Supporting synchronous communication services and delivering SCORM lessons in the Greek language through open source LMSs

Abstract

Nowadays, open source e-learning applications are complete and reliable solutions that are in no case inferior to the commercial ones. Though gratis, they offer unique advantages such as support of various operating systems and the chance to experiment with their source code. Additionally, there is a vast community of developers willing to aid users in installing or using these systems. Besides the fact that they are of excellent quality, open source Learning Management Systems (LMSs) such as Dokeos, Moodle, ILIAS and ATutor can be easily adapted to new demands and challenges thus gaining popularity. This paper initially presents an authoring methodology of SCORM lessons in the Greek language which can be applicable to any of the aforementioned systems. Moreover, it focuses on Dokeos and proposes a new extension of this system in order to meet synchronous communication requirements such as videoconferencing and streaming video