© FORMATEX 2006 Using Open source Learning Management System for educating information professionals J. Lasic-Lazic, M. Banek Zorica, S. Spiranec, J. Klindzic Department of information science, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb, I.Lucica 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia The paper analyses and defines a range of international and global trends of higher and continuing educa- tion in the context of e-learning with particular reference to the Croatian context. Concepts of distance and blended learning are discussed with the special emphasis on its implementation at the universities educat- ing students in the field of social sciences and humanities. The case study of transforming traditional learning environment (teacher-centred), to the blended learning environment (student-centred) using open-source Learning Management Systems, like Moodle, at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sci- ences in Zagreb, Croatia are presented. Keywords blended learning; Moodle; open source 1. Introduction and background Since Croatia is a transitional country, it is subject to many changes, in education as well as the econ- omy. Present changes can be observed at all levels of education, from the primary schools to the univer- sities. Universities have moved towards Bologna process as well as the implementation of ECT System in order to be compatible and comparable to other European universities. This change will enable ex- change of both European and Croatian experts and students. Educational institutions are expected to transform themselves in accordance to the challenges con- fronting the contemporary society. ICT is perceived as a catalyst for these transformations, which will enable the essential transition from traditional educational paradigms, manifested in instructor-led mod- els (passive knowledge reception, teacher as the «gatekeeper» of information, individual effort) to 21 st century paradigms manifested in student-centered models (problem solving, teamwork, interacting and processing information, active involvement learning, construction and discovery, problem exploration, customized learning). Institutions of higher education have purposely and seriously begun to position themselves with regard to e-learning. They have made serious efforts to move ahead from the public-relation rhetoric of suggest- ing innovation towards becoming leaders in drafting vision, policies, and goals with regard to e-learning (Garrison and Anderson, 2003). This is absolutely true and the fact is that countries worldwide are estab- lishing institutions (like UK's Joint Information Systems Committee) and publishing documents and standards that deal with the implementation and improvement of e-learning at the higher education insti- tutions, in giving guidelines as well as evaluate e-learning at universities. Usage of ICT in croatian educational environment is strongly supported by the government, but there is still a lack of documents and guidelines for implementation and evaluation of e-learning in higher education. Nevertheless, Universities and Ministry of Science, Education and Sport are working on the documents and standards that should evaluate and benchmark e-learning programs, and we expect it to be released very soon. Currently initiatives are not organized on the university level but are coming from the single faculties. On the other hand there are initiatives coming from governmentally financed Croa- tian Academic and Research Network (CARNet) who has established an E-learning Academy in coop- eration with University of British Columbia, Canada. It offers three one-year certificate programs: E- learning Management, E-learning Tutoring and E-learning Course Design. The whole program is offered through WebCT which is also offered to whole academic community for creating and offering their own programs i.e. providing e-learning support free of charge. Still faculties are a bit skeptical towards the Current Developments in Technology-Assisted Education (2006) 88 Current Developments in Technology-Assisted Education (2006)