- Dokeos
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Dokeos 
Developer(s) Dokeos Stable release 2.0 / March 7, 2011 Operating system Cross-platform Type Course Management System License GPL Website Dokeos.com Dokeos is a company dedicated to open source Learning Management Systems. Its main product is a SCORM-compliant open source learning suite used by multinational companies, federal administrations and universities.
Dokeos operates on a professional open-source business model based on open code, community development, professional consulting, quality-assurance services, and subscription-based customer support.
Contents
History
Development
Dokeos started as a company[1] and a learning management system in early 2004 under the impulse of Thomas De Praetere. The product was built from various existing open source modules including Nuke, PhpBB and Openoffice.
In 2004, Dokeos focused on versions of the 1.5 series, a learning platform with tools to track learners progress and share content between learners.
In 2005, 2006 and early 2007, the Dokeos team strengthened with the combined efforts of a strong Belgium-based universitarian community and a team of six developers in the company, and they developed the 1.6.x series. This collaboration was progressively replaced by more client-oriented developments, leading to a professional software.
From late 2007 to date (2009), the Dokeos company (with occasional community contribution) developed the 1.8.x series which clearly improved the corporate usefulness of the system, with a layer of web services to connect to external HR, CRM and ERP systems, several modules to connect to open-source CMS (Drupal and Joomla) and an improved reporting system, as well as efficiency-focused features.
From 2007 on, the Belgian community, together with a few other development groups from Europe, started work on Dokeos 2.0, or Dokeos LCMS. In late 2007, Dokeos extended with a Latino-American company,[2] which added a considerable coding contribution to the development of versions 1.8.5 and 1.8.6.
As of 2009, the Dokeos company is working on the 1.8.x series (with an 1.8.6 released June 2009).
On January 2010, a fork of Dokeos named Chamilo was announced. [3] Acoording to Chamilo 90% of active developers moved from Dokeos to the new project [4].
From 2006 to 2009, the Dokeos company reached a market of rapidly increasing size from small companies to large international (mostly medical-related) companies,[5] and extended its partners network considerably first in Europe and then worldwide.
By May 2010, some 2.300.000 people were registered as Dokeos users in 30 countries and 20 languages.[6]
Standards
The Dokeos code is written in PHP, using MySQL as database backend. It supports SCORM 1.2 import and export. User data can be imported into the system using CSV or XML files. Dokeos can add user info and authenticate through LDAP. For the 1.6 release, the Dokeos developer team has put efforts into complying with W3C xhtml and CSS standards. In 1.8.x, JavaScript is required (light integration into the visual layer), and using SCORM requires the use of frames in the learning path module.
Development
The development of Dokeos is an international project to which several universities, schools, and other organisations and individuals contribute. The Dokeos development methodology takes elements from extreme programming, usability theory, and collaborative open source development methodology, like the ideas in the Cathedral and the Bazaar.
Specifically, Dokeos is very open.[citation needed] There is a forum, used by Dokeos users for discussion and feedback. The agenda and minutes of all developer meetings are published, and a 'roadmap' is also public. All designs and developer documentation are publicly available on the Dokeos wiki. Everyone who registers can contribute. There are currently 21 developers with CVS write access, other people contribute by sending code through email, forum or wiki.
Pedagogical approach and perspective
Dokeos implements a mix of instructional design and social/constructivist approaches. It was built corresponding to the traditional instructional design, and its structure is very close to traditional teaching (set of tools clearly marked as content creation tools), but extends this base by providing tools that encourage constructivism (forums, blogs, wikis, chat, file exchange, personal messaging, etc.).
The instructional design generally improves the simplicity of use by using known teaching strategies and allowing teachers to extend on this known base by adding social tools step by step.
Tools
- SCORM Courses authoring
- Rapid learning
- Templates-based document production
- Tests : multiple choice, fill-in-the-blanks, matching, open questions, hotspots
- Interaction : forums, chats, groups
- Web conferencing (available on Pro and Medical editions)
- Conversion of PowerPoint and Impress presentations to SCORM courses (available on Pro and Medical editions)
- Surveys
- LDAP and OpenID authentication
- Gradebook
- Reservations
- Users sessions
Adoption of Dokeos
- Companies like Alcon Labs, Medtronic or Securitas run Dokeos on a wide scale and the company has some 200 corporate clients
- More than 30 languages are supported (with varying quality levels)[7]
- The largest known Dokeos installation (Ghent University) currently has 28,696 active users and 3,604 active courses (the courses are not created in batch but the teachers decide when and if they create their course). When the results of the exams were released to the students Minerva peaked at 7,197 simultaneous users (28 feb 2006)[citation needed]. More information: http://icto.ugent.be or http://minerva.ugent.be).
- Companies like Alcon Labs, Medtronic or Securitas run Dokeos on a wide scale
- Dokeos is also used in public administrations : Belgian, French and Spanish ministries, as well as unemployed services and NGO's
Trademarks
Dokeos is a registered Trademark of Thomas De Praetere.[8]
See also
- Learning management system
- Rapid learning
Notes
- ^ Dokeos company's website
- ^ Dokeos Latinoamérica
- ^ See http://lists.chamilo.org/pipermail/newsletter/2010-January/000000.html
- ^ See http://www.chamilo.org/en/about-chamilo#who-is-moving-to-chamilo
- ^ Dokeos customers public listing
- ^ May 2010, Stats
- ^ Dokeos Language Translation Tool
- ^ Trade Mark 0775257, Benelux Office for Intellectual Property, filed May 2005
External links
Categories:- PHP programming language
- Free educational software
- Free learning management systems
- Free learning support software
- Educational technology
- Cross-platform software
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