A meta-model based approach for identifying and formalizing LMS instructional design languages

The use of existent LMSs presents many difficulties related to the design and operationalization of learning scenarios. Teachers have to encompass the LMS technical features and services in order to understand the underlying way of designing. Generic instructional design editors fail in bridging the gap between how they design a learning scenario and how the learning session can be set up within the target LMS. If LMSs could be able to explicit their intrinsic and implicit learning design model, it can be exploited as a proprietary format to build tools and facilities dedicated to this LMS. The research presented in this paper aims to present our method in terms of necessary analysis and steps for the identification and the formalization of Moodle instructional design language. The method takes into account three different viewpoints: a viewpoint centered on the LMS macro-HMIs (Human-Machine Interfaces), a functional viewpoint and a micro viewpoint. We validate the proposed method by applying this formalization on two versions of Moodle.