Educa Offline: Design of a Learning Management System (LMS) in Contexts of Low Connectivity and Social Vulnerability

E-learning is a useful tool that has contributed in facilitating education for people around the globe. There is a need to make e-learning available to deaf people, deaf people facing difficulties in learning, for example, when a lecturer demonstrates on the black board, they usually face the wall, making lip-reading impossible. Moreover, unless they have a note-taker, they will not be able to write down the necessary information and watch the lecturer/interpreter/lip-speaker at the same time. Deaf children in Jordan are not far from this. They face even more problems because of the lack of educational infrastructure, resources and specialist provision. In this paper, with the aim of finding the feasibility of using current open source Learning Management Systems (LMS) we evaluated four open source LMS and recommended one of them as most adaptable for deaf children in Jordan. This recommendation came from testing the evaluated LMS against the developed key requirement. These developed key requirements are based on literature; the guidelines of California department of education, these guidelines contain suggestions to be used in classifying, assessing, planning, and providing appropriate educational services to all children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Additionally, we used some aspects from the LMS evaluation tool user guide issue 1.2. The evaluation of process involved examining factors and aspects related to LMS. During the evaluation of four open source LMS, we noticed the main factors that affect the adaptation such as language support, hardware/software specifications, RDBMS, LMS standards & specifications compliance, administrative tools, assessment tools, collaboration and communications tools, and customization of LMS. By the end of this evaluation, we found that the most suitable open source e-learning environment and LMS to be utilised to deaf children needs was LMS. Therefore Moodle LMS is adapted to the deaf children in Jordan.

Adaptive Learning Management System is a concept that has been recently explored to meet the individual needs of learners. Research studies regarding learning environments’, adaptation and personalization indicate that they play a key role to inspire, motivate and engage learners. The Learning Management Systems (LMSs) in this regard are currently facing the challenge of adapting the entire learning procedure according to the individual learning needs. Presently, there are numerous open source, custom developed, and commercial LMSs available. This paper presents an evaluation of web based open source LMSs since they can be easily supplemented and integrated with other software solutions than commercial and custom developed systems. The aim of this evaluation is to find a LMS platform that is most appropriate and has the potential for augmenting to an adaptive one. Initially, the evaluation is based on Elimination by Aspects approach for the qualification and selection of LMSs. Afterwards, the selected nine LMSs were evaluated using Linear Weighted approach (LWA) and fuzzy logic approach. The LWA was applied by assigning performance ratings to the overall categorical as well as adaptivity features. Finally the fuzzy logic was applied to the assigned ratings of each feature for the fuzzification of crisp set values. The results indicate that Moodle outperforms other platforms in overall functionally as well as in adaptation category.

Fast evolving of e-learning technology has inspired teachers to adopt Learning Management System (LMS) as a platform for distance learning activities. LMS is a system used to plan, create, implements and assesses certain learning objective and majority of LMSes are web-based. Dozens of LMS product existence, either commercial or open source has provide wide choices for teachers in selecting the best LMS that suits their need. Since commercial LMSes are costly and not many teachers are willing to spend to have it, open source LMSes has become the credible substitutes to these commercial LMSes. However, based on the observation, whenever open source LMS is mentioned MOODLE will appear in most of the teachers mind. Implication of this, teachers often find themselves altering their needs to suit the LMS, not because it is the right thing to do, but because it is the only choice preferred by them. Selecting the appropriate LMS should starts with identifying the learning objectives and strategies in order to find the suitable open source LMS that will suit initial and subsequent requirements. Therefore, this paper intends to propose a framework or guideline in selecting appropriate open source products. The framework was developed based on experience, research and literature review done. This paper will also introduce some potential open source LMSes and its features that might be helpful in identifying the potential open source LMS that suits our learning objectives requirement. The features are identified by exploring the respective LMS’s test site.

Student is becoming the key focus of the educational process, where students' creativity and interactions are strongly encouraged. Student role changed to be knowledge and information hunter rather than receiver, and teaching, meanwhile, is becoming a peripheral activity. Several interactive and new methods of learning has evolved in the last two decades aimed to utilizing the information and communication technology tools to improve the educational process availability and accessibility. The learning management system (LMS) is the system responsible for integrating all learning services and managing teaching and learning activities. It provides a collection of tools and functions to support teaching and learning processes, usually including course management tools, online group discussion, homework collections and grading, and course evaluation. This study was conducted to evaluate different open source learning management systems that were under consideration to be implemented by the College of Medicine, King Saud University (CMKSU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study reviewed open source and commercial LMS systems as a future strategy. Objectives: the main objective of the current study was to assess the open source LMS systems based on conducting literature review and practical evaluation. The study included a literature review on LMS including commercial and open source systems. The study focused on evaluating three open source LMS systems, Jusur, Sakai, and Moodle. Jusur is the LMS adopted by the National E-learning center in Saudi Arabia, and the other two LMS systems are considered as the principal open source LMS systems implemented worldwide. Methodology: this study depended on published technical reports, LMS systems official websites, and industry reviews, as well as examining the products features and evaluating how they meet CMKSU needs and requirements. Results: All the three LMS systems provide excellent tools including discussion boards, chat sessions, and other collaboration tools. Jusur has a strong localization features and technical support and training. On the other hand Sakai and Moodel were ranked better for the user interface and other content and course management features. Sakai is having the advantage of being developed in Java platform. Moodle and Sakai support integration with other systems, while Jusur support the integration in the offline mode only. Conclusion: Open source LMS systems is more recommended because of its popularity among reputable universities, and the benefits of such systems including exchange of experience and e-courses if the development efforts are guaranteed, as well as the availability of the skills required for the development. In the current study, the evaluation focused on the features of LMS systems and a combination of several frameworks to enhance the evaluation process. All three LMS systems provide excellent tools for student interactions and activities. Standards and integration that make these systems able to communicate with other students and hospitals systems are critical features. In addition, the LMS system should be able as well to mange and accommodate a huge amount of information that needed among medical and educational content, including different subjects, lecture notes, lecture videos, text books, videos of surgeries, and radiology images.

In Macau, the government education department sponsors the adoption of a Hong Kong developed computer based learning management system by schools, but many teachers have concerns about the performance of this system. This project implements and uses the very popular Moodle open source learning management system in a Macau school to compare its performance against the locally developed system. The relative performance of the systems is compared from three bases - reflections by the teacher involved in using both systems, a questionnaire survey of school students on their experiences and perceptions of both systems, and a focus group of teachers. It is found that both students and teachers believe that learning management systems improve the school learning environment and encourage greater student efforts. Also, overall, it is found that the Moodle open source learning management system is easier to set up and manage, is more reliable and easier to use, and has much richer functionality than the local government sponsored alternative. Finally, it seems to be important for teachers to be closely involved in the adoption of a learning management system by a school so that they feel some responsibility in ensuring the success of the project. As a result of this project, we recommend that Macau schools change over to use the Moodle learning management system.

Faktor kualitas perangkat lunak diantaranya adalah correctnes, efisiensi, dan portability. Pada makalah ini dilakukan perbandingan kualitas perangkat lunak dengan berfokus pada ketiga faktor tersebut. Perbandingan faktor correctness dilakukan untuk mengetahui software manakah yang memiliki kualitas lebih baik. Efisiensi digunakan untuk mengetahui performa Learning Management System (LMS) supaya user bisa menyesuaikan infrastruktur yang dimiliki dengan kebutuhan LMS sehingga efisiensi dapat ditingkatkan. Sedangkan portability digunakan untuk mengetahui seberapa kemampuan adaptasi pada LMS terhadap platform sistem operasi yang berbeda. Perbandingan tiga faktor kualitas ini dilakukan pada software Learning Management System (LMS) yang berbasis open source, karena software open source mudah untuk diakses dan bersifat gratis. Tiga jenis LMS yang dibandingkan faktor correctness, efisiensi dan portabilitynya yaitu Moodle 3.1+, ATutor 2.2.1, dan ILIAS 5.1.6. Pengukuran faktor correctness pada LMS dilakukan dengan menggunakan software LoadComplete dengan merekam semua fungsi kegiatan LMS tersebut. Pengukuran efisiensi dan portability melalui pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan metode Study Literature dan Technical Report setiap LMS. Hasil perbandingan menunjukkan bahwa LMS ATutor memiliki faktor correctness yang lebih baik, sehingga ATutor memiliki fungsionalitas lebih baik apabila digunakan sebagai media pembelajaran online. Sedangkan pada efisiensi dan portability, LMS Moodle memperoleh hasil yang lebih baik. Kata kunci: Correctness, Efisiensi, Perbandingan Open Source LMS, Portability

Advancements in Information and Communications Technology has enabled learning to be conducted online frequently through Learning Management Systems (LMS). The use of Learning Management Systems (LMS) as tools for learning in the present Internet age is seen as an important solution to remedy major problems particularly faced by higher education instructors, students and universities. However, any quality and usability related information regarding such widely used learning management systems are rarely encountered in the literature. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the system quality of the top five widely used open source learning management systems through the external characteristics of ISO/IEC 9126 quality standards evaluation model for Moodle, ATutor, Eliademy, Forma LMS and Dokeos with two experts. ISO/IEC 9126 quality model is adequate for evaluating important system quality metrics. Results highlighted in detail a set of usability and quality issues that are associated to external characteristics for each open LMS which require further attention of developers, educators and researchers to improve the quality of learning.

The primary objective of this paper is to unveil the specific problems noticed in the quality of the MCA students emerging out of Anna University affiliated colleges and to suggest a research work which may lead to a collective feasible solution for these problems. MCA students enter the professional PG course in computer applications after their UG degree from different arts and science disciplines with just ancillary level mathematics background. So, the course faces heterogeneous entry behaviour. Also due to the advent of more engineering and arts colleges offering MCA, students exhibit a heterogeneous behaviour in their motivation levels, communication skills, logical and reasoning aptitude and computer software skills. But the requirement is to enable them with good academic performance with scope of employability. Employability skills include communication skills, logical aptitude, programming logic, computer-software-based technical skills and so on. Learning management system (LMS) is a software through which students can access the course, enroll, attend and write formative quiz-type exams to assignments and can participate in forums to share their ideas through online. While participating in a forum or quiz or writing to a blog, students with less confidence are able to overcome their inhibition and communicate freely. This is the first step of growth in communication skills which subsequently help them to gain better technical skills. The current research proposes to design, develop and deliver a part of a computer science courseware for 'Object oriented programming with Java' through the Open source LMS Moodle. The design of courseware includes the lecture session of the course, lecture notes, corresponding formative evaluation questions like quiz and other evaluation methods like forum and assignments. Installing an LMS and making the students attend the classes through that media is a matter of hesitation in many of the Indian Universities. Though Open source LMSs like Moodle and Sakai are available and proved good, initial efforts have to be put up not only by the faculty members for content and formative evaluation tool development but also by the administration. Administration has to support the project financially, in gaining the necessary infrastructure and for the internet connectivity throughout the learning period. But, weighing the benefits and limitations of LMS, we understand that for the better future of the students in the national and international level, in the long run LMS-based education will serve the best. A research project to justify the advantages and disadvantages quantifying the various aspects is planned. This paper also suggests that if at least one of the pre-final semester papers is offered through an open-source LMS, the students, institution and the nation will be benefitted.

A Comparison of Open Source Learning Management Systems

Every modern institution involved in higher education needs a learning management system (LMS) to handle learning and teaching processes. It is necessary to offer e.g. electronic lecture materials to the students for download via the Internet. In some educational contexts, it is also necessary to offer Internet tutorials to be able to give the students more personal support and accompany them through the whole lecture period. Many organisations have introduced commercial LMS and gained the experience that monolithic solutions do not fulfil the dynamic requirements of complex educational institutions and are very cost-intensive. Therefore, many universities face the decision to stick to their commercial LMS or to switch to a potentially more cost-effective and flexible solution, for instance by adopting available open source LMS. Since we have made profound experience in developing and operating an open source LMS, this contribution enlightens the main characteristics of this alternative. This paper describes a use case dealing with a full product lifecycle (development, deployment, use and evaluation) of an open source LMS at the University of Muenster (Germany). It identifies relevant instruments and aspects of system design which software architects in practical application domains should pay attention to

<span>This paper analyses the change and innovation strategies that Charles Sturt University (CSU) used from 2007 to 2009 during the implementation and mainstreaming of an open source learning management system (LMS), Sakai, named locally as </span><em>CSU Interact</em><span>. CSU was in January 2008 the first Australian University to implement an open source learning management system institution wide. The unique characteristics of implementing change and innovation in higher education are discussed as well as CSU's change model, which comprises eight dimensions that can occur in any order and also in parallel, and is based on the work of Kotter, Cohen and Synnot. Two key strategies have emerged to support change, namely the building of learning communities and the sharing of best practice in implementing educational technology. Other findings were that the change was largely driven from the bottom up and with top management support and through the writer's role, from middle management in terms of top down strategies. Technological innovations in the context of an open source learning management system have wider, external implications than the local institution given the free flow of information and intellectual property within the community.</span>

The popularity of open source technologies is growing day to day across the globe and especially in education sector. Open source attracts developers and is motivated by numerous factors including openness, reliability, audit ability, stability, cost, flexibility and freedom. Learning Management System (LMS) is online software that simplifies learning. Number of open source Learning Management Systems (OSLMS) is available today which contributes in higher education. LMS have introduced more number of advancements in learning techniques by provisioning new approaches towards teaching techniques which are effective compared to trivial techniques. We have described seven open source LMS and compared them with their features, usability, services, functions, technical requirements and standards.

Purpose – Institutional repositories (IR) are usually used to archive and manage digital collections including research results, educational material, etc. Learning management systems (LMS) form a popular basis for e-learning and blended learning. This paper aims to study how to integrate IR and LMS to support accessibility of disabled students and students with learning difficulties (dyslexic students) in higher education. Customised ontologies focusing on disabled students can be used to facilitate indexing, and access of items in the repository. Design/methodology/approach – The authors propose a simple methodological approach to establish an integrating system for supporting accessibility. First, the authors review research works related to adaptive learning environments (ALEs) and blended learning, and discuss issues of the interoperability of IR and LMS. Then, based on the review, the authors discuss the use of an integrated ALE for supporting disabled students in the domain of higher technological education. The integrated system is based on IR, LMS and assistive and adaptive technology. The open source software platform DSpace is used to build up the repository applications Use of the web ontology language (OWL) ontologies is also proposed for indexing and accessing the various, heterogeneous items stored in the repository. Various open source LMS (e.g. openeclass) could be used to build up the integrated system. Finally, the authors describe experimentation with a prototype implemented to provide the mentioned capabilities. Findings – The technology is mature enough for building up integrated systems, combining capabilities of IR and LMS, for supporting disabled students. The use of ontologies focused on disabled students could facilitate the use of such integrated systems. Customisation and operation of a platform, for the selection and use of portions of OWL ontologies, could be based on the open source software Protégé. Such a platform forms a basis to create an appropriate ontology suitable for specific domains, e.g. the domain of technological education. Finally, the authors argue that the combined use of the OWL platform and the DSpace repository with open source LMS platforms could support domain experts for creating customised ontologies and facilitating searching. Originality/value – A new perception of the term integrated system for supporting disabled students in the higher education context is presented. This perception tries to combine the IR technology that supports the self-archiving approach of information, open LMS technology and the user-centred approach to support students and manage the “life of information”.

In this chapter, issues concerning the role of Learning Management Systems in early childhood education are discussed. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, such issues have not been thoroughly discussed till now in literature. Learning Management Systems in early childhood concern four types of users: pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, early childhood students and their parents. To a certain degree, each type of user affects the types of services and functionalities that have to be provided by a Learning Management System. Relevant case studies depicting Learning Management Systems role in different settings are presented. Requirements that Learning Management Systems should satisfy are also discussed. Practical issues and guidelines concerning the use of the open source Learning Management System Moodle are also presented. Lastly, future research directions are outlined.

Objectives: The first objective of this paper is to evaluate the present Status of E-learning in India by collecting facts about the usage of Learning Management System, its proliferation and adoption in Indian Universities. The second objective is to prepare a model that could help us to achieve the transformation in teaching-learning process. Methodology: The basic purpose of this study is to understand where does Indian modern education Stand with respect to modern means of technological tools available in the market. The study was based on Content Analysis Methodology that included a survey of visiting more than 700 official websites of Indian universities and the services they offered by using Learning Management System. Findings: As far as India is concerned, Learning Management System has been adopted in the corporate world for in-house training purpose but very much inadequately in Indian Universities, and by the result of that we are lagging behind from benefiting by modern means of educational tools. In this Study, it was found that even with surging internet user’s percentage growth rate in India which is second highest in Asia 28%, still only 6% of Universities in India are using Learning Management System application for E-learning Purpose. The cause for such low percentage might be Very Low broadband speed Connections and Lack of motivational Factors.According to the survey conducted it was found 95% of Indian Universities are using Open source Learning Management System and the approach they use is mostly ICT enabled and few with blended learning approach. Novelty: In this paper we attempt to propose a new Strategic model applicable to the current E-learning scenario in India to make E-learning as well as Learning Management System popular in Indian Universities to provide a way for better E-learning approach.