A Moodle Presentation - HELP!

A Moodle Presentation - HELP!

by Jeanine Lum -
Number of replies: 2
My employer (community college) is currently using Moodle.  The college has asked vendors (Blackboard, WebCT, Angel) to do a presentation to faculty and computer services highlighting their LMS.  I have been selected to present Moodle.  No slick salesman here, just a Moodle advocate.  So I am looking for help (advice, ideas, resources, power point presentations etc) to represent Moodle fairly.  I plan to demo the features but I would like to be able to emphasize any features unique or better than other vendors.

In addition, the following questions have been provided to all vendors.  I appreciate any insight on the questions.  I understand some of the questions are specific to the user or not relevant to an open-source LMS, but thought some of you Moodlers would have some previous experience to share. 

Thanks in advance!

  • Does your product work wellwith SCT Banner (grades, class list update, etc)?

  • What are the group workfeatures both synchronous and assychronous and how do they work?

  • What are the grading options(extra credit, viewing grades, viewing grades as percent, and updatinggrades?

  • File display. Can you includedemo scripts (asp, php, asp.net, javascript, java)
    without the program trying to run them? How about HTML, XML code?

  • Technical support - 24/7.Student/Faculty?

  • What level of SCORM compliance?Can you export classes to other LMSs?

  • Is training included with theproduct? Student, Faculty?

  • What server software issupported?

  • Are students automaticallyincluded in the LMS course roll through SCT Banner?

  • What happens if the studentunenrolls from the class?

  • Are e-Portfolios available aspart of the standard product?

  • Is the integration between SCTBanner and your LMS if it is not hosted locally?

  • Price for outsourcinghosting/support? Price for self hosting?

  • How many staff does it take tosupport a local installation?




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In reply to Jeanine Lum

Re: A Moodle Presentation - HELP!

by Richard Wyles -

Hi,

I don't know whether a feature comparison is the optimal way forward. While Moodle certainly stacks up, I believe the key differentiating advantages lie with Moodle being an open source system. The benefits of this need to be emphasised.

I found this document as a useful primer on open source in education - it may be of some use for your presentation. Learner-centredness, flexibility and reduced total cost of ownership were our key drivers for the NZOSVLE project.

Also, for chances to be good the technical support component is vital. Do you have the expertise in-house? If not, is there an out-source partner that provide Moodle support?

Hope this helps,

cheers

Richard

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In reply to Jeanine Lum

Re: A Moodle Presentation - HELP!

by Michael Penney -
Hi Jeanine, my standard general answer to this issue is that most of your faculty probably won't use the advanced features of any LMS unless there is money for support.

It just doesn't make business sense to expect faculty to learn an LMS on their own, and certainly our experience with WebCT and Blackboard is that despite all the claims of the makers, most faculty don't learn to use the advanced features on their own.

Thus if the aim is to improve/increase the use of the LMS, the best use of extra money your institution apparently has to spend on an LMS is to increase support staff and faculty incentives for creating high quality classes and learning to use the advanced features.

Does your product work wellwith SCT Banner (grades, class list update, etc)?

We've got snapshot integration code for Banner, but we haven't done a direct integration yet (as HSU is moving to Peoplesoft and we're doing our integation there). However if you all want a direct integration, we'll write it for you for less than the cost of 1 year's license for one of the commercial systems and never charge you for the code againsmile. Remember that if WebCT/BB/Angel's big point is Banner integration, they'll charge you for it again every yearsmile.

PS, present the gradebook and quiz module as of 1.5, the new ones kicks BB's out of townsmile.

What are the grading options(extra credit, viewing grades, viewing grades as percent, and updatinggrades?

And grade exceptions, don't forget exceptions! How about dropping the X lowest scores in a category?

Technical support - 24/7.Student/Faculty?

If you are in Roseburg Oregon, we've supported Moodle courses at several colleges in California remotely and are now offering support for other colleges. We will be happy to give you an estimate for a support plan, see http://cdc.humboldt.edu/moodle.

 What server software issupported?

Windows, Linux, Unix, MacOSX

Are e-Portfolios available as part of the standard product?

The will be soonsmile.

How many staff does it take tosupport a local installation?

This depends on the number of students, at CSU Humboldt, with 6000 students in Blackboard Basic, we've needed about 2 full time staff. Our support costs with Moodle are about the same (most problems are the same on both systms: forgotten passwords or missing plug-ins, mainly acrobat).

<?php
echo "Can you include demo scripts";
echo "yes";
echo "smile";
?>
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