ATutor

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ATutor
Original author(s) Greg Gay
Developer(s) ATutor development team
Initial release December 4, 2002 (2002-12-04) (1.0)[1]
Stable release

2.2.4  (June 19, 2018; 8 years ago (2018-06-19))

[±]
Preview release 2.2.3 B1  (Unknown) [±]
Written in PHP
Operating system Cross-platform
Available in Multi-lingual
Type Learning management software
License(s) GNU General Public License v2.0
Website ATutor.ca

ATutor is free web-based open-source learning management software.

Product history

ATutor is based upon a graduate school project of primary developer Greg Gay. Following research in 1999 and 2000 by the Adaptive Technology Resource Centre (ATRC) at the University of Toronto regarding the accessibility of e-learning environments, Gay further developed his learning management ideas in an adaptive, accessible, open-source environment.[2] On February 23, 2001, Gay started an open-source SourceForge project for ATutor[3], and a stable 1.0 release arrived on December 4, 2002.[1]

By 2004, the source code was made publicly available in a Subversion repository, signaling a move towards distributed development.[2] On July 6, 2010, version 2.0 was released, featuring restructured code and a new look and feel among other improvements.[4]

Blackboard Inc. patent dispute

On January 17, 2006, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted learning management software developer Blackboard Inc. U.S. patent 6,988,138 for "Internet-based education support system and methods." The patent established Blackboard's claims to certain features of course management systems.[5][6]

The Software Freedom Law Center filed a request on behalf of ATutor and two other clients with the U.S. Patent Office to re-examine Blackboard's patent in November 2006, and in January 2007 the request was approved on the basis of prior art cited by the Center raising "substantial" questions.[7] In February 2007, Blackboard addresses the concerns raised within the education software and academic communities, announcing it had made a pledge to not assert its patent rights against open-source and non-profit software projects like ATutor.[8][9]

Blackboard would eventually go on to abandon U.S. patent 6,988,138 in early-2010, and in November that year the company's legal counsel announced the patent's "official termination" and stated that Blackboard had ended its appeals.[10]

Awards and recognition

In 2007, ATutor won a $50,000 prize in the Mellon Awards for Technology Collaboration.[11]

In 2008, ATutor won a Gold Learning Impact Award from the IMS Global Learning Consortium, a recognition of using "technology in context."[12]

In 2009, Greg Gay and others received a Delegates Award for a Microsoft-sponsored W4A Web Accessibility Challenge.[13]

Features

The main features of ATutor include[14]:

  • IMS/ISO AccessForAll support
  • support for SCORM 1.2 LMS-RTE3
  • social networking support
  • current events
  • password encryption
  • course management
  • enrollment management
  • messaging system
  • student and work groups
  • document management
  • blog and chat tools
  • content tracking
  • testing
  • glossary
  • query tools
  • reporting

Hardware/software requirements

Installation requirements for Dokeos 1.8.6 (sadly installation guides for 2.0 and 2.1 don't seem to exist) include:

  • Apache web server
  • PHP 5.0.2 or greater with specific libraries installed
  • MySQL 4.1.10 or greater

Consult the documentation for more information on necessary PHP libraries.

Videos, screenshots, and other media

  • Video tutorials for ATutor can be found on YouTube.
  • Screenshots of ATutor can be found on SourceForge.
  • A demo of ATutor is available via the ATutor site.
  • Documentation for ATutor can be found here.

Entities using ATutor

Further reading


External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "ATutor News". Adaptive Technology Resource Center. Archived from the original on 12 February 2003. http://web.archive.org/web/20030212174631/http://www.atutor.ca/news.php. Retrieved 05 January 2013. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Gay, Greg (6 October 2009). "ATutor LMS: a case study". University of Oxford. http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/cs-atutor. Retrieved 05 January 2013. 
  3. ↑ "ATutor (Learning Management System)". SourceForge. http://sourceforge.net/projects/atutor/. Retrieved 05 Janaury 2013. 
  4. ↑ "ATutor - Change Log". ATutor.ca. http://atutor.ca/atutor/change_log.php. Retrieved 05 Janaury 2013. 
  5. ↑ Pope, Justin (15 October 2006). "E-Learning Firm Sparks Controversy With Software Patent". The Washington Post. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-1379341.html. Retrieved 05 January 2013. 
  6. ↑ "Patent US6988138: Internet-based education support system and methods". Google. http://www.google.com/patents?vid=6988138. Retrieved 05 January 2013. 
  7. ↑ "Patent Office Orders Re-Examination of Blackboard Patent". Software Freedom Law Center. 25 January 2007. http://www.softwarefreedom.org/news/2007/jan/25/blackboard-reexam-ordered/. Retrieved 05 January 2013. 
  8. ↑ Hammer, Ben (19 February 2007). "Blackboard: Patent won't be used against nonprofits". Washington Business Journal. http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2007/02/19/story5.html?page=all. Retrieved 05 January 2013. 
  9. ↑ "The Blackboard Patent Pledge". Blackboard Inc. Archived from the original on 2010 April 1. http://web.archive.org/web/20100401222607/http://www.blackboard.com/Company/Patents/Patent-Pledge.aspx. Retrieved 05 January 2013. 
  10. ↑ Keller, Josh (30 November 2010). "Blackboard Drops Appeals on Software Patent". The Chronicle of Higher Education. http://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/blackboard-drops-appeals-on-software-patent/28494. Retrieved 05 January 2013. 
  11. ↑ "Recipients of 2007 Mellon Awards for Technology Collaboration Announced". 10 December 2007. http://matc.mellon.org/winners/2007-matc-awardees-announced/. Retrieved 05 Janaury 2013. 
  12. ↑ "IMS Global Learning Consortium Announces 2008 Learning Impact Award Recipients" (PDF). IMS Global Learning Consortium. 15 May 2008. http://www.imsglobal.org/pressreleases/IMSPR-LIAWinners2008.pdf. Retrieved 05 Janaury 2013. 
  13. ↑ "W4A Best Paper Awards". W4A. http://www.w4a.info/global-pre-2010/best.shtml. Retrieved 05 Janaury 2013. 
  14. ↑ "ATutor Features". ATutor.ca. http://atutor.ca/atutor/features.php. Retrieved 05 January 2013. 
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