Customizing Open Source LMSs in order to Meet Localization and Synchronous Communication Requirements

Learning Management Systems (LMSs) are applications that facilitate the management, observation and delivery of educational material through the Internet. Nowadays several of these systems are of such high quality that despite their free distribution and open source nature they are gaining popularity among distinct academic institutions. This paper addresses the issue of installing and adopting the open source LMS Dokeos to deliver SCORM lessons in the Greek language. Additionally, the authors demonstrate the extension of the system with direct support for new services such as videoconferencing and streaming video. The proposed methodology is applicable to any LMSs and therefore can function as the basis for coping with similar localization problems in discrete e-learning platforms