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GitLab meets several key criteria for its use in a learning ecosystem. First, it is open source software itself and secondly, it is possible to install an instance of GitLab on your own server. For universities and colleges this enhances the benefits of being open source in the first place as single sign-on and the storage of sensitive student data remains in the sole control of the institution. Using GitLab in combination with the GitHub Desktop application I can also very quickly update my online course sites from my desktop, while at the same time being able to then edit course site materia

While looking for an open source platform to support a learning ecosystem I evaluated multiple options, including self-hosting (for full administrative control) WordPress, Concrete5, Moodle and others. I then came across a number of apps under the category of ‘flat-file CMS,’ meaning that content was stored in files instead of a database. I could see that content as files would be a perfect partner for using a web-based Git service (such as GitLab, GitHub, GitBook, etc.) to share and collaboratively edit content. With such a partnership, CMS content can be automatically backed up in a straight