The choice of the Learning Management System (LMS) to adopt for the Knowledge Hub was done considering two different aspects: on the one end, the need for a well-know, open source, user-friendly, reliable, secure and customizable platform that could suit the specific project needs; and, on the other, the analysis conducted on the same aspect by previous projects. In this sense, due consideration was given especially to an extensive study conducted by EOSC Synergy WP6 that examined both the most relevant available training platform as well as the solutions implemented by other projects, infrastructures, ESFRI cluster projects and INFRAEOSC-5b regional projects. Further, additional considerations were also given to the latest developments in the online learning tools sector. After all these considerations, the decision was taken to adopt Moodle LMS as fundamental platform for the project. Customization of this openly available LMS is however in progress.
The considerations that went into the choice of the authoring tool were as well based on two levels: the purchase cost (and in this sense both open source that business solutions were investigated), and the level of complexity of the tool. In fact, while the project was looking primarily at a solution the could be open source, a number of aspects were considered in this case, namely: speed and efficiency of authoring (easy and quick to learn and navigate tool, ability to create learning contents in a relatively short time), quality of e-learning output, scalability and supported e-learning formats. The choice therefore was made for an Articulate (one of the lead software houses for this job) product, the Articulate Rise that responds to all the identified needs: easy to use with a simple and intuitive interface; quick to create good-looking (relatively simple) e-learning content; little or no prior experience with e-learning software required for authors to use it (provides a range of pre-built, standard interactions, including timelines, processes, labeled graphics, etc.); and scalability (e-learning courses can be cloned and reused to save time when working at scale). In addition, Articulate Rise is cloud-based and therefore it is easy to update, collaborate and review, promoting collaboration between multiple authors and/or stakeholders. And it supports AICC, SCORM and xAPI (TinCan).