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Course Platform Evaluation Report

Products

Claroline 1.6.1

Catholic University of Louvain / CERDECAM (Belgium): http://www.claroline.net

Last major evaluation update: August 2005

About product

The Claroline project was initiated in 2000 at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium) by Thomas De Praetere and was financially supported by the Louvain Foundation.

Since 2004, the main code of Claroline is co-developed with CERDECAM, research center of ECAM (Engineering higher school - Belgium).

About producer

Strengths
Claroline is easy to use, with an uncluttered interface, and offers a standard range of functions. Teachers can create a course quickly without training. There are also some useful tools for groups, such as a private document repository.

Weaknesses
There are some usability problems : the back button cannot be used reliably, not all course elements can be bookmarked. Documents are not protected against unauthorized access. Also, the documentation (e.g. for administrators) could be improved. Finally, the customization options are limited.