Claroline
 | |
| Developer(s) | UCL/IPM / ECAM |
|---|---|
| Stable release | 1.11.10 / 28 février 2014 |
| Written in | PHP |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| License | GNU GPL |
| Website | www.claroline.net |
Claroline is a collaborative eLearning and eWorking platform (Learning Management System) released under the GPL Open Source license. It allows hundreds of organizations worldwide ranging from universities to schools and from companies to associations to create and administer courses and collaboration spaces over the web. The platform is used in more than 100 countries and is available in 35 languages.
An open source platform
Claroline is present in over 100 countries and translated into more than 35 languages. The management is simple, intuitive and requires no special skills.
Claroline is compatible with GNU/Linux, Mac OS and Microsoft Windows. It is based on open-source technologies like PHP and MySQL.
Tools
The Claroline platform is organized around the concept of space associated to a course or a pedagogical activity. Each course space provides a list of tools enabling the teacher to:
- Write a course description
- Publish documents in any format (text, PDF, HTML, video, etc...)
- Administer public or private forums
- Create learning paths (compatible with SCORM)
- Create groups of users
- Compose exercises (compatible with IMS / QTI standard 2)
- Structure an agenda with tasks and deadlines
- Post notifications (also by email)
- Propose home work to make online
- View statistics of attendance and completion exercises
- Use the wiki to write collaborative documents
Development
Since 2000, Claroline development teams have been focusing on the code stability and the development of features in line with the user's needs. The main concern of the developers is not to build up a large number of new features, but to concentrate upon a few elaborated tools concerning the pedagogical approach and the interface offered to the users. Besides, a large worldwide community of users and developers contributes to Claroline's development and diffusion extensively.[1]
Annual Conference of Claroline Users (ACCU)
In order to promote the use of Claroline and encourage the relationship between contributors, each year, the Claroline community meets at the Annual Conference of Claroline Users (ACCU). The ACCU is a unique opportunity to meet users and developers of many countries to share experiences and accomplishment. The first ACCU was organized the 22 and 23 May 2006 in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium), and was also held in other cities such as Vigo (Spain), Lyon (France) and Saidia (Morocco).
Unesco honours Claroline
The Claroline project is the winner of the 2007 UNESCO - King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of ICT in Education. The project was chosen from among 68 projects from 51 countries.[2]
Claroline Connect
In addition to the developments related to the maintenance and evolution of the current version of the platform, development teams are working on a new version of Claroline.
Remaining true to the principles of simplicity, flexibility and stability that characterize Claroline, this version, known as code name Claroline Connect, will offer many new features while maintaining some general guidelines:
- User orientation
- Custom profiles
- Independent learning
- Resources modularity and openness to the environment and to changes in the web
- Genericity and variety of learning tools and collaborative work
- Freedom of configuration
Partners
Initially started in 2000 by the UCL (Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium), Claroline has been developed following teacher's pedagogical experience and needs. Claroline is now financially supported by the Région wallonne for its development through the WIST programme.
Within this programme, Claroline associates three Belgian partners :
- The CERDECAM,[3] Research and development centre of the ECAM, Brussels
- The LENTIC,[4] Research centre on new technologies, innovation and change of the ULG, Liège
- The IPM,[5] University pedagogy and multimedia institute from the UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve
Consortium Claroline
The Claroline Consortium was born on May 23, 2007 during the second annual conference of Claroline users that was held at the Vigo University, Spain. This international non-profit association mainly aims at federating the Claroline community, coordinating the platform developments and promoting its use.[6]
The 5 founding members of the Consortium are:
- Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium
- Haute Ecole Léonard de Vinci, Belgium
- Universidade de Vigo, Spain
- Université du Québec à Rimouski, Canada
- Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile