1. A course management system configured to evaluate an effectiveness of learning content in an online educational course, said system comprising: a tangible, non-transitory memory communicating with a processor; a learning outcome to be effected through student participation in said course and through exposure to a learning content item, wherein said learning outcome is part of a plurality of learning outcomes, wherein said learning content item is a part of a plurality of learning content items; an electronic learning outcome indicator associated, via learning outcome metadata, with said learning outcome and said learning content item, wherein said electronic learning outcome indicator is created by transforming said plurality of learning outcomes relating to a learning content item into said electronic learning outcome indicator, wherein said learning content item is configured to be displayed to a student; an assessment content item associated with said learning outcome and said learning content item, wherein said assessment content item is part of a plurality of assessment content items, wherein said assessment content item comprises at least one of an assignment, exam, quiz, skill test, journal entry, and a threaded discussion, wherein said exam comprises a plurality of questions and wherein a question in said plurality of questions is associated with said learning outcome; said learning outcome, said learning content item and said assessment content item associated via metadata with student temporal data regarding student activity, wherein said student activity comprises at least one of time spent by student on said learning outcome, time spent by said student on said learning content item, and wherein said student temporal data is tracked automatically by the system; said learning outcome, said learning content item and said assessment content item each associated, via metadata, with instructor temporal data regarding an instructor activity, wherein said instructor activity comprises at least one of amount of time spent preparing said learning content item, amount of time spent grading and amount of time spent facilitating class interactions, and wherein said instructor temporal data is tracked automatically by the system; a performance indicator of said student performance relative to said assessment content item, said performance indicator used to assess said effectiveness of said learning content item relative to said learning outcome, and wherein said performance indicator comprises i) a first aggregate indicator of said effectiveness of said learning content item and ii) a rubric with multiple scores associated with multiple learning outcomes; and a report generating scheme for generating a report that compares performance of instructors, wherein generating said report comprises selection of instructors to be compared and one or more common learning content items.