This post is the follow-up to a series of questions I've been asked about Dokkeos 2.0. I know, the name is misspelled, but I have a formal interdiction from the original trademark holder to use the protected name... Yes, it's come to this point now, what's going to be next, I wonder... In fact, I would probably not write this post if Dokkeos was respectful of the community game we're playing, but then asking me access to our servers to delete references of the true Dok... word (and God knows what else) is just too much for me.
Many people have been asking me about the difference between Chamilo and version 2.0 of Dokkeos, and whether we were going to be able to match the features set of this version scheduled for the 10th of October. It's true that Dokkeos has been known to provide relevant features for several years (under my development lead), so the question is legitimate. However, most people don't know that about 95% of the previous Dokkeos developers have now moved to Chamilo. This makes it a tricky situation for Dokkeos, but the marketing team is good, hence the article published
here about Dokkeos 2.0 and an impressive list of features to appear in 2.0.
Now first let's remember that Dokkeos recently published on their website that they would be releasing a 1.8.7 version in May, then changed it to June... did you see that version coming? I didn't. Then it announced 2.0 in September, then it was changed to the 10th of October, with a proud days counter on the website... let's see how they can respect that this time (I believe they will, given the following list of features, as you will see, is pretty much only blabbering).
Now, because this is marketing, there are a series of stuff that need a marketing-filter here, so let's analyse it, point by point:
User-driven intelligence
Basically it states that users have a word in how the software will appear and what it will contain. Those having been inside the Dokkeos community for a while will know that this essentially means that the company's direct customers will have their say, others will be able to report bugs on the forum and will remain unattended, 99% of the time.
Learning activities gallery
This one is a bit more complex. The announcement suggests you're going to have 25 types of questions, and we've already discussed the fact that it is a good idea (so Chamilo 1.8.8 will try and match that), but it essentially means that the current question types will be multiplied. It doesn't mean that you're going to have brand new features. It means more templates from the current question type. For example, a fill-in-the-blank type question can also be added an audio file and be renamed "listening comprehension". That two questions type from one.
Graphical reporting
Generation of more graphics to represent statistics. Chamilo will try to match that. There are a series of things that can be "charted", and charting them makes sense. This, however, is a very light implementation. We hope Dokkeos will show us the way so we can put that in the next versions of Chamilo. Note that we have long predated that initiative, with the HR director dashboard inside Chamilo 1.8.7 and the connexion time reports inside the user's tracking page.
Smooth authoring experience
This already exists in Dokkeos 1.8.6, apart from the integration of the quiz gallery, which is made as part of the gallery point already mentioned above.
Multimedia toolbox
Adding content is nice. Because we're an open-source software, we have to be careful of the rights on the content we include in our software. If Dokkeos 2.0 includes free content, then we can include the same free content in it.
A visual experience
Dokkeos has shown in the past (under my lead) that it can be very nice for users (in particular teachers/trainers). Let's see how 2.0 improves that. I wouldn't bet too much on the visible improvements in comparison to 1.8.6. We have a bunch of surprises coming for Chamilo 1.8.8 too :-)
CMS : Dokkeos as a website
That whole feature (including sub-features) already exists in 1.8.6. Pure marketing blabbering.
Mindmapping
If you go further into the feature description, you'll realize it doesn't offer a new feature. It just suggests you create mindmaps out of Dokkeos and then include them as images. Nice one, dudes. We have plans for something real in Chamilo 1.8.8. Let's hope that works out.
Decision making help
Let's imagine the online help icon will be replenished with updated content. It would be really nice. We hope that works, so we can see what we can improve here. The online documentation, however, is not really an essential part of the system as, following our statistics, it is mostly unused by a normal user.
Portable application
Already existed (provided by a community member) in 1.8.5.
Develop your own application on top of Dokkeos
Well, it's free software, isn't it? We decided to go in a slightly improved way in Chamilo: do your own modification if you want (you have proficient documentation for that and even free training sessions), and if you want to pass it on to the Chamilo project, get rewarded! This way, the software starts growing much faster.
