I have been using Moodle for blended learning for over a year. I use it both when I am on campus in Liberia and when I am off campus in the US. I find it easy and intuitive to use, and new online learners seem to adapt to in quickly. Some of the administrator functions are a little awkward, but that goes with the territory. (Thinking of sudo on Linux.)
But as far as course developer, teacher, and learner roles go, I find Moodle to be very satisfactory. I could never justify paying for Canvas or Blackboard.
However, when I tell other online instructors what I am doing, almost universally, they reply, "Oh, I would never use Moodle. It's so klunky!"
I disagree. When I first logged on to Moodle in 2013, the software had room for improvement. But in the following years, Moodle improved significantly. The people who have expressed negative opinions about Moodle to me were probably justified at the time they formed those opinions. But now that they have been away from Moodle for a while, I believe they need to revisit those opinions.
Therefore, I urge everyone to ask your online learning colleagues, "Have you experienced Moodle lately? It's not how you probably remember it." Then direct them to the Mount Orange demo.
Your #1 Moodle Fan at my school,
-- Russ
I have used Canvas, Blackboard, and Desire2Learn. These products were always free to me from my university. However, for me to get the "job" done, meaning instruction, Moodle has always been the best.
Here's a fun video that I produced a few years ago.
Here's a fun video that I produced a few years ago.
Hi Russ,
I think in the first decade of this century, Moodle was a popular LMS choice at universities in the U.S. By the end of the second decade, though, Canvas seemingly had the most market share in higher education in (and only in) North America.
According to this article on the University of Illinois website, "The state-of-the-art LMS [Canvas] is in 4,000-plus universities, school districts, and institutions worldwide, including 11 of 14 Big 10 schools and all Ivy League schools."
That's a hard statement to beat. More than the numbers, Canvas seems to be winning the prestige game in the U.S. when it comes to LMS use. "Big 10" and "Ivy League" are compelling terms in any marketing piece.
I'm a Moodler, so I'm not talking on behalf of Canvas. Moodle has definitely empowered me in my work for an international development nonprofit in the U.K. We run MOOCs reaching thousands of people. I keep coming with incremental improvements to course design and delivery, thanks to the flexibility of Moodle. I can keep singing the Moodle tune, like so many other educators, but I wonder how much of our song is heard in the places where LMS decisions are made.
Ravi
For me, the real issue has always been the same, Moodle is Open Source and is, ipso facto, just not trustworthy. Moodle doesn't have a big bill, offer sophisticated deals, doesn't promise the world or have a big sales department with 6x4 glossy photographs aggressively promoting a second rate product with a lot of bells and whistles that are meaningless. I have long suspected that it's the lines like "We provide you with all the server space you will need." and "We host the product and you have access to it 24/7, guaranteed to always be online so you don't have to worry about it." The colleges are then thinking, "that's great because we don't have to employ support staff for anything other than keeping our network running." Having used Canvas for a while, I suspect the product was probably at about Moodle 1.8x standard, but that was about 4-5 years ago so may be better. And believe me, Google Classrooms were a nightmare when it went wrong, otherwise it is just a simplistic tool that was nowhere near as good as it was promoted..
Ravi,
I was glad to see the article about the market share that Moodle holds in many parts of the world. Having started on a PDP-11/45 that would fill many living rooms, at this point I'm not easily impressed by technology anymore. For me, Moodle is free, and the support I've received in these forums is as good or better as the trouble tickets and knowledge bases I've used with other products that I have paid for.
My Moodling has improved gradually, too, which shows that an old guy like me can still learn new things!
Russ
I was glad to see the article about the market share that Moodle holds in many parts of the world. Having started on a PDP-11/45 that would fill many living rooms, at this point I'm not easily impressed by technology anymore. For me, Moodle is free, and the support I've received in these forums is as good or better as the trouble tickets and knowledge bases I've used with other products that I have paid for.
My Moodling has improved gradually, too, which shows that an old guy like me can still learn new things!
Russ
This is a problem I have run into over and over again. "Clunky" usually means, "i can't do this in 5 minutes so I'm not going to try". The reality is too many people are just too busy to make the kind of commitment required to understand Moodle. Don't get me wrong, Moodle is not hard to pick up and you can learn it at your own pace, just they don't want to make that effort.
I see "clunky" differently. How does one measure clunkiness? Of course there is no unit of measurement. So when somebody uses that for a comparison, he is functioning fully at the emotional level. So no point in arguing - one can only make matters worse. Let them live in their "ordered" world, once a while show an example of what you've achieved with this clunky thing, expecting nothing.
Here we go... 😀
Rick --> tag as "useless". (Oops, "useless" is not provided! We need a new feature. But it will be more complex.)
Ha, ha, ha! Rick, since when are you in to opinion polls? Don't count my opinion, though - I was told elsewhere that I do not belong to the target audience. Maybe, Moodle should implement the opposite of what I say.
P.S. Yes, we are sufficiently off-topic that we should shift to the Lounge.
P.S. Yes, we are sufficiently off-topic that we should shift to the Lounge.
Visvanath,
I wanted to make a snarky comment like, "Well I measure it in picofortnights," but your reply was too well-written to deserve that.
Because I design all sorts of things, I occasionally try to read a UX article, but those guys speak some technical language that I don't understand. But I wouldn't be surprised if I learned that they had created an operational definition of something (e.g., "user-friendliness" or "ease-of-use") -- or worse, something obtuse like "Upsilon Null" -- to measure it.
In the holy books of my religion, there are many proverbs about not arguing with a fool, so your point is well taken. <3
Russ
I wanted to make a snarky comment like, "Well I measure it in picofortnights," but your reply was too well-written to deserve that.
Because I design all sorts of things, I occasionally try to read a UX article, but those guys speak some technical language that I don't understand. But I wouldn't be surprised if I learned that they had created an operational definition of something (e.g., "user-friendliness" or "ease-of-use") -- or worse, something obtuse like "Upsilon Null" -- to measure it.
In the holy books of my religion, there are many proverbs about not arguing with a fool, so your point is well taken. <3
Russ
Hi Russel
The irony of not arguing with a fool is that somebody has to do it! AFAIC, I listen to Father William:
The irony of not arguing with a fool is that somebody has to do it! AFAIC, I listen to Father William:
`In my youth,' said his father, `I took to the law,https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/alice-V.html
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life.'
Amazingly, he continues to the other comment you made about old men:
`You are old,' said the youth, `one would hardly supposeIsn't that vision! One of these days we need to have a chat in the Lounge. I don't think the Advocacy group here appreciate our comments. Therefore declared FULLY OFF-TOPIC.
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose--
What made you so awfully clever?'
`I have answered three questions, and that is enough,'
Said his father; `don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!'
I was chatting at a vendor meetup with a colleague who's institution uses both Canvas and Moodle. His line was something like "You want Moodle to look like Canvas? That's easy, I'll just turn off all the features!"
Precisely!