#Centra moodle software
#Centra moodle free

Over the last few years we have explored many FLOSS solutions (Linux, Apache, MySQL, Open WebMail, VTSurvey, Wink, Moodle, Exelearning, LAMS, Dspace, PhPNuke, Mambo, Drupal, MediaWiki, etc.) and have adopted several.

#Centra moodle software

There are sufficient potential money making companies or corporations to be their cash cows :)Īt UNITAR, we use a portfolio of software solutions to meet our online learning needs combining home-grown, open-source and commercial systems: VOISS (our home-grown LMS), Centra (Web-conferencing), Breeze (Multimedia content development), OpenWebMail, etc.

#Centra moodle free

To do so, perhaps commercial alternatives should consider providing free software for educational institutions (Charge for the services if required, but not the software). By doing so, we can invest more in people and learning, and hopefully in the future play a more active role in contributing to the world of FLOSS.įinally, I also believe that FLOSS and commercial software can actually co-exist in a win-win situation. However, as FLOSS mature in more areas we will increasingly move away from the burdens of commercial licenses, versions and cost. Therefore, at UNITAR our approach has been a blended approach utilizing a combination of FLOSS, commercial and self-developed software. Certainly, this is a concern to Blackboard and other commercial competitors.įor example, from a user and promoter point-of-view I believe FLOSS has still some time to go before it can be fully utilized for all online services. I wonder how many institutions have dumped Blackboard and switched to Moodle, Sakai, ATutor or other open source alternatives.

Therefore, I believe Blackboard's LMS patent move is just the beginning of a war to slow down the threats faced by FLOSS. The quality of FLOSS is increasingly being felt by commercial alternatives, because many of the evolving FLOSS options are increasingly comparable and in certain cases superior. What really amazes me is the FLOSS community's fantastic collaboration, support and growth, which is increasingly involving all corners of the world. I have explored many open source and free software related to education over the last three (3) years.

My experience with FLOSS has been from a user and promoter point-of-view (Psychology and Instructional Design background).

'FLOSS is increasingly liberating and empowering educators and learners around the world from the commercial hassles and burdens of licenses, versions and cost.'.

'FLOSS has the potential to empower the whole world with tools to facilitate effective learning'.