I have been looking at the framework for an e-learning system in School of HTM, and am becoming more convinced that the future (particularly in the education world) is to go 'open-source.' It seems there are two main routes - those who use proprietary systems such as Blackboard or WebCT and those who have embraced open source (OS) technology. Proprietary systems have helped many institutions get online, but I have not been impressed by the quality of the products or the user-friendliness of the systems.
The learning content management system (LCMS or LMS) is one of the keys to quality. It enables instructional designers, tutors and others to generate learning content, and it provides the infrastructure to host, manage, administer an support the online learners. The great thing about OS is that it is now surpassing the proprietary systems in useablity and features, and not only are systems free, but they are constantly evolving and adding new features as users and developers around the world add to the code.
Have a look at some of the open source LCMS -
Moodle
Manhattan Virtual Classroom
ATutor
and see a review of online classrooms.
Any comments?
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