This EDU Next environment seeks to duplicate a fully-functional collaboration and learning environment (CLE) for a single course using only free or low-cost, off-the-shelf tools and services. The site attempts to demonstrate what it would look like to create a learning or course management system (LMS/CMS) with available tools.

EDU Next attempts to match the toolset of the rSmart Sakai CLE 2.5 release, which includes 27 tools, as well as portfolio functionality (not yet duplicated in EDU Next).

Our conclusion is that while an individual can create a viable environment with available tools, it is complex, requires multiple user identities and would be difficult to reproduce for multiple courses and unsustainable as an institutional service.

Request to join the site to participate in this experiment and discussion of next-generation learning environments.