JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science 18(1): 106-122, doi: 10.3217/jucs-018-01-0106

Clustering Projects for eLearning Interoperability

Marc Alier^‡, Enric Mayol^‡, Maria Jose Casañ^‡, Jordi Piguillem^§, Jeffrey W. Merriman^|, Miguel Á. Conde^¶, Francisco J. García-Peñalvo, Wouter Tebben^#, Charles Severance^¤

‡ Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - Barcelona Tech, Barcelona, Spain§ Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Barcelona, Spain| Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States of America¶ University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain# Free Knowledge Institute, Amsterdam, Netherlands¤ University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, United States of America

Corresponding author: Marc Alier ( ludo@essi.upc.edu )

This article is freely available under the J.UCS Open Content License.

Citation: Alier M, Mayol E, Casañ MJ, Piguillem J, Merriman JW, Conde MÁ, García-Peñalvo FJ, Tebben W, Severance C (2012) Clustering Projects for eLearning Interoperability. JUCS - Journal of Universal Computer Science 18(1): 106-122. https://doi.org/10.3217/jucs-018-01-0106

Abstract

Since the beginning of the discipline, eLearning has been about innovation. New software, systems, contents and tools are being created and experimented with and in constant evolution. But when systems, contents and tools become successful and part of the regular infrastructure of educational institutions, interoperability becomes an issue. Systems that are consolidated and regularly used need to be able to interoperate with new ones. And the new tendencies need to fit within the current infrastructure. This paper states how several research and development projects with heterogeneous funding sources and locations worldwide, gathered together to find a solution to this common problem, providing open specifications and standards, plus Free/Libre, Open Source reference implementations.

Keywords

E-Learning, interoperability, open standards, open source, free software, LMS, Sakai, Moodle, IMS LTI, OKI, SOA, software as a service