Mission

The .LRN Consortium (http://www.dotlrn.org) is a tax-exempt, not-for-profit corporation for advancing the adoption, improvement, and development of .LRN, the world's most widely adopted enterprise-class open-source software for supporting learning and research. Originally developed at MIT, .LRN combines an “out-of-the-box” suite of collaborative applications, a flexible toolset for pedagogical innovation, and a high-performance architecture that scales to tens of thousands of users.

The .LRN mission is to convene a world community of the most innovative people and organizations in educational technology to share knowledge, solutions, extensions and applications.

Our goal is to:

• provide the premier toolkit for educational technology innovation
• support education and research communities with advanced collaboration tools
• provide a scalable, enterprise architecture based on open industry standards
• create a sustainable platform adaptable to local languages and cultures

Governance

The .LRN Consortium is governed by member institutions and supported by public and private sponsors. In its operations the consortium:

• coordinates software development
• ensures a reliable release process
• supports quality assurance and certification
• provides framework for legal due diligence
• acts as a clearing house for communication
• shares best practices with the community
• undertakes marketing and promotion

In consultation with consortium members, the .LRN Board of Directors sets strategic direction and provides financial and operational oversight. In order to bootstrap the .LRN Project, initial composition of the Board has drawn primarily from charter members and the largest .LRN installations. Additionally, a number of self-managed working committees assist with the operational goals of the consortium.

Membership

The principal benefit of consortium membership is active participation in a worldwide community dedicated to developing innovative educational software. Member institutions collectively set priorities but also provide cash or in-kind contributions, based on their own choosing, towards consortium operations and goals.

Any organization, regardless of its size or capability, may join the consortium for a very modest fee.

• .LRN Annual Membership (A minimum of $250 per year)

These funds are used to support the legal affairs of the consortium and the development of basic marketing collateral such as the .LRN case studies. The Board of Directors is obliged semiannually to give full financial accounting of consortium expenditures to its members.

Additional membership benefits include:

• Community Support. Assistance from other consortium members with support and implementation
• Development. Input into roadmap prioritization and release planning
• Funding & Grants. Access to jointly- and commonly-funded initiatives, including matching grants
• Marketing. Assistance with public relations and access to centrally developed marketing collateral
• Best Practices. Access to training materials, documentation, and sharing of best practices
• Business Development. Access to business development opportunities and leads

OpenACS Community

Members of the OpenACS community are also invited to join the consortium because of our shared interest in leveraging a common infrastructure, advancing the toolkit, ensuring quality releases, and building innovative collaborative applications.