OLAT

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OLAT

Open Source Learning Management System
Developer:	University of Zurich in association with the community
Latest release:	5.02 / November 2006
OS:	Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, FreeBSD and other Unix-flavors (based on Java)
Use:	LMS (Learning Management System)
License:	Apache License 2.0
Website:	www.olat.org

OLAT is the acronym for Online Learning And Training. It is a web application - a so called Learning Management System that supports any kind of online learning, teaching, and tutoring without any didactical restrictions. OLAT is free software/open source, and has been developed since 1999 at the University of Zürich and won the MeDiDa-Prix in the year 2000. With version 3.0 the system has been completely rebuilt and is now available as a component oriented application developed in the Java programming language. OLAT has support for various E-learning standards such as IMS Content Packaging, IMS QTI and SCORM. With version 4.0 many extension points have been added to the system which makes it very easy to extend the LMS functionality. With version 5 new functions like Wiki, Calendar, AJAX Beta Mode, Fulltext Search and many other new features.

OLAT is multilingual (full support for UTF-8 and the following languages: German, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Czech, Danish, Greek, Polish, Chinese, Lithuanian, Persian/Farsi, Portuguese and Russian) and integrates the instant messaging system Jabber to support the synchronous communication processes and to extend the users' awareness.

As the strategic LMS of the University of Zürich OLAT is continuously being developed. In the meanwhile OLAT gains more and more attention, especially within the European higher education market. OLAT has very similar goals compared to the Sakai Project but compared to the American initiative it has a much longer development phase and it has been successfully in production for several years. OLAT has been developed from the beginning to support campus wide E-learning and can be compared to commercial tools like WebCT Vista.

[edit] External links

http://www.olat.org (OLAT community site, download, mailinglists, information)
http://www.olat.org/public/index/features.html (Feature list)
http://demo.olat.org (OLAT demo installation, all features can be tested)
http://olat.unizh.ch (Main installation of University of Zürich. Some courses are opened to the guest login)
eLML - eLesson Markup Language (Developed and used at the University of Zurich to create eLearning content)

Commercial support: