LoColms: an innovative approach of enhancing traditional classroom form of education by promoting web-based distance learning in the poorer countries.

There have been numerous attempts recently to promote technology based education (Shrestha, 1997) in the poorer third world countries, but so far all these have not provided a sustainable solution as they are either centered and controlled from abroad and relying solely on foreign donors for their sustenance or they are not web-based, which make distribution problematic, and some are not affordable by most of the local population in these places. In this paper we discuss an application, the Local College Learning Management System (LoColms), which we are developing, that is both sustainable and economical to suit the situation in these countries. The application is a web-based system, and aims at improving the traditional form of education by empowering the local universities.