Ask HN: Why is there no good open-source LMS? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no good open-source LMS?

#101

Post by Jacqued » Fri, Nov 19, 2021, 1:47 PM UTC

sails wrote: post #89

Jacqued wrote: post #36

I work on a team where we build around and run Open edX. It's incredibly complicated to run because it's not built as an open source product. It's just that edX open sources their software after the fact, so they're not investing in making it easy for anyone to run, of to contribute features. On the team I'm a part of, our strategy is to build open source tools around Open edX, using it as a site builder that stitche…

> incredibly complicated to run because it's not built as an open source product Would you suggest it as an option to a team with limited devops budget? The documentation seems reasonable comprehensive. Do you have a brief summary of issues? https://edx.readthedocs.io/projects/edx-installing-configuri...

I'm not an ops guy, but I know it was a constant source of trouble in our team and a large challenge to keep it running smoothly. For us it took 2-3 experienced engineers something like 2 years to have a stable and smoothly running production environment at scale.

If you start from scratch today things may have gotten better. You might want to look at https://github.com/overhangio/tutor, I know Régis has been hard at work making it easier to run Open edX.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no good open-source LMS?

#102

Post by folli » Fri, Nov 19, 2021, 1:52 PM UTC

mikro2nd wrote: post #88

HatchedLake721 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know why but it always gets on my nerves when people decide to address a multinational forum with people from every corner of the world and ask for their time and attention, but at the same time decide to save 2 seconds of their own time to avoid typing out “Learning Management System (LMS)”. We all are from different backgrounds and industries and same acronyms can mean different things. I worked in finance,…

I have the same issue with numerous TLAs, most frequently around here: "NLP". My usual thought sequence is "'Neuro-Linguistic Programming'? Uhhh, no... it's not that, not in this space. 'Near Letter Perfect'? Hmmm... don't think so. 'New Lunar Passage'? Has Elon been smoking that stuff again?..." Eventually I figure it out, but for some weird reason my brain doesn't really want to hang a hook into "Non-Linear Process…

TLA?

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no good open-source LMS?

#103

Post by bmakdbd » Fri, Nov 19, 2021, 1:53 PM UTC

mikro2nd wrote: post #88

HatchedLake721 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t know why but it always gets on my nerves when people decide to address a multinational forum with people from every corner of the world and ask for their time and attention, but at the same time decide to save 2 seconds of their own time to avoid typing out “Learning Management System (LMS)”. We all are from different backgrounds and industries and same acronyms can mean different things. I worked in finance,…

I have the same issue with numerous TLAs, most frequently around here: "NLP". My usual thought sequence is "'Neuro-Linguistic Programming'? Uhhh, no... it's not that, not in this space. 'Near Letter Perfect'? Hmmm... don't think so. 'New Lunar Passage'? Has Elon been smoking that stuff again?..." Eventually I figure it out, but for some weird reason my brain doesn't really want to hang a hook into "Non-Linear Process…

Errr isn’t it natural language processing?

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no good open-source LMS?

#104

Post by bmakdbd » Fri, Nov 19, 2021, 1:54 PM UTC

folli wrote: post #102

mikro2nd wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the same issue with numerous TLAs, most frequently around here: "NLP". My usual thought sequence is "'Neuro-Linguistic Programming'? Uhhh, no... it's not that, not in this space. 'Near Letter Perfect'? Hmmm... don't think so. 'New Lunar Passage'? Has Elon been smoking that stuff again?..." Eventually I figure it out, but for some weird reason my brain doesn't really want to hang a hook into "Non-Linear Process…

TLA?

Three letter acronym

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no good open-source LMS?

#105

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Nov 19, 2021, 1:57 PM UTC

folli wrote: post #102

mikro2nd wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the same issue with numerous TLAs, most frequently around here: "NLP". My usual thought sequence is "'Neuro-Linguistic Programming'? Uhhh, no... it's not that, not in this space. 'Near Letter Perfect'? Hmmm... don't think so. 'New Lunar Passage'? Has Elon been smoking that stuff again?..." Eventually I figure it out, but for some weird reason my brain doesn't really want to hang a hook into "Non-Linear Process…

TLA?

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no good open-source LMS?

#106

Post by dataminded » Fri, Nov 19, 2021, 1:57 PM UTC

Have you looked at Open EdX?

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no good open-source LMS?

#107

Post by jrochkind1 » Fri, Nov 19, 2021, 1:58 PM UTC

The open source solutions that exist are not very good/difficult to work with. The proprietary-commercial solutions that exist are not very good/difficult to work with.

This may mean that it's a hard space to do something "very good" in; compare and contrast to "ERP" systems. Or "enterprise" systems generally -- an LMS is definitely an enterprise system. (Meaning: purchased for an entire organization; those with the most power in purchasing decisions are for the most part not those with roles as core users; often purchased based on "feature checklists", or "what are my famous peers using"; needs to support a kind of 'workflow', which can vary drastically among different organizational customers or even within a single customer).

Consider when it's a pitfall to actually "give the customers what they are asking for". (pitfall to quality/ease-of-use but not always to sales)

Those making procurement decisions need to have someone to call and complain and ask them to fix things -- even if they don't fix them. It's important for the careers of those making procurement decisions to have someone else to blame -- and "nobody ever got fired for buying IBM." This entity to blame hypothetically could be a vendor offering installation/hosting/support for an open source solution... but it's a risky business to be in, when those doing procuring would rather take the safe/familiar route, and the product you are offering installation/hosting/support for, any competitor can too.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no good open-source LMS?

#108

Post by kayodelycaon » Fri, Nov 19, 2021, 2:01 PM UTC

jrochkind1 wrote: post #107

The open source solutions that exist are not very good/difficult to work with. The proprietary-commercial solutions that exist are not very good/difficult to work with. This may mean that it's a hard space to do something "very good" in; compare and contrast to "ERP" systems. Or "enterprise" systems generally -- an LMS is definitely an enterprise system. (Meaning: purchased for an entire organization; those with the…

> "ERP" systems

If there is a good one, I don't know about it. :)

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no good open-source LMS?

#109

Post by gebar » Fri, Nov 19, 2021, 2:07 PM UTC

Would also suggest Moodle. My remote university is using it and while the interface is a bit archaic (= looking and feeling outdated) and many functionalities are almost never being used because of better alternatives (like the chat function or messages), it does have its advantages. You can set up a good work space where students can use the forum, you can interact with them, you can set up learning assignments, upload documents, videos and so on. I think it does its job quite well in the area that it is meant to be used. No live classes, afaik, but those are easily managable via jitsi, for example.

Re: Ask HN: Why is there no good open-source LMS?

#110

Post by eatYourFood » Fri, Nov 19, 2021, 2:09 PM UTC

kayodelycaon wrote: post #108

jrochkind1 wrote: post #107

The open source solutions that exist are not very good/difficult to work with. The proprietary-commercial solutions that exist are not very good/difficult to work with. This may mean that it's a hard space to do something "very good" in; compare and contrast to "ERP" systems. Or "enterprise" systems generally -- an LMS is definitely an enterprise system. (Meaning: purchased for an entire organization; those with the…

> "ERP" systems If there is a good one, I don't know about it. :)

The best you'll get is NetSuite.