6. Conclusions

From the discussion in the preceding chapters, we can draw several conclusions:

• Proprietary distributed open learning environments (DOLE) limits their usage and may results in duplication of efforts.
• Various activities are emerging to propose standardisation of DOLE, with varying impact.
• There are two directions for standardisation of DOLE, from the bottom-up and from the top-down.
• Using the RM-ODP standard can help in producing a specification of DOLE reference architecture.
• Lotus LearningSpace evaluation results:
  • Offers excellent support for nomadic learners.

Furthermore, we can also summarise the contribution of this project:

• An examination of various standardisation activities for DOLE.
• A high-level specification for DOLE based on the RM-ODP standard.
• An evaluation of one example of DOLE: Lotus LearningSpace.