Learning Management Systems
Key Resource, May 2004
Learning Management Systems (LMS) are also referred to as Course Management Systems (CMS) or Virtual Learning Environments (VLE). LMS allow institutions to provide online environments for distance, on-campus and hybrid learning. A wide range of commercial and open source products are now available and the following is a sample of the options. Also included are sources of electronic tools for evaluation of the various LMS products.
LMS Vendors
The following is a brief list of LMS commercial vendors. Blackboard and WebCT are two of the world’s most popular LMS using a software license model while eCollege is a smaller company using the application service provider (ASP) model. IntraLearn and Angel are two smaller US LMS providers, trying to carve out market share. For more examples and comparisons of commercial LMS products available see the ‘Evaluation Tools’ section below.
Blackboard Blackboard Inc. is a privately held company formed in 1997 and based in Washington D.C., U.S.. The company has risen to become one of the major global LMS vendors, seeing a 11,047% revenue growth from 1998 through 2002. Blackboard began as a merger of two consultants and a Cornell University student-faculty software initiative. Blackboard now offers software products and services for e-Education programs across primary and higher education as well as serving corporate and government markets. These products include an LMS, content management, and portal ‘middleware’ systems promoting e-commerce integration. Blackboard recently declared its first quarterly profit, and announced plans to go public.
CyberLearning Labs CyberLearning Labs, Inc. LMS product is ANGEL, originally developed in the CyerLab at Purdue University School of Engineering and Technology, Indiana University. CyberLearning Labs is the privately owned commercial extension of this product, beginning operations in 2000. Describing itself as an ‘up-and-coming’ player in the LMS marketplace they have secured contracts with the likes of Penn State University, and have signed an agreement with a German partner to develop and distribute a German language version of ANGEL.
eCollege eCollege (ECLG: NASDAQ) is a publicly traded company, based in Colorado, U.S., and incorporated in July 1996. Their share of the LMS market is primarily based in North America, although eCollege International was incorporated in January 2002, suggesting greater international ambitions in the future. eCollege clients range from primary schools to higher education institutions to corporations. Management solutions are offered for teaching, program administration, and technology infrastructure. eCollege uses an application service provider (ASP) model allowing customers to outsource their online content development, management, training, infrastructure, hosting, and support. The eCollege product tends to appeal to small to mid range educational institutions looking to set up a distance learning program from scratch, and for-profit institutions content to outsource what are seen as non-core activities. eCollege also recently declared its first profits.
Intralearn Based in Northboro, Massachusetts Intralearn was founded in 1994. The company has boasted quarter to quarter revenue growth over the past 10 fiscal quarters. Intralearn is privately-held, advertising a client base of over 1,000 organisations, serving 2.5 million people in 40 countries world-wide. Their clients are from a variety of education, government, and corporate sectors. Products include a fully integrated e-learning platform along with web hosting and support services.
Open Source LMS
Open Source LMS are characterised by freely available software code, and the freedom to modify and re-distribute code. Many projects involve collaboration between institutions, and/ or a commercial element to provide user support and customisation.
Bodington Open Source Project The Bodington software system is an LMS institutional open source initiative undertaken by University of Leeds in the UK. It was designed for University of Leeds academic community but source code is also available for public download. Development and troubleshooting are supported by the Bodington group through a user mailing list.
Dokeos Dokeos is the newly founded (February 2004) open source LMS fomerly known as Claroline. Claroline was an open source project originally developed by Thomas De Praetere at the University of Louvain, Belgium. Available in 28 different languages Claroline has been adopted by over a hundred organisations across 50 countries. The LMS product was created for an institutional capacity of approximately 20,000 students. Claroline’s demise was a result of University of Louvain’s decision to trademark and sell the product. To continue the open source project, Thomas De Praetere left Claroline and founded Dokeos, effectively a continuation of Claroline 1.4.2. Self-funding initiatives have been adopted including optional consulting, hosting, and support services to Dokeos users. Dokeos is also marketing itself to the non-academic community as a Knowledge Management solution.
.LRN .LRN is an open source software product originating from MIT and now run by a 30 member consortium composed of institutions, organisations, and research groups from 18 countries. The .LRN product features online communities, learning management, and content management applications and is open source with commercial alternatives supported. The ‘Partners and Users’ portion of the website provides membership information as well as short case studies of each participant and their use of .LRN. Institutions that have implemented the software range from University of Delhi, India to Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia, Spain. Cambridge University UK is a contributing member with an eye to future implementation.
Moodle Based on a ‘social constructionist theory’ moodle is one of the most popular open source LMS. It is available in 34 different languages and according to the website there are 984 sites from 74 countries currently registered (March 2004). Moodle.com is the commercial company run by Moodle's core developers offering fully-supported Moodle hosting, remote support contracts, custom code development and consulting.
The Sakai Project The Sakai Project is a ‘community source’ initiative founded by University of Michigan, Indiana University, MIT, Stanford, the uPortal Consortium, and the Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI). Based on many of the principles of open source, ‘community source’ relies more explicitly on defined roles, responsibilities, and funded commitments by community members than some open source development models. The project is producing open source Collaboration and Learning Environment (CLE) software with an anticipated first release in July 2004. All software is available free. For further resources and services, such as access to technical support staff, the online Sakai Project knowledgebase, pre-release code and developer workshops institutions must join the Sakai Educational Partner’s Program (SEPP) for US$10,000 annually over a three year commitment.
Evaluation Tools for LMS Products
Edutech : Evaluation of Learning Management Systems The Edutech website is a jointly supported service of the Swiss Federal Office of Education and Science, the Swiss University Conference, and the University of Fribourg, providing information on ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in Swiss higher education. The ‘Evaluation of Learning Management Systems’ portion of the website is geared to the needs of the ‘Swiss Virtual Campus’, and was developed to support LMS selection for the period 2004-2007. Based on responses from Blackboard, Clix, Globaltech, IBTServer, Quality Learning/LUVIT and WebCT, the SVU has compiled information on each product in a series of summary, short, and detailed reports. Information was compiled between December 2002 and January 2003 and is available in English, French and German.
Edutools Edutools is a US based initiative designed as an open resource to help educators and administrators research and evaluate a wide range of e-learning products, services, and policies. Developed by the Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications (WCET) this site provides independent reviews, comparisons, analyses and automated decision-making tools in three areas: Course Management Systems, Student Services, and e-Learning Policies. Cross-comparisons may be made for Course Management Products (CMS) by individual product, group (Instructional Standards Conforming Products, Open Source Products, Multi-Campus Products), or by specific product features. All resources on this site are available free of charge.
The READiness InventorY This tool is an initiative of Educause, a US based organisation whose mandate is to, “advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology”. Encompassing far more than LMS, the READiness InventorY (READY) is designed to assist institutions in self-evaluation of their technological capacity. Questions are based on organisational structure, culture, finances, and philosophy and may be answered by an individual within an institution or as a group (with particular participants responsible for answering different sections, or allowing intra-group comparison). The tool is free to use but requires electronic registration from a member of an institution before access is possible.