Open source learning management systems

I was googling for learning management system (LMS) proliferation and stumbled upon an article from 2004 about a project named "Sakai."  I never did learn the genesis for the name, but the really interesting stuff was the project's goals:  create an open source LMS that would harness the brightest and best IT minds at participating higher education institutions world-wide.  In other words, one huge global collaborative effort to produce a free, scalable, and extensible LMS.

The article is really a series of Q&A with Ira Fuchs, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation's VP for research in information technology, on his vision for a modern LMS.  The article is an easy read and Fuchs covers each question thoroughly.  You can click the link for the full piece, but here's are some cogent comments:

That eventual goal is still in sharp contrast with where we are today. Now, if an institution acquires a commercial, proprietary LMS, and then finds that the system is deficient in some way, they often must wait until the vendor decides it is financially viable to develop the enhancement—an event that may never occur. Ideally what we’re seeking is a situation in which the schools that want a new capability added to an LMS can, if they wish, develop it themselves, and then make it available to the higher education community so that others may benefit. That’s the point of leveraging collaboration among institutions.

Today, you have a plethora of choices among learning management systems. There are sites on the Web listing dozens of them. But for institutions seeking to move away from their current LMS, there is a cost to change. The cost comes in many forms, not the least of which is that people grow accustomed to an interface.

Perhaps the most important fact to remember is that the industry we represent, higher education, is unique in our willingness to collaborate and to share our labors, such as we have in this IT space. There are a lot of smart people in each of these institutions, and if we can harness them behind the same projects and use a set of standards, starting off with a good base piece of software such as I think Sakai will deliver, then we can do wonders.

So I'm reading this article from 2004 and wondering if all the things Fuchs says we might have are really available now.  Another search on the Sakai Project returned a link to the project's website.  From what I can tell without too much data mining, Sakai has indeed delivered as promised--free, open-source software that supports teaching, learning, and scholarly collaboration.  The site offers an interactive map of Sakai partners.  I was somewhat disappointed to not find any Alabama school listed, but that discovery may be a function of vendor contracts.  I know my university uses WebCT, but when I compare Sakai's tools, at least on the surface, I think it may offer more functionality than WebCT. 

This post is not an advertisement for Sakai because there are a lot of open-source LMS available (check out http://php.opensourcecms.com/general/ratings.php), but rather a look at another set of tools online instructors may be able to use to enhance the e-learning experience. 

LMS are permanent fixtures at higher education institutions; therefore, we should maximize the ability as institutions to acheive collaboration and info sharing.