Comparison of free/open source student information systems?

January 15, 2009 2:56 PM

Best free, open source, web-based student information system?

A non-profit organization I do work for is looking for a free, open-source, web-based student information system for tracking grades, attendance, counseling notes and doing scheduling for their summer educational programs.

Ease of setup and hosting isn't a concern; I have lots of experience on setting up F/OSS database apps on various platforms, and they actually have extensive hosting options I'll be able to use. Ease of actual use tracking student information, on the other hand, is paramount, and I'm finding that aspect difficult to evaluate. They'd prefer to host in house, but external hosting isn't a dealbreaker.

Any experience and/or recommendations, or a pointer to something you feel is an apt comparison?

posted by I EAT TAPAS to education (5 answers total)

We have looked at Moodle and it's not to bad.

There are manypeople to support it as well.
posted by Man_in_staysis at 3:48 PM on January 15, 2009

Ask this on the schoolforge mailing list.
posted by PueExMachina at 3:54 PM on January 15, 2009

Moodle.com does what you're looking for.

"Moodle is a course management system designed to help educators who want to create quality online courses. The software is used all over the world by universities, schools, companies and independent teachers. Moodle is open source and completely free to use."
posted by _Mona_ at 4:34 PM on January 15, 2009

I don't think Moodle's what I'm looking for -- tell me what I'm missing. They're not looking to manage course materials -- or to provide online courses -- they're just looking to keep records of attendance, counseling notes and grades for a group of students in existing in-person classes. I'm looking at things like Centre, Class & OpenSIS. Does Moodle really duplicate that functionality?
posted by I EAT TAPAS at 5:10 PM on January 15, 2009

Moodle is not what you're looking for. Moodle is an LMS (Learning Management System) not an SIS. As far as open source goes, there is not a lot of available options. PeopleSoft, Banner et al. have been making serious in-roads into academia for providing these types of services. For those that don't adopt those tools are using homegrown solutions.

Kuali Student is expected to be the paramount open source SIS. Unfortunately, it is still early in the development cycle. The first components are expected to be released at the end of 2009.
posted by purephase at 5:16 PM on January 15, 2009