Distance learning gurus speak about creating a learning environment, with a powerful “learning management system.” If you haven’t ever considered launching a distance learning program for your new candidates or existing workers, then — let’s. Start here…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_learning_management_
systems
And ask questions like which has the best price, best features, and the most “fun” (if distance learning can be considered fun?). As for price, you could easily walk in the door and spend $800/month on Blackboard (which is more or less the entry price tag), or you could try to use a kludgy open-source model [yawn]. The great thing is — the choice is yours. There are lots of options. The best approach might be to try SOMETHING so you get your feet wet. Then shop. In the past, Brigada has mentioned Nixty
and Estante.
https://www.maf.org/estante#.UnDa7_mThAI
But the field has matured a lot, even in the past year. Please tell us what’s your favorite system and why. Just click in a Comment Box following the web version of this item. We’ll be grateful.
Here are my conclusions when I was looking at options a few months ago:
For what it is worth here are my conclusions so far about my recent brief survey of free / low-cost E-Learning Platforms:
CRITERIA
1. Sustainability. I got caught a few years back when the excellent LMS, Interact, which was maintained by a lone NZ developer was no longer supported. So looking for a large pool of developers and reliable support community which will be around in five years time at least.
2. Security – not easily hacked, and is quick to detect and to patch any vulnerabilities.
3. Compatibility – Can run on my Centos 6 Linux server with SELinux enforced and LAMP stack.
4. Simplicity of Maintenance – is easy for me to maintain, upgrade etc.
5. Multiple Courses and Administrators Allowed – is suitable for an institution not just a single instructor and can cope with the possibility of 50+ courses if all AIBI and Cybermissions and Harvestime modules are put into it.
6. Scalability – is not too processor hungry and can support multiple simultaneous users.
7. Usability – students can use it with a reasonable amount of ease. It is highly convenient if students can use a Google or FB log-in on the LMS
8. Mobility – can run on mobile platforms or has a mobile or responsive CSS version
9. Fully Featured – gradebook, video, audio, messaging, forums etc. all included.
10. Global – UTF-8 compatible, multi-lingual, used widely around the world
11. Affordability – free or low-cost, preferably open-source, no legal issues
12. Payment Gateway – students can easily pay using PayPal or similar mechanism
SERVER BASED
BuddyPress Courseware plug in for WordPress: installed on my server but am having some glitches and while it is not too bad I have reservations about its long-term sustainability e.g. will the plug-in still be updated in five years time, how large is the developer community, and WordPress security is somewhat of a concern.
Canvas: the open-source version was impossible to install, and is processor-heavy and way too complex for me to maintain. The online version is uber-expensive ((5K just to set up and 5K per year)
LAMS: Learning Activity Management System: http://wiki.lamsfoundation.org/display/lamsdocs/Home a strong contender, runs on smaller devices. Can log-in with FB, Twitter, Google or Yahoo accounts, this is a very strong point. Can be a plug-in within Moodle so this is very good. http://wiki.lamsfoundation.org/display/lamsdocs/Integrations
Moodle: vastly improved from before and installed easily on my server even under SE_Linux enforced
ONLINE SOLUTIONS
CourseSites: blackboard free version K-12 and college, for individual instructors and students only, a “teaser” product to get you in to purchase the whole thing for your institution. Both Edmodo and Schoology also adopt this strategy.
Edmodo: free, very easy to set up an account online with them but have not got any further. Very much a K-12 solution
Google/Pearson OpenClass: since I have a Google Apps account I was easily able to set this up within ten minutes and its powerfully integrated into Google products.
Schoology: same as Edmodo and Course-Sites, easy to set up an account, K-12 solution
Conclusion
If I go with a server based product it will be Moodle with LAMS as a plug-in and I will do a video tutorial for new users so they do not get lost.
If I go with an online solution it will be Google/Pearson OpenClass, impressively powerful and will be around for a long time, free and backed by two major players who care about security and sustainability.
Wow John. What a great response! Thank you so much!
It’s great to hear that Estante is being mentioned here on Brigada as a good tool for learning! However, it is important to note that Estante is quite not a Learning Management System.
Estante is a digital library app for Android with strong emphasis on offline use and sharing resources between devices, even when not connected to the Internet. Any type of digital resource (text-, photo-, audio-, or video-based content in various file formats) can be included in and shared through Estante.
While these features are useful in a learning environment, and can be used by educators and students alike, Estante does not have other major capabilities of a traditional LMS, such as features that track student progress, support for payment gateways, or electronic communication between users.
That said, Estante is an iterative project. We are continually developing features and incorporating user feedback. Feel free to contact us: https://www.maf.org/estante