Create an e-learning website with free learning management software. We have compiled a list of the top 5 open source learning management systems (LMS).
A learning management system (LMS) enables educational institutions and businesses to provide a platform for conducting training programs. It contributes to the provision of education to anyone, anywhere. For e-learning professionals, a learning management system (LMS) is a critical component. Users can easily create courses, deliver them, and track their progress. We looked into a variety of open-source e-learning tools and narrowed it down to the top five. You can check through them to find the best open source lms tools.
We have covered the following e learning management system software and ****open source lms tools in this article.
Moodle
Moodle is a free and open source e-learning system. It is one of the top lms software and leading learning management systems due to its rich features. Moodle LMS is written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License. Moodle can be used for blended learning, distance education, and flipped classroom. Moreover, you can use it in schools, universities, workplaces, and many more for e-learning projects. It has excellent plugin architecture and you can extend it with existing plugins. Moreover, you can create your plugins for specific business requirements and share them with the community as well.
Moodle open source system allows users to use the theme for changing the look and feel of the website or an individual course. Further, you can use a theme based on responsive web design that allows users to use the system on their mobile devices. However, Moodle offers mobile apps for Android, iPhone, and Windows mobile devices. You can find the source code at GitHub.
Above all, some of the important features of e learning platform Moodle are:
- Modern and easy to use interface
- Personalized dashboard
- File management
- Track progress
- High interoperability
Chamilo
Chamilo is another most popular lms and open source learning management system . It is a web-based e-learning system for creating online learning websites. Chamilo is one of best lms solutions and it is free to use by installing on a private server. It is cross-platform, lightweight, secure, and easy to extend. It is written in PHP and uses MySQL for data storing. Its source code is available on GitHub along with documentation regarding deployment and development. Chamilo offers an LDAP module for users authentication. It can be used by disabling database authentication. Chamilo can be enhanced by installing extensions.
Here are some key features of Chamilo:
- Courses management
- Users management
- Document management
- Social learning network
- Integration with third-party tools
Canvas
Canvas is another open source LMS. It’s free and designed to make teaching & learning easier for everyone. Canvas is a suitable LMS for schools, universities, and training centers. Further, it’s an ideal LMS for business. Canvas LMS open source system has three core components such as Canvas LMS, Canvas Studio, and Canvas Catalog. It is secure, reliable, and easy to integrate with third-party services. Canvas education software offers mobile app including Canvas Teacher, Canvas Student, and Canvas Parent. It is written in Ruby and JavaScript. Canvas education platform provides detailed documentation and its source code is available at GitHub. The license for Canvas education software is GNU Affero General Public License.
On the other hand, some cool features of Canvas include:
- Collaborative workspace
- Rich communication tools
- Course import tool
- Assignments and quizzes
- Open API
ILIAS
ILIAS is a free and open source learning management system (LMS). It has been around since 1998 and meets nearly all of the requirements. It’s an e-learning system that’s reliable, secure, and scalable. ILIAS is appropriate for small to medium-sized businesses. Furthermore, it is a perfect choice for online learning activities for universities, schools, enterprises, and public authorities. It’s a great distance learning system because of its integrated tools. ILIAS can be customized using a variety of plugins. You can browse existing plugins on the ILIAS website and create your own to meet your specific needs.
ILIAS top open source lms software has a large community that contributes in various ways to make it a perfect solution. You can set it up on your own server to save money and retain control over your data. You can, however, look at the demo and play with with it before installing it on your own infrastructure. It’s written in PHP, and the data is stored in MySQL. All the documentation is available for usage and development. The source code is available on GitHub.
ILIAS virtual learning management system offers the following key points:
- Learning content management
- Course management
- Assessment and evaluation
- Certificate management
- Communication tools
OpenEdx
OpenEdx is one of the best self hosted lms learning management systems. It’s extensively used, with huge names like IBM, Microsoft, MIT, Harvard, and others putting their trust in it. OpenEdx is a popular lms software and open source learning management system (LMS) for building online learning websites. It’s cross-platform, cross-device, and works on any system or device. The learning platform powering edx is OpenEdx. Harvard and MIT founded edX, an online learning platform. OpenEdx is a self-hosted LMS that is extremely secure, dependable, and configurable for offering education to individuals all over the globe.
Live video conferencing, an interactive dashboard, discussion boards, multi-tenancy, a rich authoring tool, and other features are included out of the box. It can be utilized to meet the learning and training needs of sectors such as higher education, businesses, and NGOs. OpenEdx cloud based learning management system is written in Java and comes with extensive documentation. It is, however, difficult to set up and requires time to become comfortable with. The license for this open source LMS is GNU Affero V3. All the source code is available at GitHub.
OpenEdx most used lms comes up with the following key features:
- Intelligent analytics
- Authoring tool
- Certificate management
- Compliance management
- Comprehensive reports
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve covered the top five most extensively used open-source learning management systems and lms software solutions. These all learning management system lms software are free to use if you install them on your server. There are other additional e-learning systems available, but they are beyond the scope of this article. We will, however, address them in future articles. You can choose from any of the LMS listed, but it’s best to choose based on your skillset and product features. We hope that this tutorial will assist you in making the best decision when it comes to choosing the finest tool to create e-learning website.
Finally, containerize.com is in a consistent process of writing blog posts on further latest open source products. Therefore, stay in touch with this Learning Management System category for the upcoming articles.
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