Sam - I found Moodle searching the web for PHP applications that would allow me to have forum discussion with my students and then realized I could do so much more. I embraced Moodle and never looked back (haven't had any time to look back) but the school I was at embraced it too and it has continued to spread and keep me entertained. Peace - Anthony
IIRC, first found out about Moodle (Summer, 2004) while doing keyword searches for alternatives to Blackboard (used at UNB Fredericton at that time) and WebCT (used at UdeMontréal in 2002). Had also used IndianaU's original OnCourse (back in 1999), which was based on Microsoft IIS. "OnCourse" is now the official name for IU's Sakai instance. Got to try out that Sakai-based OnCourse at IU South Bend (early 2005) but mostly used the "original OnCourse" through 2004-2005.
First used Moodle at Concordia in early 2006, after preparing for it while using Blackboard (at Tufts and Bridgewater State). Moodle enabled me to teach at Baptist Health System, this summer (2008). Been telling colleagues about different uses of Moodle, including the podcasting modules which were used at Concordia for a pilot project during two semesters. (The current podcasting system is outside of Moodle but fairly easy to integrate into a Moodle site.)
Attended a presentation on Claroline at some point and read about several other solutions over the years. Never got a chance to really put these other environments/platforms through their paces.
No idea if this is the kind of anecdote you were looking for, Sam, but it's a "narrative" I have in my head. One reason I find it somewhat useful is that it gives context to my preferences in terms of Course Management Systems. Sakai and Moodle are my current favourites but I'm still open to give any platform or learning environment a try.
First used Moodle at Concordia in early 2006, after preparing for it while using Blackboard (at Tufts and Bridgewater State). Moodle enabled me to teach at Baptist Health System, this summer (2008). Been telling colleagues about different uses of Moodle, including the podcasting modules which were used at Concordia for a pilot project during two semesters. (The current podcasting system is outside of Moodle but fairly easy to integrate into a Moodle site.)
Attended a presentation on Claroline at some point and read about several other solutions over the years. Never got a chance to really put these other environments/platforms through their paces.
No idea if this is the kind of anecdote you were looking for, Sam, but it's a "narrative" I have in my head. One reason I find it somewhat useful is that it gives context to my preferences in terms of Course Management Systems. Sakai and Moodle are my current favourites but I'm still open to give any platform or learning environment a try.
I went to a PKAL conference at Hope University in Holland, Michigan. We were having a conversation with some physicists about LON-CAPA and generating homework problems. We thought that our LMS at the time was inadequate for generating questions that were of value in the maths and sciences (no ability to write equations without using image files).
A chemist at our table (from Florida) asked us if we had tried moodle. I had never heard of moodle, but started doing research as soon as I returned from the trip. Turned out quite a few small private universities/colleges in PKAL were using it, so we got up a serious pilot study to compare moodle and our proprietary system. The null hypothesis was accepted, therefore we switched. For us, it was primarily cost savings because Moodle was as functional or more functional for the features our faculty were using.
atw
A chemist at our table (from Florida) asked us if we had tried moodle. I had never heard of moodle, but started doing research as soon as I returned from the trip. Turned out quite a few small private universities/colleges in PKAL were using it, so we got up a serious pilot study to compare moodle and our proprietary system. The null hypothesis was accepted, therefore we switched. For us, it was primarily cost savings because Moodle was as functional or more functional for the features our faculty were using.
atw
Here is my story:
It was fall 2003 and I wanted to create a website so that my students would have 24/7 access to my teaching material. I came to realize very quickly that this was an impossible undertaking for someone like me with very limited computer skills. I knew that I couldn't be the only teacher in the world who had great ideas but not much IT-knowledge.
I started to google for school websites around the globe and found Aiken High School. They used a thing called Moodle. I checked out the site, found out that the admin was the German teacher and not someone with a degree in computer science. I felt confident enough to send him an emaiI. He replied immediately and assured me that anybody can use Moodle and invited as a student to his German course. I took one look at the course and knew right away that this was it!
Moodle was unknown in German schools then, and everybody thought I was crazy. "Something with a crazy name - coming from Australia - no way!" Good thing I didn't give up, so in May 2004 my school became one of the first schools in Germany using Moodle.
At about the same time, a group of teachers in North Rhine-Westphalia discovered Moodle - it was only a matter of time before we found out about each other and then founded www.moodleschule.de - a non-profit organization with the goal of spreading the Moodle virus to as many schools in Germany as possible.
Nice side effect of my discovery: Not only did I find Moodle - we also found a partner school. Aiken High School is now our official Partner school in the US and next week another group of our students will fly to South Carolina and keep Art Lader busy for 3 weeks.
Cheers,
Ulrike
It was fall 2003 and I wanted to create a website so that my students would have 24/7 access to my teaching material. I came to realize very quickly that this was an impossible undertaking for someone like me with very limited computer skills. I knew that I couldn't be the only teacher in the world who had great ideas but not much IT-knowledge.
I started to google for school websites around the globe and found Aiken High School. They used a thing called Moodle. I checked out the site, found out that the admin was the German teacher and not someone with a degree in computer science. I felt confident enough to send him an emaiI. He replied immediately and assured me that anybody can use Moodle and invited as a student to his German course. I took one look at the course and knew right away that this was it!
Moodle was unknown in German schools then, and everybody thought I was crazy. "Something with a crazy name - coming from Australia - no way!" Good thing I didn't give up, so in May 2004 my school became one of the first schools in Germany using Moodle.
At about the same time, a group of teachers in North Rhine-Westphalia discovered Moodle - it was only a matter of time before we found out about each other and then founded www.moodleschule.de - a non-profit organization with the goal of spreading the Moodle virus to as many schools in Germany as possible.
Nice side effect of my discovery: Not only did I find Moodle - we also found a partner school. Aiken High School is now our official Partner school in the US and next week another group of our students will fly to South Carolina and keep Art Lader busy for 3 weeks.
Cheers,
Ulrike
Nice! Really nice!
What's useful in this story is that teachers can relate to it. School/university administrators usually prefer more "systematic" evaluations of tools. But this kind of teacher-to-teacher connection is a very efficient way to get people to grok Moodle.
As we have often said, the power of Moodle isn't necessarily in its feature set or in its technical characteristics but in the ways people have been using it. Ulrike's description is quite useful as a representation of this dimension of technology adoption.
As soon as "social networking" features are actively used, we should see a new form of Moodle adoption, based on this kind of person-to-person "word of mouth" process. This might also be the point at which school and university administrators start putting Moodle in the same category as Facebook (something to be banned because it doesn't fit the current framework). But, at least, we may hear more discussions of what online course management implies, in the grand scheme of things.
Ulrike, thanks a lot for sharing.
What's useful in this story is that teachers can relate to it. School/university administrators usually prefer more "systematic" evaluations of tools. But this kind of teacher-to-teacher connection is a very efficient way to get people to grok Moodle.
As we have often said, the power of Moodle isn't necessarily in its feature set or in its technical characteristics but in the ways people have been using it. Ulrike's description is quite useful as a representation of this dimension of technology adoption.
As soon as "social networking" features are actively used, we should see a new form of Moodle adoption, based on this kind of person-to-person "word of mouth" process. This might also be the point at which school and university administrators start putting Moodle in the same category as Facebook (something to be banned because it doesn't fit the current framework). But, at least, we may hear more discussions of what online course management implies, in the grand scheme of things.
Ulrike, thanks a lot for sharing.
In reply to Sam Wells
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very cool thanks for your posts. I got started on moodle when my school did it for assignment, and then we made forums and replied to forums. I just loved doing that and then my school stop using it. So then I searched for a way I could do that again and I found this. 
Hello Sam
I found Moodle when I was at student doing a certificate IV course in IT. The Adult education centre was testing elearning options. Sorry your school has stopped using Moodle but glad you found your way here. There is lots of information about Moodle and this forum allows you to post and discuss topics outside of the normal Moodle topics
cheers
Daryl
In February 2004, I was asked to perform an in-depth comparative technical report on LMSs -- the methodology included (amongst many other things) finding a bug, fixing it and posting the fix. Moodle (and the associated community- leader, devs and helpful users) won hands down.
See 'technical evaluation' documents in https://eduforge.org/docman/?group_id=7
It's been a ton of fun so far -- and it's only getting better! This is from last week: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tabitharoder/2928136438/
See 'technical evaluation' documents in https://eduforge.org/docman/?group_id=7
It's been a ton of fun so far -- and it's only getting better! This is from last week: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tabitharoder/2928136438/