What’s ideal for an LMS

Based on my current reviews on all the Learning Management systems available, I have to say that Moodle, even with its popularity, is not as promising as Sakai can be. The ultimate technology that drove me to this decision is that Sakai is Apache/Tomcat based where as Moodle is Apache/PHP based. By the nature of Tomcat, Sakai LMS is written natively in Java where as Moodle is in simple PHP scripts.

I am not saying that PHP is useless or other possible degrading terms, but I do believe that PHP is not as stable, reliable and ultimately as powerful as Java. One of the underlying abilities of WebCT that I personally really like is its Java back end. The ability to actually create Client-Server communication in an N-Tier architecture, that’s really amazing. This is something that, even with the emerging of Web 2.0 and HTML 5 standards, PHP can never really achieved. It can simulate it, but not achieve.

Another special abilities that Java based LMS, such as WebCT, can do while PHP based LMS can not accomplish, are the server side initialization events. In WebCT, this includes all the private messaging, the invitation to chat rooms, sharing of pictures. Since we have a real Client-Server connection, the client does not have to revisit the server on a pre-determined schedule to obtain updated information. It is notified when new events need its users’ attention, just imagining the graphical version of this network gives me a headache.

So, my suggestions is that if you are planning on using your LMS as the general Portal for all your students and staff, choose very carefully before you make a decision, since we all know, once you got used to something, you don’t want to adopt something different.

Tags: LMS, Moodle, WebCT

World of LMS

LMS, stands for Learning Management System, or to me, a dynamically generated Webpage written in either PHP, Java or ASP(x). However, the discovery does not really stop there, the power of LMS is not what is can do out of the box, but what it really represents.

Most common LMS, such as WebCT or Moodle will allow interactions between the instructors and the instructed. However, the ability to submit assignments or review one’s grades is not all that a LMS can do. Ultimately, we can think of the LMS as a virtual school, we can add anything we like on to it. With each new addition, the LMS becomes stronger, have more useful tools or in some case, simply looks better. It is idea to think of the world of an LMS as portal to many virtual classrooms rather then an electronic version of a student’s handbook.

Tags: LMS, Moodle, views, WebCT