Frances Bell

This article briefly mentions moodle, and outlines pros rather than cons of using OSS for e-learning.
http://www.campus-technology.com/news_article.asp?id=10299&typeid=155 
I thought that moodle was a bit understated.  Article also included LAMS as OSS, and I know that earlier discussions have indicated that this isn't the case.

Doesn't Adobe need you to have the reader installed on the client machine? So maybe the student machines with IE as browser also have an earlier version of Adobe Acrobat Reader than the ones with Firefox. I suppose that if you are publishing Adobe Acrobat files, then you should include a link to the download of the latest version of Adobe Acrobat reader (or make sure it is installed if students are using in labs).
I also wondered about visually impaired students - might they not have a problem with Adobe Acrobat.? This is something that I wonder about with resources that we provide.

I tend to agree Niki, though the citation feature does look fairly interesting, giving a broader view of citations than some of the bibliographic databases.

I think that moodle's constructivist (or even constructionist) framework is socio-technical, as much in the moodle community and other resources as in the software.  Obviously, the wonderful tools like glossary builder and discussion tools are very helpful but I don't think they determine the course built with it.  They are (powerful) enablers rather than determinants.

Moodle could be used to build a didactic, instructivist course (though unlikely) just like WebCT could probably be used to build a socially constructive course.

I think that this discussion is demonstrating (at least) two things:

1. the futility of trying to determine absolute moral values that will do for all in the world

2. the need for us all to rub along together somehow if we want a more peaceful world

With a view to the second, how about we try to practice more tolerance (an active attitude) as defined in the UNESCO Declaration of Principles on Tolerance http://www.unesco.org/tolerance/declaeng.htm?

I am sure that these principles are not perfect but they might help our dialogue.

On our Collaboration Across Borders project we will be using these principles as we try to develop an inclusive ethos.  We'll invite moodlers along when we open the discussion.

One last observation - the discussion so far does seem to have been dominated by western males.  Of course, that may reflect the demographics of the moodle community but if not, then why?