It was on this day 10 years ago that Moodle 1.0 was initially released to the community. Starting off with just a couple of passionate, education focused coders and a thesis who would have known back then exactly what Moodle would mature into over the next 10 years.
Today we see Moodle sitting stable on version 2.3. Moodle has 66,337 registered sites online in 215 countries using 86 languages with 1,271,769 teachers creating over 6,303,949 courses. Organisations ranging from pre-schools through Primary/Junior and High/Senior schools. Special interest groups,Technical Colleges, Universities, Corporates and government now all use the system one form or another.
I first joined this community in 2005 as an educator seeking support implementing Moodle in my High School. Little did I know just how much my life would change due to exposure to this product. It has become over the years my passion, my work and my hobby. I travel the world speaking on it's use and the country trying to tech others how they could use it better. Why did I fall so heavily for this orange shaded beauty? I saw (and still see) is as a tool aimed squarely at teachers. A tool that allows THEM to teach the way THEY want to in a flexible online space.
It is today, on the 10th birthday of it's initial stable release I would like to thank all of those who have been involved in this community for making this more than a product, more than just an ideal, but creating a true open community of practice in which I and over a million other moodle.org users engage with on a nearly daily basis.
Obviously I can not go on further without of course thanking Martin. It was his initial idea and his ongoing vision that is leading Moodle into the future. Like all projects, open source or otherwise, it is not without its hiccups, bugs (ahem, I mean features), disagreements and inconsistencies. But it’s ongoing growth shows that these have all served to make Moodle stronger. I believe this has been largely due to the strong focused leadership from the top that has allowed the rest of us working on this project to keep a relatively steady hand and occasionally clear head ;)
And lastly, to the community! Regardless of your status. Maybe you are paid to work for Moodle HQ or a Moodle Partner, maybe you are an avid user sharing your knowledge or maybe just the lurker and occasional poster. Each of you bring something valuable to this community; knowledge, passion and a want to make the world around you a better place . I am grateful to all of you. (Yes, even Steve Hyndman) for your thoughts, ideas and candor.
So what next for Moodle, I have no idea! All I can do is hope that it continues to evolve to meet the ongoing needs and challenges of educators online. WHo knows, hopefully I will see many of you here as we celebrate another 10 years.
Three cheers for Moodle.
Hip.....Hip.......HORRAY!
P.S. I thought it rather fitting that the cake image used in this post is the defaultavatar image from the Moodle 1.9 series.
P.S.S. Sorry for the double post. This was originally posted in "General Problems" forum by mistake. The birthday is certainly NOT a problem
