Are You Ready for an Open Source

LMS?

Is It Ready for You?Steven Hancock

OpenSource LMS <> Moodle

Topics1. Open Source License2. The State of Open Source LMSes3. Criteria4. Short List5. LMSes from Steve’s Perspective

Open Source License1. Free Redistribution2. Source code must be included3. Derived Works4. Integrity of authors source code5. No discriminations of people or groups6. No discrimination against fields of

endeavor7. Distribution of license8. License must be specific to a product9. License must not restrict other software10.License must be technology neutral

http://opensource.org/docs/osd

Is OpenSource Free?

If I Choose OpenSource will I

have to go it Alone?

If I Choose OpenSource what am I Sacrificing?

What has changed in 5 years? Many more LMSes (3-4

times) SCORM Support Collaboration Features

The State of Open Source LMSes Positives

Many to choose from that are well funded. Support seems robust in most cases Third-party Services are readily available. Assessment engines

Negatives SCORM seems to be a secondary concern. Too many try to be a web portal Content Creation Tools

Epic

www.epic.co.uk Open Source Learning

Management Systems by Mark Aberdour

Epic’s Shortlisted Criteria: An approved Open Source license Active Development Community Released Stable Versions English SCORM Compliant Published Details about Previous

Adopters Stable Organizations Supporting

Development Published Third Party Reviews

The Shortlist ATutor http://www.atutor.ca/ Claroline http://www.claroline.net/ Docebo http://www.docebo.org/ Dokeos http://www.dokeos.com/ dotLRN http://dotlrn.openacs.org/ Ilias http://www.ilias.de/ Interact http://www.interactole.org/ KEWL.NextGen http://kngforge.uwc.ac.za/ Metacoon http://www.metacoon.de/ Moodle http://moodle.org/ OLAT http://www.olat.org/ OpenElms http://www.openelms.org/ Sakai http://www.sakaiproject.org/

The Even Shorter List ATutor dotLRN Ilias Moodle Sakai

How to Determine Which LMS to Choose? Make a List of Criteria -

Research Try Out the Demos Research the System

Requirements Research the Features Install and Make Sure you

can Support IT.

LMS Interface Example

Content Authoring Example

Assessments

Features of all LMSes

Services Support Add-ons Standard features: content

authoring, assessment, enrollment, collaboration, rebrandable

aTutor

Standards Heavy Supported by 16 organizations Vote on new features Documentation is average Not difficult to install

DotLRN

Originally developed at MIT Heavily used in education and

government Managed by a non-profit organization

and supported by 16 consortium members

Difficult to install: “Please note that the production version requires considerable expertise (Unix/Linux sys admin) to install.”

SCORM seems like an after thought.

Ilias

Developed in Germany Install doesn’t look too bad Documentation is very mediocre Only LMS I found that was ADL

Certified

Moodle

Numerous large installations Books written on Moodle Installation does not seem too

difficult

Sakai

Has the vested interest of large organizations: IBM, Sun, Unisys, University of Michigan, Indiana University, and MIT

Over 100 Sakai partners Community Source project (-) Single click installer

Other Stand Outs

Claroline Docebo Dokeos OpenElms

?