I'm curious about the history of Moodle.
Moodle is open source, but projects like this need infrastructure and funding.
GNU and the Apache Foundation are funded largely by industry. They get infrastructure
and money for (at least a few) full time staff. Volunteer coders fill in the gaps.
I see there is a moodle.com, where hosting and support is sold. That seems like
a good model. Perhaps Moodle gets corporate donations too. That much is possibly
none of my business.
But how did Moodle get started? Was this a volunteer project from the getgo,
that caught on somehow? Or what? Whose idea was this at the beginning?
Martin Dougiamas started it, and continues leading a community of volunteers and developers who often earned money by doing Moodle support services (hosting, installation, module-making). I got involved in 2003 when it was version 1.1. We were so excited when new versions came out with chat and calendars then. Back then it was mostly small donations, and that continues today. But now I believe it is now more an economic model where Moodle Partners contribute 10% of their income to Moodle headquarters staff. If the Moodle Trust or the Partners also get corporate donations now, I am not sure, but am curious to know more.
Now I continue as a volunteer on these forums, and also my school contributes about US$1000 to $5000 per year to programmers who develop new modules for language teaching and teacher materials collaboration. These new plugins are released free under the General Public License, like Moodle itself and most contributed modules. Maybe there are a hundred or more people like me who contribute in various ways. I hope you can give a little too, whatever you can will be appreciated.
Now I continue as a volunteer on these forums, and also my school contributes about US$1000 to $5000 per year to programmers who develop new modules for language teaching and teacher materials collaboration. These new plugins are released free under the General Public License, like Moodle itself and most contributed modules. Maybe there are a hundred or more people like me who contribute in various ways. I hope you can give a little too, whatever you can will be appreciated.
Contributions from me is a long shot. I'm a self-employed freelance coder.
But I sure do appreciate the software. It helps me to eck out a hard fought living.
I do hope I can contribute code someday. I've got some module ideas I'm still formulating.
I asked about Moodle and funding because it is such a worthy project.
Free software is a wonderful thing. Especially software that aids education.
But I sure do appreciate the software. It helps me to eck out a hard fought living.
I do hope I can contribute code someday. I've got some module ideas I'm still formulating.
I asked about Moodle and funding because it is such a worthy project.
Free software is a wonderful thing. Especially software that aids education.
Sandy,
The old-saw that necessity is the mother of invention is certainly true with Moodle. During the 1990's when Martin was at University of Curtin in Perth AU he was a WebCT administrator and graduate student. Frustrated over not being able to modify source code to get WebCT to conform with what the school needed he simply decided he could do a better LMS. Moodle was born from this decision and because of Martin's beliefs he decided that whatever good he could do as an educational technology programmer the rest of the world would be the beneficiary. Moodle source has been available under GPL since the first build appeared around 2000. It's also worth noting that Moodle reflects an underlying belief about learning in general that Martin was instrumental in promoting.
Today, because of Martin's leadership, Moodle is the most widely used LMS in the world. Moodle has a vibrant online community of teachers, trainers, instructional designers, IT support and programmers, something organizational decision makers look at when considering an open source program. Each year at least a dozen MoodleMoot Conferences are held around the world and there are a number of Moodle books that have been published. Last year Martin was recognized with the prestigious Google O'Reilly Open Source Award for Best Education Enabler. If you ever attend one of the "Moots" where Martin is speaking you will find him to be one of the most likeable and personable people ever encountered.
Moodle maintains financial viability as an open source program through donations, a commercial support program called Moodle partners (about 40 worldwide) and work for hire taken in through Martin's office in Perth. A surprising number of very large organizations have committed to using Moodle and provided resources. Support is another thing organizational decision makers look at when considering an open source program.
The old-saw that necessity is the mother of invention is certainly true with Moodle. During the 1990's when Martin was at University of Curtin in Perth AU he was a WebCT administrator and graduate student. Frustrated over not being able to modify source code to get WebCT to conform with what the school needed he simply decided he could do a better LMS. Moodle was born from this decision and because of Martin's beliefs he decided that whatever good he could do as an educational technology programmer the rest of the world would be the beneficiary. Moodle source has been available under GPL since the first build appeared around 2000. It's also worth noting that Moodle reflects an underlying belief about learning in general that Martin was instrumental in promoting.
Today, because of Martin's leadership, Moodle is the most widely used LMS in the world. Moodle has a vibrant online community of teachers, trainers, instructional designers, IT support and programmers, something organizational decision makers look at when considering an open source program. Each year at least a dozen MoodleMoot Conferences are held around the world and there are a number of Moodle books that have been published. Last year Martin was recognized with the prestigious Google O'Reilly Open Source Award for Best Education Enabler. If you ever attend one of the "Moots" where Martin is speaking you will find him to be one of the most likeable and personable people ever encountered.
Moodle maintains financial viability as an open source program through donations, a commercial support program called Moodle partners (about 40 worldwide) and work for hire taken in through Martin's office in Perth. A surprising number of very large organizations have committed to using Moodle and provided resources. Support is another thing organizational decision makers look at when considering an open source program.