I am very interested in a web2py Learning Management System (LMS). In fact this is a large part of why I am learning web2py:
For the last 6 years I have been delivering courses using Moodle here in Ireland. When I started using Moodle it felt modern and impressive. 6 years later, Moodle feels the same but the rest of the web has moved forward very fast. Moodle has a friendly open source community with an excellent lead developer but it has many problems as you point out Massimo. In particular development of the main application has become very slow using PHP and CVS now that the code-base and user-base has become so large and because the core application includes so much functionality (the forthcoming Moodle 2 has required huge work but for me fails on many counts to deliver what is needed). Before working with Moodle I was part of a team implementing Blackboard at a large Scottish University. I left my job there largely because of my anger at the cost and wastefulness of Blackboard - I won't say more, you need only search the web for plenty of stories. For these reasons I have had in mind to join a team developing a Free LMS for some time. Whilst keeping an eye on such projects I decided to start learning web2py. I'm not an experienced Python programmer - I come from PHP, CSS, jQuery, UI design and usability testing... If some of the Python / web2py gurus were working on the main functionality of such a project I'd be very excited to help with usability and design etc. It could be a very successful project: Although many large universities have a major commitment to an existing LMS there are tens of thousands of smaller colleges and schools who have yet to implement such systems. Also in many larger institutions departments are free to choose their own LMS. I believe such an LMS should focus on a core set of basic functionality with a powerful and easy to use API and a comprehensive set of plugins to add as needed - similar to the focus of Wordpress core. Some of this functionality has been mentioned (e.g. gradebooks, email features, pre-eminence of basic 'when is assignment due and what is required' info) but should also include: - Extremely consistent, simple, beautiful and easy to understand UI - Be designed from the outset for core notification functions to work well on mobile devices - Forums (used a lot by students for asynchronous discussion) - we have pyForum <http://www.pyforum.org/>! - Excellent blog capabilities tightly integrated with external blog services - Powerful Highrise <http://highrisehq.com/> style contact management with time-stamped notes for / about students and some more of course! But the key is to keep the core simple and then start building plugins as required (the quiz and lesson modules can be very complex to develop to suit all needs). Moodle has quite a good model for this whereby colleges or Universities can pay for developers to build the functionality they need - either in-house or contracted. Institutions have very specific needs - so providing this functionality by plugins makes sense. I'd be interested in maintaining a dedicated website to help develop and promote this over the next few years. I have some time to commit to it. I look forward to seeing what you have in mind Massimo... anyone have any ideas for a name?! Tom in Ireland. On 28 September 2010 15:01, mdipierro <mdipie...@cs.depaul.edu> wrote: > Once again... who here is interested in a web2py based Learning > Management system? > What features would you like to see? > > Massimo > >
