Declan Dagger, Alexander O���Connor, S��amus Lawless, Eddie Walsh, and Vincent P. Wade Trinity College Dublin Service-Oriented E-Learning Platforms From Monolithic Systems to Flexible Services The learning management system (LMS) has dominated Internet-based education for the past two decades. However, the traditional LMS is failing to keep pace with advances in Internet technologies and social interactions online. To support technological diversity, current frameworks such as the E-Learning Framework (ELF), the IMS Abstract Framework, and the Open Knowledge Initiative (OKI) have defined the initial steps toward service-oriented e-learning platforms. Next- generation platforms will be based on these service-oriented visions. Here, the authors discuss LMS evolution and present core challenges that must be addressed to achieve information interoperability in next-generation e-learning platforms. A s Internet technologies proliferate into our daily lives, we come closer to realizing new and exciting online opportunities. One such opportunity is in e-learning, in which more dynamic plat- forms are emerging and replacing tradi- tional, passive ones. Active e-learning employs a broad range of Internet tech- nologies, such as personalization, simu- lation, and mobility, to achieve pedagogic scenarios otherwise inaccessible to tradi- tional forms of learning.1 Thus, today���s e- learning platforms must deal with an increasing set of requirements. The demand for modularized and per- sonalizable e-learning platforms is grow- ing.2 Traditional platforms can���t support architectural flexibility due to their mono- lithic designs. E-learning vendors are addressing this demand by providing toolkits that support customization or by making their source code available for modification under various open source licenses. This indicates an emerging shift from generic solutions to specific applica- tions. Future e-learning platforms will sup- port a wider range of needs by providing interoperability architectures for various existing and emergent services. These needs include federated exchange among services (information and control), various levels of interoperability (intradomain and interdomain), and service composition (orchestration and choreography). Howev- 28 Published by the IEEE Computer Society 1089-7801/07/$25.00 �� 2007 IEEE IEEE INTERNET COMPUTING Distance Learning