Evaluating learning management systems for university medical education

Abstract

Student is becoming the key focus of the educational process, where students' creativity and interactions are strongly encouraged. Student role changed to be knowledge and information hunter rather than receiver, and teaching, meanwhile, is becoming a peripheral activity. Several interactive and new methods of learning has evolved in the last two decades aimed to utilizing the information and communication technology tools to improve the educational process availability and accessibility. The learning management system (LMS) is the system responsible for integrating all learning services and managing teaching and learning activities. It provides a collection of tools and functions to support teaching and learning processes, usually including course management tools, online group discussion, homework collections and grading, and course evaluation. This study was conducted to evaluate different open source learning management systems that were under consideration to be implemented by the College of Medicine, King Saud University (CMKSU), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The study reviewed open source and commercial LMS systems as a future strategy. Objectives: the main objective of the current study was to assess the open source LMS systems based on conducting literature review and practical evaluation. The study included a literature review on LMS including commercial and open source systems. The study focused on evaluating three open source LMS systems, Jusur, Sakai, and Moodle. Jusur is the LMS adopted by the National E-learning center in Saudi Arabia, and the other two LMS systems are considered as the principal open source LMS systems implemented worldwide. Methodology: this study depended on published technical reports, LMS systems official websites, and industry reviews, as well as examining the products features and evaluating how they meet CMKSU needs and requirements. Results: All the three LMS systems provide excellent tools including discussion boards, chat sessions, and other collaboration tools. Jusur has a strong localization features and technical support and training. On the other hand Sakai and Moodel were ranked better for the user interface and other content and course management features. Sakai is having the advantage of being developed in Java platform. Moodle and Sakai support integration with other systems, while Jusur support the integration in the offline mode only. Conclusion: Open source LMS systems is more recommended because of its popularity among reputable universities, and the benefits of such systems including exchange of experience and e-courses if the development efforts are guaranteed, as well as the availability of the skills required for the development. In the current study, the evaluation focused on the features of LMS systems and a combination of several frameworks to enhance the evaluation process. All three LMS systems provide excellent tools for student interactions and activities. Standards and integration that make these systems able to communicate with other students and hospitals systems are critical features. In addition, the LMS system should be able as well to mange and accommodate a huge amount of information that needed among medical and educational content, including different subjects, lecture notes, lecture videos, text books, videos of surgeries, and radiology images. © 2010 IEEE.