There is no doubt that eLearning has completely revolutionized the way we acquire education and skills. Accordingly, the hype surrounding Learning Management Systems (LMS) for the systematic teaching and administration of eLearning is increasing. There are over a thousand learning system management and learning management system providers to choose from, and before you choose the one that works best for you and your online learners, there are a few details and features you need to consider.
How to choose the most suitable learning management system for you
After deciding on the license type (cloud-based or open), you should consider the following: pricing models, customer type, specification support, and additional features. Here is a comprehensive list of the top 5 open source learning management systems available on the market today.
1. MOODLE
Moodle is a widely known open source learning management system. It provides detailed guidelines for setting up your own LMS, as well as tips for creating online training courses and teaching with Moodle. In addition, it provides a platform for large communities of Moodle users to interact with each other on various topics and is completely free.
Moodle comes with extensive tutorials on many different aspects of LMS such as: B. Installation, setting up courses, quick guides for administrators and teachers, setting up activities, tracking learning progress and guidelines for mobile applications. Moodle also features a forum that offers tips on a variety of topics, from installation and upgrades to teaching, along with a comprehensive list of terms that users may not be familiar with. The download section also offers extensive plugins and interactive themes and activities.
2. ELIADEMIE
Eliademy offers a sophisticated user interface and many features also found in cloud-based learning management system solutions, as well as a free version that presents amazing tools to help you develop your eLearning course. All this highly automated, open-source LMS requires is that you provide online training material; Finished material can also be uploaded, along with online training content from sites like Slideshare or Prezi, and YouTube videos from 160 other sources.
Eliademy also includes an entire section dedicated to pre-existing courses. Some of these are free, while others have a registration fee. Another attractive aspect is that online learners can receive a certificate after 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 education, Forma.LMS is a free, open-source LMS that primarily targets online training. It therefore allows online moderators to control all functions of a course, such as: B. Attendance, locations for each online training meeting, and an online calendar for scheduling meetings.
Forma.LMS allows users to create online reports on learner performance and course statistics that can be directly exported to Excel or sent to desired online learners. In addition, users can also create a “skills gap analysis” to monitor and assess the skills of online learners.
4. ILIAD
Usually praised for its versatility, scalability, customization options, and responsive designs across devices, Ilias was the first open source learning management system to be SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 compliant. It is highly customizable in terms of its eLearning features, themes, and the parameters that users can set for online learners. Also, Ilias offers great flexibility when it comes to the number of supported users, ranging from a small number to a few thousand.
5. OPIGNO
Opigno is a SCORM 2004 and Tin Can (xAPI) compatible open source LMS that offers tremendous efficiencies in terms of course and role management, collaborative and integrative tools and e-commerce capabilities. Collaboration 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 just as long – SCORM 2004, Tin Can (xAPI), Apache Solr, LDAP (Active Directory) and CAS, H5P integration is also provided by Opigno.
When it comes to course management, Opigno is among the best and most engaging open source LMS. It offers users many lucrative features such as: B. private and public course directories, management of internal meetings and automatic certificate generation.
With the sheer number of learning management systems available, choosing the one that’s perfect for you can be quite daunting and difficult. We hope this list of top 5 open source Learning Management System available on the market will help you in your decision. When used correctly, an LMS can help you significantly in addressing the unique needs of your online learners.
Thanks to Sarah Morgan