An alternative to Moodle

An alternative to Moodle

by Jason Smith -
Number of replies: 10

I wanted to do a quick survey from Moodle users.

If there was an external "moodle like" system hosted on the web, where users can sign in and have access to all the facilities offered by Moodle, would you use such a system ? I am not referring to the hosted Moodle system, but other online Learning management system having all the facilities of Moodle.

The system would offer additional advantages such as:

  • Security Protection (information will not go outside the class)
  • No hassle of installation or maintenace
  • Improved productivity for the professors/faculty and students
  • Cool web 2.0 user interface


Would you use such an external system ? If not, what would be the primary reason for not using such a system ?

If yes, would you pay for such a system ? How much would you pay for each class/subject ?

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In reply to Jason Smith

Re: An alternative to Moodle

by Richard Oelmann -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers

From a personal point of view, such a system would be looked at and the features compared with what I or my school need (rather than directly against Moodle - which would/has gone through the same process) before deciding whether to use such a system.

That feature review, in terms of an online system, would have to incorporate considerations like data ownership, data protection act considerations (UK for me anyway), and uptime/reliability - while Moodle and some other systems can be hosted on an internal network if required.

My own experience (coming from a Primary school background) is that with tight budgets in the schools, a 'free' system such as Moodle (and with other free webtools such as edmodo, mahara, etc around as well) has a distinct advantage when discussing with the purse holders and so a new/different paid for system would have to prove its cost/benefit beyond doubt in comparison to these.

The other major advantage of systems such as moodle as I see it is the open source, community nature and the way it can be tailored to meet the individual needs of the institution.

These are just my initial thoughts and would love to hear other opinions in such a discussion.

Richard

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In reply to Richard Oelmann

Re: An alternative to Moodle

by E. L. Cooper -

I would have to say there is not a chance I would use a sort of like moodle product and here are just a few of the reasons why

  1. constant developement and improvement- commercial products could not afford to have thousands of developers and testers
  2. track record (nuff said)
  3. a world wide community not just of developers but educators and business people
  4. security issues are a constant battle from student personal information to hackers- I trust moodle to stay ahead of that curve
  5. community responsiveness If a better way to impliment education comes along moodle is on top of it and usually ahead of it

The thing is I have seen and been called in to fix numerous sort of like moodle sites. You could not pay me to recommend what I have seen so far.

 

 

 

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In reply to E. L. Cooper

Re: An alternative to Moodle

by Glenys Hanson -

Hi Jason,

I agree totally with what Richard and E. L. have written.

  • "Security Protection (information will not go outside the class)" Nothing you put on the Internet is 100% secure. I don't know of any studies that show that Moodle is either better or worse than commercial equivalents in this domain.
  • If you want "No hassle of installation or maintenace" you could consider working with a Moodle Partner - but it has a cost.
  • "Improved productivity for the professors/faculty and students" How would you measure that?
  • "Cool web 2.0 user interface" there are a number of free or commercial Moodle "themes" or you can pay a web designer to produce one just for you.

Cheers,

Glenys

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In reply to Jason Smith

Re: An alternative to Moodle

by Dan Trouten -

One of the larger universities in the state swiched from BlackBoard to Moodle this past year. It was a better fit for them.

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In reply to Jason Smith

Re: An alternative to Moodle

by Paul Ganderton -

Hi Jason,

This is a crucial point when we need to make decisions and not to be taken likely. I did produce a small guide that might be of help.

I think there's one aspect I'd like to note that hasn't been mentioned yet (I agree with all the others!). Moodle is not 'free' in that it require time and money to install and run. It's 'free' side come from being community-produced.

There's been a lot of talk in our system (NSW, Australia) about the Moodle vs Edmdo debate. Edmodo is web-based, cloud work with all the concomitant pros and cons. Personally, I go with Moodle because we have the resources to cope with it.

I also think we need to look at the problem from the learning end and not the hardware end. What are we trying to achive and how can it be done most effectively? What do the learners want? How advanced are they? It might well  be that a web-based system is the lesser of two evils!

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In reply to Paul Ganderton

Re: An alternative to Moodle

by sam lelanni -

... web based version of everything is inevitable  surprise

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In reply to Jason Smith

Re: An alternative to Moodle

by William Hamilton -

I just witnessed a briefing by a technical university in Malaysia (the un-named) about a Learning Management System (LMS) other than Blackboard and Moodle. Let it be said that I am a Moodler but wanted to attend and see what I could see... I was impressed by the LMS/ their usage of Claroline http://www.claroline.net/. Never heard of it before then but their reasoning was that for nearly ten years, they 've been trying many systems and combinations to find something "simple, light, speedy and uncomplicated"; They had staff, both young and old, and required something less "admin and creation heavy" that all staff could use. I think their real strong suit was that they've been doing it for ten years and have a lot of experience-- it doesn't hurt that they're a technical university and heavy in IT know how and people!

If you ever get a chance to see it in use, check it out.

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In reply to William Hamilton

Re: An alternative to Moodle

by Don Hinkelman -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers

I tried Claroline back in 2003 before seeing Moodle. At the time I thought remembered it being the first open source LMS. After trying and failing to set it up, I found Moodle, which had two important advantages:

  • easy-to-install for a newbie
  • beautiful forums with face photos 
  • active community of developers and users
  • task-based interface

This last point is really the biggest difference design-wise. Claroline like many other LMSs is tool-based--in other words you go to a forum-area to do your forums, go to an assignment area to do your assignments. Moodle, however, is task-based in that it allows a teacher to 'split' up the forums and spread them around the course, which is laid out linearly by weeks or topics in a central column. While some people joke about it when that column gets long (scroll of death'), I found it incredibly intuitive for me and my students.

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In reply to Don Hinkelman

Re: An alternative to Moodle

by Glenys Hanson -

Hi there,

I haven't used Claroline, but I did use Dokeos (a Claroline fork) before I discovered Moodle in 2004. For someone with my interests in collaborative work and constructivism, Moodle was infinitely better, but for others Dokeos/Claroline could be more suitiable. For a teacher looking mainly for a site where:

  • the teacher can make documents (Word, PDF, Video, Audio, ...) available to students,
  • there is a forum,
  • students can upload assignments,
  • the teacher can learn to use it in 2/3 hours,

then Claroline/Dokeos could be a good choice. And I believe now quizzes and other tools are integrated too.

And as Don, says, I found the community just as friendly and helpful as here on Moodle.

Cheers,

Glenys

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In reply to Glenys Hanson

Re: An alternative to Moodle

by Paul Ganderton -

Thanks Don and Glenys. In my situation I'm often called upon to justify Moodle vs any other system and your comments on Claroline saves me ages setting it up and testing it.

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