Deliverable 4.1 Inventory of Open Source Technological Solutions for E-Learning

Transcription

1 Agreement no.: / Project type: LLP- KA3MP Start date of project: 1 st January 2014 Duration: 24 months Deliverable 4.1 Inventory of Open Source Technological Solutions for E-Learning Due date of deliverable: 1 July 2014 Actual submission date: 30 June 2014 This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 1 of 22

2 Deliverable Responsible: (Insert here Partner Acronym and code) Project co-funded by the European Commission within the LifeLong Learning Programme Dissemination Level X Restricted to other programme participants (including the EC Services) Confidential, only for members of the consortium (including the EC Services) Document History Version Date Comments /6/2014 Complete First Draft for Review /6/2014 Final version Main Author Mustafa Bozkurt (BBK) Additional Contributors George Magoulas, Alex Poulovassilis (BBK) LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 2 of 22

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION CONTENT AUTHORING AND E-LEARNING STANDARDS REVIEW OF OPEN-SOURCE LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ATutor Object Support Ease of Extension Sequencing support Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Social Networking Integration Chamilo Object Support Ease of Extension Sequencing support Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Social Networking Integration Dokeos Object Support Ease of Extension Sequencing support Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Social Networking Integration efront Object Support Ease of Extension Sequencing support Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Social Networking Integration Forma.LMS Object Support Ease of Extension Sequencing support Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Social Networking Integration Ganesha Ilias Object Support Ease of Extension Sequencing support LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 3 of 22

4 Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Social Networking Integration LRN Moodle Object Support Ease of Extension Sequencing support Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Social Networking Integration OLAT Ease of Extension Sequencing support Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Social Networking Integration SAKAI Object Support Ease of Extension Sequencing support Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Social Networking Integration Stud.ip Swad PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 4 of 22

5 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND DEFINITIONS DoW LMS LO MOOC OER RTD SW WP VLE Description of Work Learning Management System Learning Object Massive Open Online Courses Open Educational Resource Research and Technological Development Software Work Package Virtual Learning Environment LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 5 of 22

6 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This deliverable presents an inventory of open-source technological solutions for e-learning that are relevant to the aims of the LIBE Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). We have selected for review a set of the 14 most widely used open-source Learning Management Systems (LMSs) this review can be found Section 3 and is summarised in the table at the end of that section. The review focusses on the functional features that are most relevant to the needs of the LIBE VLE, so as to aid the project team in making an informed decision about which existing LMS to use for the LIBE project. These features are: object support, ease of extension, sequencing support, inquiry-based learning support and personalisation, and social networking support. Following this review, Section 4 gives our preliminary conclusions on which open-source LMS is most suitable for use as the foundation of the LIBE VLE LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 6 of 22

7 1 INTRODUCTION We illustrate below a high-level diagram of the envisaged LIBE Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). This deliverable relates to the possible open-source technologies that could be used as the basis of the Learning Management System (LMS): LIBE Personalisation Engine LIBE CAT tool Existing LMS, plus LIBE extensions LIBE Repository: Learning Object metadata, Learners profile/ability levels/ test results LIBE Knowledge Base: Adaptation rules, tests Learning Objects, LMS data Figure 1: LIBE VLE Major Components Learning Management Systems (LMSs) are playing an increasingly important role in educational institutions, and new products, applications and services are constantly being added to this domain in order to improve e-learning services An LMS is a software system that automates the delivery, monitoring, administration and reporting of education and training programs [13]. A recent online article by Papas [22] identifies 183 LMSs, including both openand closed-source ones. As the LIBE project will be considering only open-source LMS, we have selected for review here the most popular open-source systems of the 183 that are most commonly mentioned in online LMS reviews and in the relevant Wikipedia entry [29]. This leads to a set of 14 LMSs, which we review in Section 3 and summarise in the table at the end of that section. In our search to identify the most appropriate open-source LMS to use in the LIBE project, we first try to identify what makes a software best in its class. We believe that one of the most useful indicators for any software is its market share or popularity. As a result, we first tried to identify the most widely adopted LMSs. Almost all the existing literature suggests that the most widely adopted open-source LMS is Moodle. For example, according to the 2013 Campus Computing Survey [16] in United States Moodle is the second popular LMS (23% market share) after Blackboard (41%). Among open-source LMSs, Moodle is the most popular one, followed by Canvas with 8% and Sakai with 5% market share LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 7 of 22

8 Another indication of the global popularity of Moodle is the Google search trend analysis. As depicted in Figure 1, searches that include the term Moodle greatly surpass those for severa; other LMSs: the figure depicts a comparison of 5 LMSs, due to restrictions on the analysis ; nonetheless, a similar trend is observed between other LMSs and Moodle. Figure 2: Google Search Trends for 5 popular LMSs LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 8 of 22

9 2 CONTENT AUTHORING AND E-LEARNING STANDARDS An authoring tool is an application that enables developers to create and package content [28]. It is expected that an e-learning authoring tool should conform to one or more or e-learning international standards, such as Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM), IMS Global (Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) & Common Cartridge (CC), and Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee (AICC), in order to make its modules more interoperable and distributable. Supporting one or more e-learning standards is also a key feature for an LMS due to the interoperability provided. LMSs that support standards allow reuse of existing resources independently of the authoring tool and the LMS that they were originally designed for. SCORM is a set of standards and specifications that promote reusability and Interoperability of content across LMSs [6]. SCORM has several versions and version 1.2 is the most widely supported e-learning standard by LMSs. Almost all the LMSs included in our review support SCORM 1.2 (see Table 1 at the end of Section 3). Swad [27] is identified as non-scorm compliant due to us not being able to verify at this time if it is compliant or not. Only half of the LMSs we investigated support the SCORM 2004 specification. Unfortunately, we could not verify which version they support as SCORM 2004 has several versions (1st edition - 4th edition). According to Rustici [23], later versions of SCORM 2004 are widely used. SCORM is expected to be replaced by Experience API (xapi) which is also referred to as SCORM 2. xapi was released in 2013 and so far the only LMS that supports xapi at present is Sakai. There are other specifications introduced by the Aviation Industry Computer-Based Training Committee (AICC) and IMS Global. For example, AICC HACP is one of the earliest widely adopted specifications [23] and is a HTTP based protocol that allows content to be launched and tracked through web browsers. AICC recently started working on another specification called CMI-5 which will succeed HACP. IMS Global introduced two specifications, IMS CC and LTI. IMS CC is a content packaging and sequencing specification similar to SCORM. IMS LTI is a plug-in architecture to enable interoperability between LMSs and third-party tools LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 9 of 22

10 3 REVIEW OF OPEN-SOURCE LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS Since many of the LMSs included in this report provide the same functional features, we review here only their relevance in regards to the planned features of the LIBE Virtual Learning Environment (referred to as the VLE from this point onwards). Thus we consider the following criteria that will help us make an informed decision on which existing LMS to use for the LIBE project. Object support: This criterion is important because the VLE should provide maximum interoperability with existing available resources such as e- learning packages (SCORM, IMS and QTI) and be able to import and export files from/to online repositories such as Google Drive or Dropbox. Ease of extension: This criterion is a critically important that will affect the choice of LMS for LIBE, as the completion time of the VLE highly depends on it. Since all of the LMSs reviewed are open-source and are based on similar technologies (e.g. Java, PHP, a database such as MySQL or PostgreSql and an application server) we considered other contributing factors to this criterion such as active community support, availability of online documentation and number of existing plug-ins, as indicators of how easy to extend these LMSs are. Sequencing support: The VLE is expected to allow lecturers to create sequences of learning activities. The use of a LMS with built-in sequencing support w i l l reduce the effort required to complete the VLE. Inquiry-based learning support and personalisation: One of the desired features of the VLE is that it provides support for inquiry-based learning and personalisation of activities based on the knowledge level, skills and needs of the student. An LMS with built-in support for these required features will reduce the effort to complete the VLE. Social networking integration: According to Stern and Willits [25], a shift from traditional LMS to more dynamic platforms that integrate classical features of LMS with social media is the next step in the evolution of e-learning. This shift can also be observed in many of the LMSs mentioned in this report as they provide integration (usually through a plug-in) with a variety of social networking websites, such as Facebook and Twitter. Thus we decided to include the social networking aspect of LMSs in our review in order to make our LMS selection future proof. The rest of this section gives a detailed review of each selected LMS based on the aspects mentioned above. Table 1 at the end of this section summarises the findings. 3.1 ATUTOR ATutor is currently supported by 15 developers and several organisations, including Adaptive Technology Resource Centre and Government of Ontario. The latest version was released on 15/05/2014 and daily builds with recent fixes are also available from the download page. Object Support Any type of file can be uploaded to the internal ATutor repository and can be made available. ATutor does not have built-in support for external repositories LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 10 of 22

11 such as Flickr, Picasa and Google Docs. ATutor does not have a built-in media player. There are many authoring tools capable of exporting SCORM packages, such as Adobe Captive, Camtasia and DemoCreator. As a result, all e-learning content created using these tools, such as simulations and interactive material, can be added as an activity in ATutor. ATutor can import IMS Content Packages and Common Cartridge, SCORM and QTI test packages. It can export only in IMS package format. Ease of Extension ATutor is well documented and support is easily accessible; however, a comparison of the number of posts on the developer forum might be an indication of a smaller or less active community compared to some of the other LMSs reviewed here. The number of existing plug-ins for ATutor is also fewer than the number of plug-ins for some of the other LMSs. Sequencing support ATutor does not support the sequencing and navigation capabilities of SCORM Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Like most of the LMSs included in this report, ATutor is not built around any particular pedagogical approach. In most LMSs, pedagogical approaches are often expected to be administered through the use of authoring tools. ATutor provides very limited personalisation. The personalisation provided by ATutor is limited to different user types only and it doesn t support activity personalisation for different students. Social Networking Integration ATutor includes a module called Social based on the Google OpenSocial standard which enables integration of sites such as Flickr, Picasa, YouTube, Face-book and MySpace. 3.2 CHAMILO The Chamilo project was officially launched on 18th of January Chamilo has 5 effective members across Europe contributing to the project and providing professional support. Latest version of Chamilo was released on 04/06/2013. Object Support Any file can be uploaded to the internal Chamilo repository and can be made accessible to students. Chamilo supports several external repositories, such as Google Docs, YouTube, Vimeo, Slideshare. The Chamilo release roadmap includes support for a unified API and external repository browser that enable uploading media to external repositories directly from Chamilo. Chamilo does not have a built-in media player; however an internal media player can be added through external plug-ins. There are many authoring tools capable of exporting SCORM packages, such as Adobe Captive, Camtasia and DemoCreator. As a result, all e-learning content created using these tools, such as simulations and interactive material, can be added as an activity in Chamilo. Chamilo can import AICC and SCORM 1.2 packages and is capable of exporting SCORM packages. Ease of Extension LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 11 of 22

12 Chamilo s documentation is very extensive and forum support is available in multiple languages. At the time of this report there was a total of 12,261 posts in Chamilo s forums 396 of which were posts regarding development. The number of posts on the developer forum might be an indication of a smaller or less active community compared to some of the other LMSs in the report. The number of existing plug-ins for Chamilo was 4 at the time of this report - also less than the number of plug-ins for some of the other LMSs. Sequencing support Chamilo does not provide sequencing of activities, nor does it support the sequencing and navigation capabilities of SCORM Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Like most of the LMSs included in this report, Chamilo is not built around any pedagogical approach. In most LMSs pedagogical approaches are often expected to be administered through the use of authoring tools. Chamilo provides very limited personalisation. The personalisation provided by Chamilo is limited to different user types only and it does not support activity personalisation for different students. Social Networking Integration Like most LMSs in this report, Chamilo includes an embedded social networking module; however, it does not have built-in integration with external social networking websites. 3.3 DOKEOS Dokeos was released in 1999 at University of Lovain as a prototype training tool. The company Dokeos then became the provider and maintainer of Dokeos; however an open-source community version of the LMS is available. Compared to other open-source LMSs, Dokeos cannot be considered a fully community-driven LMS, even though there are contributions from the community in modules such as grade book and peer review [18]. Object Support Any file can be uploaded to the internal Dokeos repository and can be made accessible to students. Dokeos does include an internal media player which supports flv files and a number of audio formats. There are many authoring tools capable of exporting SCORM packages, such as Adobe Captive, Camtasia and DemoCreator. As a result, all e-learning content created using these tools, such as simulations and interactive material, can be added as an activity in Dokeos. Dokeos is capable of importing and exporting SCORM packages. Ease of Extension Dokeos provides an extensive documentation and support for the paid edition version of the software. There are modules that can be bought from Dokeos Shop and added to the system. However, there is no online documentation for the community-edition version of the software. Sequencing support Dokeos supports sequencing and navigation capabilities introduced with SCORM Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Like most of the LMSs included in this report, Dokeos is not built around any pedagogical approach. In most LMSs pedagogical approaches are often expected LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 12 of 22

13 to be administered through the use of authoring tools. Dokeos provides personalisation only for different user roles and does not support activity personalisation for different students. Social Networking Integration Dokeos includes an embedded social networking module; however, it does not have built-in integration with external social networking websites. 3.4 EFRONT The efront platform started as a research prototype funded by the Greek government and released under open-source license in Currently Epignosis develops efront and its extensions and provides professional support. Object Support Any type of file can be uploaded to the internal efront repository and can be made available. efront does not have built-in support for external repositories such as Flickr, Picasa and Google Docs. efront does not have a built-in media player. There are many authoring tools capable of exporting SCORM packages, such as Adobe Captive, Camtasia and DemoCreator. As a result, all e-learning content created using these tools, such as simulations and interactive material, can be added as an activity in efront. Ease of Extension efront similarly to Dokeos has multiple versions that come with different levels of support. Paid/hosted versions (Enterprise and Educational) come with full professional support, whereas the open-source version has only access to online forums. The open-source version has only a limited subset of the other versions features. For example, the open-source version does not include survey and notification features. efront provides an extensive online support with tutorials, wiki, forum and case studies. At the time of this report, there were a total of 23,128 posts in the efront forum 1555 of which were posts regarding development. The number of existing plug-ins for efront was 30 at the time of this report. Sequencing support The open-source version of efront does not support sequencing; the other versions provide sequencing support through SCORM Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Like most of the LMSs included in this report, efront is not built around any pedagogical approach. In most LMSs pedagogical approaches are often expected to be administered through the use of authoring tools. efront provides personalisation only for different user roles and does not support activity personalisation for different students. Social Networking Integration efront includes an embedded social networking module and it provide built-in integration module for Facebook LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 13 of 22

14 3.5 FORMA.LMS The Forma project is based on Docebo (open-source version) and is developed by several partners such as Elearnit, Joint Tech and Purple Network. The latest version of Forma (v1.2) was released on 30/05/2014. Object Support Any type of file can be uploaded to the internal Forma repository and can be made available. Forma does not have built-in support for external repositories such as Flickr, Picasa and Google Docs. Forma does not have a built-in media player. There are many authoring tools capable of exporting SCORM packages, such as Adobe Captive, Camtasia and DemoCreator. As a result, all e-learning content created using these tools, such as simulations and interactive material, can be added as an activity in Forma. Ease of Extension Forma s documentation is not as comprehensive as most of the other LMSs. Forum support is available in two languages: English and Italian. At the time of this report there were a total of 2799 posts in Forma s forums 233 of which were posts regarding development. The number of posts on the developer forum might be an indication of a smaller or less active community compared to some of the other LMSs in the report. The number of existing plug-ins for Forma was 4 at the time of this report, also less than the number of plug-ins for some of the other LMSs. Sequencing support Forma does not support sequencing of activities. Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Like most of the LMSs included in this report, Forma is not built around any pedagogical approach. In most LMSs pedagogical approaches are often expected to be administered through the use of authoring tools. Forma provides personalisation only for different user roles and does not support activity personalisation for different students. Social Networking Integration We were unable to verify Forma s social networking features. 3.6 GANESHA Ganesha is a French open-source LMS by ANEMA, was first released in T he latest version 4.5 was released on 21/08/2009. It supports SCORM 1.2, 2004 and AICC. Unfortunately, all Ganesha s documentation and support are available only in French; thus Ganesha is not suitable for the LIBE project. 3.7 ILIAS Ilias started in 1997 at the University of Cologne and was released as an open-source LMS in Ilias is popular among the German universities. The latest version was released on 14/05/2014. Object Support Any type of file can be uploaded to the internal Ilias repository, including Google Docs, and there are plug-ins for Dropbox integration. Ilias has a built-in media player that supports various video and audio formats. Ilias supports almost all e-learning standards: SCORM 1.2, 2004, IMS and AICC. This extensive support of standards makes LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 14 of 22

15 Ilias one of the most interoperable LMSs in this report. Ilias also has a built-in SCORM editing tool. Ease of Extension Ilias s documentation is very extensive and support is available in two languages: German and English. At the time of this report there were a total of 13,213 posts in Ilias s forums 747 of which were posts regarding development. The number of posts on the developer forum might be an indication of a smaller or less active community compared to some of the other LMSs in the report. The number of existing plug-ins was 37 at the time of this report. Ilias supports t h e LOM metadata standard. Sequencing support Ilias allows sequencing and navigation of activities due to its SCORM 2004 support. Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Like most of the LMSs included in this report Ilias is not built around any pedagogical approach this is expected to be effected through the use of authoring tools. Ilias like most other LMSs provides personalisation only for different user roles and does not support activity personalisation for different students. Social Networking Integration Ilias does not have the social networking features available in other LMSs such as blogs, wikis and internal messaging. It does not support external networking website integration either. 3.8.LRN.LRN was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The latest version 2.5 was released on 27/09/2009. We believe that.lrn is not suitable for the LIBE project as it was not updated in the last 5 years. 3.9 MOODLE Moodle emerged in 1999 from the Australian higher education community. Moodle is the most popular open-source LMS. Due to its popularity many e- learning tools support it directly or it has a built-in support for these tools. The latest version released on 12/05/2014 and weekly builds with recent fixes are also available. Object Support Any type of file can be uploaded to the internal Moodle repository and can be made available. Moodle also supports integration of widely used external repositories such as Flickr, Picasa and Google Docs. Moodle supports both internal and external video and audio files. Moodle has a built-in video player that supports flv, swf and f4v video and mp3, aac, wma and ra audio formats. There are many authoring tools that allow saving content as SCORM packages. Moodle supports SCORM, so any e-learning content, such as simulations and interactive material, created using tools like Adobe Captive, Camtasia and DemoCreator can be used with Moodle LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 15 of 22

16 Due to its popularity, tools such as Easy Java/Javascript Simulations (EJS) [1] and OpenSim [3] virtual environments can be used as activities in Moodle. Moodle provides built-in support f o r EJC files as they can be added as activities. OpenSim environments can be integrated into Moodle through the use of plug-ins such as Sloodle [5]. Moodle has built-in support for a variety of games which allows gamification of activities and learning. Sloodle also supports integration of SecondLife [4], a popular virtual world that can be used for learning gamification. Ease of Extension Moodle is one of the best documented open-source LMSs. Moodle also has a huge community supporting its development. Moodle s support is available in 26 different languages and there is also a separate forum for each these languages. Unfortunately, we could not determine the number of posts in the forums due to Moodle forums not providing the number of posts, nor were we able to count the number of posts due to the overwhelming number of posts in the forum. Moodle has 1,811 plug-ins available at the time of writing of this report. One of the Moodle plug-ins, called Adaptive quiz, provides Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) support. This tool enables the lecturer to add a CAT activity which measures students ability level. According to the authors of the plug-in the Adaptive Quiz activity uses the Practical Adaptive Testing CAT Algorithm by B.D. Wright published in Rasch Measurement Transactions in This plug-in might be used as a template for the development of the LIBE CAT tool. In terms of metadata support, Moodle supports LOM application profile and has an available Moodle core profile. Sequencing support Moodle supports sequencing and navigation capabilities introduced with SCORM Moodle also allows sequencing of activities through the Lesson module which supports branching of activities. Conditional activities are supported in Moodle through passing data and tracking activity data. Moodle also supports the LAMS authoring tool and provides integration. LAMS provides sequencing and navigation capabilities through branching of activities. Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Like most of the LMSs included in this report Moodle is not built around any pedagogical approach. In LMSs pedagogical approaches often expected to be administered through the use of authoring tools. Moodle does not provide built-in support for personalisation of activities; however with LAMS support it is possible to introduce conditional activities in Moodle. Moodle also has a personalisation plug-in called Personalized Learning Designer (PLD) which provides limited personalisation support for activities [2]. PLD allows the course designer and lecturer to design rule-based actions such as sending student a personalized or directing a student to a specific URL where he/she will be able to access a lesson with additional content. This plugin is unfortunately is not publicly available at present but its functionality can inform the development of the LIBE Personalisation Engine. Social Networking Integration Moodle provides a rich set of built-in social media modules such as blogs, wikis and chat. Moodle also integrates with several social media platforms such as such as Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Yahoo Messenger and Flickr. It also allows social bookmarking, blogging (internal and external), RSS (in and out), podcasting and tagging LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 12 of 22

17 3.10 OLAT The development of OLAT is driven by the University of Zurich since The latest version 7.8 was released 12/04/2014. Ease of Extension OLAT s documentation is not as comprehensive as some of the other LMSs in this report. Documentation and support are available in 4 different languages. We could not find a link or a mention to a public forum in OLAT s website and did not find a link in our web search, so we assumed that OLAT does not have a public forum. Even though there are mentions of a few plug-ins for OLAT we could not verify their existence and compatibility through OLAT s website. Sequencing support OLAT does not support sequencing and navigation of activities. Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Like most of the LMSs included in this report OLAT is not built around any pedagogical approach. Any particular pedagogy is expected to be administered through the use of authoring tools. OLAT like most other LMSs provides personalisation only for different user roles and does not support activity personalisation for different students. Social Networking Integration OLAT provides built-in internal social networking features such as wikis, blogs, podcasts and chat; however it does not support integration with external web- sites SAKAI Sakai is developed by the Sakai Project with contributions from 5 universities in US. The latest version was released on 19/08/2013. Nightly builds with recent fixes are also available to download. Object Support Any type of file can be uploaded to the internal Sakai repository and can be made available. Sakai s wiki page mentions its support for several external repositories; however, we could not verify the existence of built-in support. Sakai does not have an internal media player but players such as Kaltura provide plug-ins for Sakai integration. Sakai supports most of the available e-learning standards, which makes it the most interoperable LMS in our list. It is the only LMS in our list that supports xapi, which makes Sakai a future-proof LMS. As a result many authoring tools that allow saving content as SCORM and IMS packages, such as Adobe Captive, Camtasia and DemoCreator, can be easily used along with Sakai. Ease of Extension The Sakai website provides extensive documentation on the platform and there is an discussion group for developers; however there is no open community forum. There are a number of external plug-ins available for Sakai. However, the website does not have a dedicated section for plug-ins, unlike other LMSs websites, so the number of a vailable plug-ins is unknown LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 13 of 22

18 Sequencing support Sakai supports sequencing and navigation capabilities introduced with SCORM It also supports the LAMS authoring tool and provides integration, which allows usage of LAMS s sequencing and navigation capabilities through branching of activities. Inquiry-based Learning Support and Personalisation Sakai follows the trend of the other LMSs presented above, lacking methods for adopting a particular pedagogy in the learning design. As in most LMSs, pedagogical approaches are expected to be administered through the use of authoring tools. Sakai like most other LMSs provides personalisation only for different user roles and does not support activity personalisation for different students. Social Networking Integration Sakai provides very rich social networking features similar to Moodle s. It also supports integration with external websites such as Facebook and Twitter, through Profile2 tool STUD.IP Stud.ip is a German open-source LMS. It supports SCORM 1.2, IMS and AICC. Unfortunately all Stud.ip s documentation and support is available only in German, thus Stud.ip is not suitable for the LIBE project SWAD Although Swad is available in English, most of Swad s documentation and support is available only in Spanish, and as a result we were unable to review Swad LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 14 of

19 Table 1: Summary of Open-source Learning Management Systems. LMS Supported Standards Repository Support Ease of Extension Sequencing Personalisation Social Networking Internal External Total Develope Plug-ins Internal External ATutor [7] SCORM 1.2, IMS Yes No 22,429 r 1, SCORM No Yes Yes Chamilo [8] SCORM 1.2, IMS Yes No 12, No No Yes No Claroline [9] SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, Yes No 12,314 4,611 N/A SCORM No Yes No IMS Dokeos [10] SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, Yes No N/A N/A N/A SCORM No Yes No AICC efront [12] SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, Yes No 23,128 1, No No Yes Yes IMS Forma.LMS [14] SCORM 1.2 Yes No 2, No No Yes No Ganesha [15] SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, AICC Ilias [17] SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, Yes Yes 13, SCORM NO Yes No AICC, IMS.LRN [19] SCORM 2004, IMS Moodle [20] SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004 Yes Yes N/A N/A 1,811 SCORM, No Yes No,IMS LAMS OLAT [21] SCORM 1.2, IMS Yes No N/A N/A N/A No No Yes No Sakai [24] SCORM 1.2, SCORM 2004, Yes? N/A N/A N/A SCORM, No Yes No AICC, xapi LAMS Stud.ip [26] SCORM 1.2, AICC, IMS Swad [27] 1 4 The Ease of Extension part of the table presents the number of posts in the LMSs forum and the number of available plug-ins. Total column is the total number of posts whereas the Developer column is the number of development related post in the forum. Some of the sections of the table do not contain data. In those sections N/A indicates that the required data was not available and indicates that we did not collect the data due to the respective LMS not being suitable for the LIBE project.

20 4 PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS Our review of here of the major open-source LMSs indicates that there is one LMS that stands out in almost all aspects of the review Moodle. A good reason to select Moodle f o r t h e L I B E V L E is due to its being the platform that is easiest to extend. N o other LMS provides the same level of support in developing plug-ins or community support for extensions. The possibility of using existing plug-ins, such as the CAT and the PLD plug-in, as templates for our own extensions in the LIBE project may greatly reduce the effort to develop the new LIBE components. Another important factor is the popularity of Moodle. The tutors who will use the LIBE VLE are likely to be familiar with Moodle and to find help easily if needed. With Moodle s support for many e-learning standards, existing learning material will easily be imported to the VLE. By selecting this very popular LMS, we will also be able to benefit a high number of institutions with the provision of the new LIBE components. Moodle s support for many of the existing authoring tools as mentioned in Section 3.9 also makes it an ideal candidate for the L I B E VLE. This support will make adding l e a r n i n g content such as simulations, games and virtual classes easier compared to other LMSs LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 16 of 22

21 5 REFERENCES [1] Easy java/javascript simulations. [Online]. Available: fem/ejswiki/ [2] Joule 2 administrator manual. [Online]. Available: com/article/81/administrator#364 [3] Opensim. [Online]. Available: Page [4] Secondlife. [Online]. Available: [5] Sloodle. [Online]. Available: [6] SCORM overview. Advanced Distributed Learning. [Online]. Available: [7] ATutor. [Online]. Available: [8] Chamilo. [Online]. Available: [9] Claroline. [Online]. Available: [10] Dokeos. [Online]. Available: [11] S. Downes. (2005, October) E-learning 2.0. elearn Magazine. [Online]. Available: [12] efront. [Online]. Available: [13] R. K. Ellis. (2009) Field guide to learning management systems. American Society for Training & Development. [Online]. Available: /media/files/ations/lms fieldguide [14] Forma.LMS. [Online]. Available: [15] Ganesha. [Online]. Available: [16] K. C. Green. (2013, October) The national survey of computing and information technology. The Campus Computing Project. [Online]. Available: net/files/campuscomputing pdf [17] Ilias. [Online]. Available: [18] Kineo.com. (2008, November) Product review dokeos. [Online]. Available: %20Dokeos%20(Nov%2008).pdf [19].LRN. [Online]. Available: [20] Moodle. [Online]. Available: [21] Online Learning and Training (OLAT). [Online]. Available: [22] C. Pappas. (2013, August) List of 183 learning management systems plus lmss comparison checklist of 99 features. [On- line]. Available: LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 17 of 22

22 [23] M. Rustici. (2009, Jan) Scorm versions an elearning standards roadmap. [Online]. Available: [24] Sakai. [Online]. Available: [25] D. M. Stern and M. D. Willits, Social media killed the LMS: Re-imagining the traditional learning management system in the age of blogs and online social networks. Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 2011, pp [Online]. Available: books.htm?chapterid= [26] Stud.ip. [Online]. Available: [27] Swad. [Online]. Available: [28] Wikipedia. Authoring system. [Online]. Available: org/wiki/authoring system [29] Wikipediate. List of learning management systems. Date accessed: [Online]. Available: of learning management systems LLP IT-KA3-KA3MP - LIBE Page 18 of 22