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Technical sheet: Bazaar 7.1.0

In this sheet the results of the evaluation are presented in a table format.
  Technical sheet
Functional features
Didactics/Learning flow management No templates are provided to set up courses. Tutors can define their own skeletons. Alternative/conditional paths cannot be defined.  The system supports learning plans and learner portfolios.
Tests and assesment The system offers web authoring functionality for the generation and modification of tests but tests cannot be imported. Type of questions that can be employed are: single or multiple choice questions, terms and/or pictures can be matched and ordered, cloze tests and image-map questions. There is no functionality offering skills management. The system cannot generate certificates after finishing a defined workload.
Media formats/Authoring Content can be created within the system but cannot be imported. Supported content data formats are text and html. Learning objects and courses cannot be imported nor exported. Learning objects can be categorised and annotated with metadata using standard formats. User data can be exported but not imported. Main media formats for applications, audio, images and texts are supported  (embedded  in the content frame of the system).
Course monitoring Online/offline times of courses can be scheduled in the system. A functionality for courses registration is provided (learner enrolls for a course, instructor approves enrollment). There is no functionality for user tracking.
Communication Synchronous communication is supported by chat. Asynchronous communication is supported by email, internal mail, forum and a collaborative space. External tools for communication cannot  be integrated to the system. The system supports RSS/blogging. 
General look and feel of the system The level of customization of the layout of the system is high. Users can personalise the system layout. The login page can be customized.
Permissions handling Permissions are handled through access control lists and role based access control. Either user or group of user can be set the have access to some resource. The resource can be set to allow everyone or just some particular people. Users can be organised into groups very easily.
Other features It is not possible to use encryption for data tranfer. There is no functionality to handle payment. Users can annotate to the learning content but cannot share annotations. Only English language is supported. The system supports Semantic Web features.
Maintainability
Quality of technical documentation There is good documentation for developers (in English). 
Scalability The maximum number of active users of one known installation is more than 5000 users. The maximum number of courses within one known installation is more than 150 courses. It is possible to administrate different clients in one installation. The system can grow horizontally. The system is very reliable. 
Extensibility There are documented mechanisms for the extension of features in the development process. There is no plug-in concept nor API available. The system is fully developed according to an object-oriented approach. Developers stick to the coding conventions defined for the LMS and they are normally respected in the source code. The quality of the source code of the project is very good. The developer team employs a bug reporting system and a Version Control System. 
Adaptability/standard compliance The system is fully modularized. It does not support SCORM 1.2, AICC, IMS-QTI and IMS Laerning Design standards. 
Usability
User documentation There is online help and good documentation for users, authors and administrators (in English). 
Generating content Learning content and tests can be generated and modified easily within the system using  web authoring functionalities. 
Level of expertise needed The level of expertise required for using the program as an administrator, an author, a tutor or an user is low. The system is easy to use. 
Other Training material besides the 'normal' help can be obtained for free at http://klaatu.pc.athabascau.ca/cgi-bin/b7/main.pl. The system is easy to navigate. The layout of the system can be easily customized for any organizations look and feel. The permission system is good and easy to understand. Grading can be done online easily.  The system is compliant with accessibility specifications. There  is a  reporting  functionality.
Support quality
Note There is no commercial support (implementing, hosting, etc.) available. The core team provides basic assistance at responsive time. Answers to a request may take a few hours.
Total cost of ownership
Type of users  -
Financial stability Since 1999, 5 years of full time programming and coordination work have been done. The core team is funded.
One time cost The software requirements of the system are Perl 5 or higher, MySQL 3.22 or higher. The system up and running takes less than 30 min. 
Recurring costs Advised hours of training for an administrator: 10 h.
Advised hours of training for an author: 10 h.
Advised hours of training for an tutor: 10 h.
Advised hours of training for an user: few minutes


Last modified 2005-10-26 01:56 PM
 


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