videos, and PowerPoint presentations.

Over 7,000 copies are downloaded on an average every month, says Andrew Higgins, director of e-learning at AUT. But the institution is not one to rest on its laurels. Together with the Tairawhiti Polytechnic Gisborne, AUT is hoping to take the project further and create virtual universities for countries that do not have the financial resources to spend on traditional educational infrastructure.