Learning Management System

Learning Light, the UK-based independent e-learning industry market analyst, has produced its own thorough analysis of learning management systems (LMSs) identifying its top performers.

Social learning functionality and gamification figure prominently among the new capabilities of the latest version – version 6.3 – of the Docebo Learning Management System (LMS). Previewed at ASTD 2014 in the USA and launched around the world on the following day, this latest version of the LMS Software as a Service (SaaS), from the disruptive Cloud E-Learning solutions provider, facilitates new ways of enhancing users’ engagement in learning.

A thorough analysis of 582 of the world’s leading learning management systems (LMSs) has identified the top performing 50.

Published by E-Learning 24/7 - which not only publishes a regularly updated list of the top LMSs but also a list of the top rapid content authoring tools (comprising some 168 vendors) - and the work of  the internationally-known corporate online learning industry analyst, Craig Weiss, the current top ten LMSs in the world are:

Moodle, an open source software package for producing Internet-based courses and web sites, has released it's latest version...Moodle 2.6.1. This latest version provides a number of bug fixes and small improvements as well as fixes to security vulnerabilities that were recently discovered. The new features in Moodle 2.6.1 include:

Given our open source roots as well as our broad definition of a CMS, we thought this would be a good time to revisit Moodle by mentioning that Moodle 2.5 was released last week. This is the first release under their new May/November release schedule. With version 2.5, the Moodle community has managed to address 705 issues through code contributions from 112 developers.

Moodle is a software package for producing Internet-based courses and web sites that we like to call a learning content management system (LCMS or LMS). Moodle 2.5 includes three significant features:

Call me a sucker for education, but despite the fact that CMS Report retired Moodle from our Top 30 list last year, I still insist on posting Moodle articles from time to time. The supporters and developers of Moodle have released Moodle 2.3, a new version of their open source CMS. The "CMS" in this case stands for Course Management System. In order to avoid confusing the Moodle CMS with the other type of "CMS" we typically cover here, I will continue to stick to calling Moodle a Learning Management System  (LMS) or even an LCMS.

I haven't done one these for awhile...a Moodle release announcement. Last year, we took Moodle off our Top 30 CMS Focus list so it isn't on my radar too often. But like so many great content applications out there, just because it isn't on our list doesn't mean you shouldn't still consider them for your CMS.  

Martin Dougiamas from Moodle.org announced today the release of Moodle 2.1. Moodle is a learning management system which in simple terms can be described as a niche CMS geared toward the education field.

Major new features in Moodle 2.1 include the following:

The folks over at Moodle have released versions 2.0.3 and 1.9.12 of their open source learning management system (LMS). Helen Foster writes in the Moodle announcement:

In addition to a number of bug fixes and small improvements, five security vulnerabilities (4 major, 1 minor) in 2.0.2 and two security vulnerabilities (both major) in 1.9.11 have been discovered and fixed. Thanks to the reporters and to all the team responsible for fixing these security issues.

Some of the new features and improvements in Moodle 2.0.3 include:

Perhaps because I like to think of myself as a constant learner, I like to keep keep my eyes open for what is happening with learning/course management systems. CMS Report has been covering Moodle since the early days of our website and I believe it to be one of the more popular open source LMS out there. Moodle 2.0 is currently under development and with an estimated release date of July 20, 2010.

Although Moodle 2.0 hasn't been officially released, the developers did reach important milestones this month with the release of Moodle 2.0 Preview 1 and  Preview 2. These previews give you an idea just how all the new features and improvements are coming together for the next release of Moodle. There are a ton of new features and improvements coming to Moodle to be excited about. Below is a list of major new features we've gleamed of the Moodle 2.0 release notes.

• Community Hubs - Anybody can set up a Community Hub, which is a directory of courses for public use or for private communities. The code is implemented as separate GPL plugin for Moodle.
• Repository Support - Moodle now supports integration with external repositories of content, making it really simple to bring documents and media into Moodle via an AJAX interface that looks like a standard Open dialogue in desktop applications.
• Portfolio Support - Modules can now export their data to external systems, particularly useful for portfolios where snapshots of forums, assignments and other things in Moodle are useful to record in a journal or a portfolio of evidence
• Completion -  Teachers can now specify conditions that define when any activity or course is seen as completed by a student.
• Conditional activities - Access to activities can be restricted based on certain criteria, such as dates, grade obtained, or the completion of another activity.
• Cohorts - Also known as "Site-wide groups", these are site-wide collections of users that can be enrolled into courses in one action, either manually or synchronized automatically
• Web Services Support - Support for standards-based web services across the entire Moodle code base, allowing the admin to expose particular functions of Moodle for use by: 1) Administrative systems such as HR or SIS applications and 2) Mobile clients.
• IMS Common Cartridge - Moodle can now import courses in IMS Common Cartridge format (commonly used by publishers)
• New blocks - Comments block, Private files block, Community block, and Completion block.

Moodle 2.0 Preview 2 can be dowloaded from the Moodle download server.