Why choose an open source learning management system for online training? More organizations than ever are starting to embrace open source software solutions, including for their learning management system (LMS) and corporate training.
The term “open source” simply means that the software developers make the source code available to anyone who wants to view, copy, or modify that code. In contrast, “closed source” or proprietary software can only be modified by the person or organization that created it.
Try to think of new ways to solve the old problems. Very often we look at something we have and say, "I could make it better." That's innovation.
Steve Wozniak
Opigno is built on Drupal, an open-source web content management framework that is widely used to build websites throughout the world. We chose to make our LMS open source because we value the transparency, accountability, innovation, and collective power of the open-source community. If you want to learn what other traits and features to look for when choosing an LMS, check out this article.
Whether or not your LMS is open source may sound like an issue that’s only interesting to developers, but using open source LMS like Opigno for your organization’s digital employee training program can have big benefits.
1. Harnesses the innovative power of community
Our developers don’t just build a platform like Opigno for the perceived needs of imaginary customers. It was created alongside our actual users because the open-source LMS allows them to code and develop the platform to your exact needs. That incredible collaboration across industries and companies has helped us create a stronger, more robust product to deliver online training courses. An open-source LMS gives organizations the opportunity to redistribute and adjust the software code to meet their needs. Open-source learning platforms allow you to customize, update, and expand the learning platform to create a scalable, extendable learning solutions that address the particular needs of your organization
2. Infinitely adaptable to meet your needs
Open-source software like Drupal has a large community of active contributors constantly pushing the innovation boundaries. You immediately benefit from an open-source solution before starting with many benefits and features. Open source learning management systems offer you the flexibility to personalize learning management systems to your exact requirements, culture and identity. The possibilities are endless. Open-source solutions offer compatibility with many other leading technologies so that you won’t be constrained.
3. Completely transparent
You get full visibility into the code with an open-source LMS, as well as access to community conversations about features that are in development or known bugs in the code. Transparency is a huge value for an open source LMS like Opigno, and it means you will always know what you are getting into.
4. Better reliability
As they say, “Many hands make light work.” With a global community of developers keeping an eye on open-source software, the code tends to be more reliable. That’s because an exponentially large number of people are putting the code to the test and working to track down bugs.
5. Future-proofed for your growth
You never have to worry that a developer will stop supporting your favorite feature or discontinue the software that you have been using. An open-source solution will always be on the cutting edge, due to the community of developers.
6. Unbeatably secure
Another benefit of having a global community of developers is that an open-source LMS is incredibly secure. From proprietary training materials to the personal identifying information of your employees, you can trust an open-source LMS to keep your data safe.
At Opigno, we believe that training employees is one of the most important ways organizations can help shape of the future — both for their organization and for their employees. That’s why our goal is to help make modern training tools as accessible as possible.
To do this, we chose to make our Drupal-based LMS open source. Want to learn more about how our open-source LMS can help you meet your online training goals? Get in touch.
Author: Adam Kennedy-Ripon
Design: Simon Contreras