Many in the education market are still in love with open source systems, such as Moodle. However, they often do not realize – until it is too late, that “free” isn’t really free because customization has to constantly exist, support, among other things. That is why there is an uptick in the number of commercial systems available in the education sector. With that comes trends. Available at your local college and school – NOT! Trend 1. Mobile Learning. K-12 students. So why the delay in using mobile learning, especially with tablets in education focused LMSs? Kudos. MORE >>

Yeah I know its not the end of the year, when such forecasts tend to show up in droves. But, fire never waits for anyone or anything and based on my analysis in the marketplace, expect a five alarm fire. For each of these items in e-learning. Authoring Tools. Actors & Avatars. Whether you want to call them human image characters, avatars or actors, they are going to be the new “hot” in 2013. One vendor already offers it in 2012, and knowing this industry – if something takes off and works, others will follow. HTML5. Listen you love flash. with TinCan). Learning in General. MORE >>

Below is a list of course authoring tools – think “rapid e-learning authoring software&#.   The list is followed by free open source software that mimics and can even beat – IMO some of its more well known competitors – that you might use when building your WBT. All software below is free. Rapid E-Learning Course Software. Jelsim -  e-learning simulation software – create in java – can be used in corporate, semi target education. MOS Solo - Content authoring tool. MLOAT - Multimedia Learning Object Authoring Tool.  LAMS -  Very, very nice solution. love it that much. MORE >>

Hello from sunny Los Angeles. Back again to bring this first in a series of rankings for the top ten learning management systems for 2013. As many of you will around know, these rankings are just the first in of series. That said, just as a reminder: Here is how these new rankings will work throughout 2013: Debut this month, update in July, final top 25 in Dec. Vendors can move up, down or out of the rankings – after all it is on-going. First ranking are the top ten, July rankings are top 25, final rankings are the top 25. 100% independent. No spin. You will never find it here. Pluses. Minuses. MORE >>

While traditionally best of the best are announced in December, I decided why wait.  I mean it is not like something is going to change in just a few weeks for any such product. Before I get to the list, people always want to know how do I decide what constitutes the best of the best. Here are my criteria. Innovation – if the product doesn’t offer some innovative features, then they are stale. If they are stale – seriously do you deserve to the best? Feature sets – they have to be more than PPT to Flash or add an audio clip and video clip to the course. Final Note. MORE >>