Top 5 Open-Source Learning Management Systems to Look Out For
There is no doubt that eLearning has completely revolutionized how we acquire education and skills. Consequently, the hype behind learning management systems (LMS) to systematically impart and manage eLearning is on the rise. There are over a thousand learning system management vendors and learning management systems to choose from, and before choosing the one that’s best for you and your online learners, you must consider a few details and features.
How to Choose a Learning Management System that’s Best for You
After deciding the type of license (cloud-based or open) you’re going to go for, consider the following: pricing models, customer type, specification support and additional features. Here’s a comprehensive list of the top 5 open-source learning management systems that are available in the market today.
1. MOODLE
Moodle is a widely known open-source learning management system. It provides detailed guidelines on how to set up your very own LMS, along with tips on creating online training courses and teaching with Moodle. Moreover, it features a platform for large communities of Moodle users to interact with each other on various topics and is completely free of charge.
Moodle comes with extensive tutorials on many different aspects of LMS, such as installation, setting up courses, quick guides for administrators and teachers, activity setup, learner progress tracking, and mobile application guidelines. Moodle also features a forum that provides tips on a variety of topics, from installation and upgrades to teaching, along with a comprehensive list of terms users may not be familiar with. The download section also offers extensive plugins, and interactive themes and activities.
2. ELIADEMY
Eliademy features a sophisticated interface and many features that are also found in cloud-based learning management system solutions, along with a free version that showcases amazing tools to help you in developing your eLearning course. All this highly automated open-source LMS requires is for you to provide online training material; ready-made material can also be uploaded, along with online training content from websites such as Slideshare or Prezi, and YouTube videos from 160 other sources.
Eliademy also comes with an entire section dedicated to pre-existing courses. Some of these are free while others entail an enrolment fee. Another attractive aspect is that online learners can obtain a certificate upon completing the course, either online or in printed form, which they can share on LinkedIn and other social media platforms.
3. FORMA.LMS
Unlike other learning management systems that focus on academic training, Forma.LMS is a free open-source LMS that mainly targets online training. It hence allows online facilitators to control each and every feature of a course, such as attendance, locations for every online training meeting, and an online calendar for scheduling meetings.
Forma.LMS enables users to make online reports on learner performance and course statistics, which can directly be exported to Excel or sent to the desired online learners. Moreover, users can also create ‘skills gap analysis’ to supervise and evaluate the skills of online learners.
4. ILIAS
Usually applauded for its versatility, scalability, customization options and responsive designs on various devices, Ilias was the first open-source learning management system to be SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 compliant. It is considerably customizable in terms of its eLearning features, themes and the parameters users can specify for online learners to modify.Also, Ilias offers major flexibility when considering the number of users that can be supported, ranging from a small number to a few thousand.
5. OPIGNO
Opignois a SCORM 2004 and Tin Can (xAPI) compliant open-source LMS that offers immense efficiency with regards to course and role management, collaborative and integrative tools, and e-Commerce features. The collaborative features provided by Opigno include chat, to-do lists, learner workspaces, a personal messaging system, screen and file sharing, and recording. The list of integrative features is equally long – SCORM 2004, Tin Can (xAPI), Apache Solr, LDAP (Active Directory) and CAS, H5P integration is also provided by Opigno.
When talking about course management, Opigno is among the best and most appealing open-source LMS. It provides users with many lucrative features, such as private and public course catalogues, in-house meetings management and automatic certificate creation.
With the immense number of learning management systems available, choosing the one that is just perfect for you can be quite daunting and difficult. We hope this list of the top 5 open-source learning management system available in the market will help you make your decision. When used correctly, a LMS can significantly help you in tending to the particular requirements of your online learners.