So Pearson is offering a free LMS… “freer than Moodle”
Via Scoop.it – Open learning news
Vying to reshape dynamics of e-learning market, Pearson announces cloud-based learning management system that is “absolutely free” — hosting and support included. Pearson is planning to offer a free, cloud-based LMS, along with user support, with a view to pushing sales of their digital content. A risky strategy, and a sign of an interesting shift in the publishing industry. When we did the DUCKLING project (www.le.ac.uk/duckling) at Leicester University two years ago, we could find only one publisher (Routledge) that was willing and able to provide one (and only one) of the recommended TESOL textbooks as a downloadable e-book for our e-book reader pilot. Although Pearson’s free LMS indicates a shift towards provision of more digital content, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are planning to offer more textbooks in e-book format: the aim is apparently to try to sell online support materials for traditional textbook content. As for the free LMS, I think I’d stick to Moodle if I had the choice. Open-source code, supported by a paid tech support person or team, sounds preferable to cost-free but closed code, supported by a company that needs to profit from me in some other way in order to continue offering the freebies. Thanks to @oldaily Stephen Downes for this link.
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