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"Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow" (Raymond, 2001) (note 1)

INTRODUCTION:

One of the global challenges of e-learning for tertiary education providers is choosing an effective virtual learning environment (VLE) for their business. There are many considerations, not least financial, pedagogical, ease of use, availability, reputation, functionality, marketing, cultural and technological. There are tensions between all of these considerations, which managers must balance to find a platform which best meets their needs. The needs of management, support services, teachers and learners must be accommodated to find a suitable solution. This Wiki will consider Moodle as an effective solution for the delivery of high quality learning management, comparing it to blackboard, and then considering it’s strengths and weaknesses with particular focus on pedagogical and technical issues.

WHAT IS A LEARNER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM:

There are many LMS systems on the market, including Moodle, Blackboard, ANGEL, SUNY, WebCT to name just a few. With the exception of the primitive WebCT, all have excellent and comparable functionality. According to Feldstein (2009), in the LMS market, there is no clear market segmentation, and cost is not necessarily a good indicator of relative feature-richness (or quality). While there are some substantial differences from each other, they can’t be generalized into groups of the better/worse or the feature-rich/feature-impoverished, due to the unique nature of design and the quirks of product evolution. So, all thing being equal, what’s the major differentiation between systems? The major standout difference between many of these systems appears to be that Moodle is open source where as most others are not. Watch the following video to see what it means to be open source.

media type="youtube" key="QfXkxkybQ4Q" height="405" width="500" In contrast, proprietary software often requires a license to use, and the code is not available to users. Therefore upgrades must be purchased.



WHAT IS MOODLE?

Moodle is a course management system: a software package designed to help educators create quality online courses. Such e-learning systems are sometimes also called Learning Management Systems (LMS) or Virtual Learning Environments (VLE). Moodle is open source software and is available in over 50 languages, including Te Reo Māori.

“The word Moodle was originally an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment....It’s also a verb that describes the process of lazily meandering through something, doing things as it occurs to you to do them, an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity” (Moodle.org, 2010) MOODLE STATISTICS: (Moodle.org, 2010)
 * Registered validated sites || 45,663 ||
 * Number of countries || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">207 ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Courses || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">3,152,976 ||
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Users || <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">32,268,239 ||

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">HOW DOES MOODLE COMPARE TO OTHER LMS PLATFORMS?

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">MARKET SHARE:

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Retrieved From [] <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">

FUNCTIONALITY: <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">What has research shown regarding functionality and convenience? Research comparing Moodle with Blackboard has had mixed results, with some surveys rating the two systems similarly, whilst some show Moodle to have an advantage over Blackboard. In a comparison study undertaken by Otago Polytechnic, 80 percent of users preferred Moodle over Blackboard (Bremer & Bryant, 2005). According to Feldstein (2008), blackboard is rapidly losing market share. His 2009 research shows Blackboard’s market share among ITC’s constituents is 59%, down from 77% percent the previous year (Feldstein, 2009). ANGEL take second place with 20% market share, with Moodle up to 11%, up one percent from Feldstein’s 2008 research. WebCT is at the end of its market life, and according to Feldstein, ANGEL is the clear winner in a replacement LMS (2009).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">For a compelling report on functionality differences between Moodle and Blackboard and research which shows Moodle to be a far superior product, refer to the report from Croy et al (2009), from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. This comprehensive study sampled both staff and learners in an analysis of LMS for the university context.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">A Comparison of Moodle Versus Blackboard functionality from a facilitators perspective is shown in the document below from the same study: <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Image source: Croy, Smelser, & McAlpin (2009).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">WHAT ARE THE STRENGTHS OF MOODLE?

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle is an aid to instruction, and complements the art of teaching. It doesn’t replace good teaching, and should be seen as a tool with which to interact with, and motivate learners. It should not be seen as a replacement for good teaching and learning. The encouragement of collaborative networks within Moodle should be seen as a strength, encouraging reflective learning and learner buy-in to the educational process.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle can enhance teaching and learning. Martinez & Jagannathan (2008) describe how Moodle enhances learning programmes as follows: “Moodle’s learning innovations excite educators. At its core, Moodle is educational software grounded in a philosophy of collaborative learning, often referred to as social constructionist pedagogy. This approach views learning as a creative social process, as much as it is an individual one, where people learn together by investigating, analyzing, collaborating, sharing, and reflecting. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Perhaps this is a key reason why it has had such a rapid uptake among the educational community. Moodle was built with elements and tools that embody pedagogical understanding, including these concepts: > memorizing, or viewing.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Effective learning takes place when learners are actively engaged in constructing knowledge (i.e. creating or doing), rather than passively reading,
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">An inquiry- and discovery-based approach is an effective way to learn.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Students learn better with supplemental materials.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Observing and interacting with our peers and the community is also crucial for learning and retention.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Collaborative environments encourage participants to be both teachers and learners at the same time.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Learning environments need to be flexible, and adapt quickly to satisfy learner needs.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Creativity and innovations are sparked (emotional appeal) when everyone has an opportunity to contribute, exercise his or her voice, and participate” (Martinez & Jagannathan, 2008)

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The following resources discuss ways to develop courses and to teach online. They have a social networking focus, and they incorporate interactive activities to encourage sharing and group communication. The authors accommodate multiple ways to learn, and facilitate development of a robust, active learning community. These books show ways to connect teaching with specific Moodle activities and resources for better teaching, more motivated students, and more successful courses. They also demonstrate how to design interactive activities and social features to encourage students, and help them reach their learning potential:
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle documentation by the Moodle Community: []
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle manuals and tutorials by the Moodle Community:[]

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">TECHNOLOGICAL: <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle can be integrated with other systems that organisations may be using (Catalyst, 2010). In addition, it can be set up and managed remotely (there are several companies that do this. Catalyst.net.nz and the Curriculum Factory are two such examples). Alternatively, you can set it up and manage it yourself. The advantage of using a manager is that they are aware of the pitfalls, and have the systems and knowledge in place to trouble shoot and tailor the systems to your requirements with minimum fuss.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle’s architecture is customisable to your needs. Croy et al (2009) reported the following additional advantages:
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle is stable and reliable.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle is easy to use and navigate.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle is compatible with a range of browsers and platform
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle has a built in wiki feature
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle’s gradebook feature, while complex, is superior to Blackboard
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle allows instructors to easily upload and incorporate a variety of content.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hargadon (2008) summarises some of the opportunities available through Moodle well: “Moodle’s main screen is essentially a “classroom information portal” with customizable blocks such as calendar, login, and news. The centrepiece of this screen is a list of courses (classes) that have been created and are available, arranged into categories. An individual “course” is an organized collection of lessons, resources, and activities. A course “author” or “authors” assemble the course material and format. The course can be organized on a time line with specific enrolment dates and fixed deadlines for assignments or it can be organized as a series of topics that can be covered in any order according to the student’s chosen pace. For the online course “facilitator” (who may or may not be the course author), there are administrative functions including student enrolment, assignments, grading, and quizzes. However, the advantage of Moodle (once it’s installed) is that you have a lot of freedom to structure it as you want. Courses can be structured in a number of ways, for example, by week, month or topic" <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">PEDAGOGICAL: <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">According to Moodle.org (2010): “learning is collaborative, so each participant can be a teacher as well as a learner. Your job as a ‘teacher’ can change from being ‘the source of knowledge’ to being an influencer and role model of class culture, connecting with students in a personal way that addresses their own learning needs, and moderating discussions and activities in a way that collectively leads students towards the learning goals of the class”.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Image: The 21st Century Learner. Retrieved from []

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The constructivist principles included from the design phase encourages and supports collaboration. Technical improvements over time will further augment pedagogical support, and is be a major direction for Moodle development (Moodle.org, 2010).

[|Wikipedia (2010)] (note 2) describes Moodle’s pedagogical approach as “a constructivist and social constructionist approach to education, emphasizing that learners (and not just teachers) can contribute to the educational experience”. Constructivist thinking impinges on Moodle’s design, unlike some other LMS, where it appears to be an after thought. Moodle’s design optionally allows students to comment on content (or to contribute content themselves), or to work collaboratively in a wiki. NZEI Te Riu Roa & Flockton (2009) state a successful approach to curriculum comes from teachers seeing and showing themselves as learners among their students. Moodle can facilitate this is a number of ways. A wiki, for example, allows teachers and students to contribute and comment. Blogs and discussion boards are also effective tools for this. They also state that teaching and learning are inseparable. Moodle allows a range of strategies that provide ample opportunity for interaction between teachers and learners.

Constructivism is sometimes seen as at odds with accountability-focused ideas about education. Accountability stresses tested outcomes, not teaching techniques, or pedagogy. Moodle supports an outcomes-oriented learning environment.​ Chavan & Pavri (2009) state the concepts behind the social constructionist philosophy of learning are that learners actively construct new knowledge by ‘tinkering’, and they learn more by explaining what they have learned to others and by adopting a more subjective stance to the knowledge being created. These ideas run parallel to the way open-source development works, in which the developers also often are users, everyone is free to tinker with the software and code is constructed, peer-reviewed and refined by the means of an open discussion. These ideas parallel Blooms taxonomy (see below), where levels of understanding a scaffolded. Reflective thinking is considered the highest order of learning, and Moodle is an excellent tool for initiating and stimulating discussion and metacognition.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Diagram source: []

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The social construction pedagogy is reflected in the design and choice of Moodle features. For example, one of Moodle’s features is every course can have a glossary of terms. The glossary can be set up to allow course participants to add their own terms and definitions. Taking it a step further, Moodle allows comments to be attached to each term, enabling participants to refine and clarify these definitions (Chavan & Pavri, 2004).

Csikszentmihalyi (1990) states “The chief impediments to learning are not cognitive. It is not that students cannot learn; it is that they do not wish to. If educators invested a fraction of the energy they now spend on trying to transmit information in trying to stimulate the students’ enjoyment in learning, we could achieve much better results”. Moodle is a solid, proven tool to engage students, and elicit their ‘buy-in’ into their own learning. They receive tangible results and feedback immediately, and a range of teaching tool and methods can stimulate learning for a range of learning styles.

Moodle, quite simply is an easy to use, flexible tool for teaching that allows a range of activity types and strategies including forums, messaging, quizzes, assignments, wikis, blogs, assessments and databases. Engaging both student and teacher in a learner centred pedagogical approach. Open source (therefore free), Moodle provides teachers with the flexibility to decide where their training dollar should go, although many will outsource the setup and management of the Moodle platform to professional Moodle partners.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">WHAT ARE THE WEAKNESSES OF MOODLE?

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">PEDAGOGICAL:

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">A number of researchers have identified weaknesses in the Moodle operating system from a facilitator’s perspective. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Croy et al (2009) reported the following disadvantages:
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The gradebook feature is complicated and inflexible
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It cannot release modules or tests at a pre-specified time
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Formatting is not maintained when transferring objects between courses and sections
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It cannot combine sections of a course or forms groups with members in different sections
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">You cannot import grades from outside programs, such as Excel
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">More flexibility in configuration and page layout would be appreciated

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It should be noted form a pedagogical perspective that whilst a number of assessment tools are available through Moodle, the determination of learning should not be solely reliant on Moodle tools, as repeatability and independence are difficult to gauge. This is not truly a weakness, as a sensible constraint of the system. NZQA has published excellent guidelines around assessment for qualification (2001). Whilst aimed at standards assessment rather than workplace assessors, much of the principles apply regardless of context. According to NZQA (2001), assessment methods should be appropriate, fair, integrated and manageable. It is possible to set assessment tasks in Moodle that achieve this. Integration would require the most planning and forethought. Evidence should be valid, direct, authentic and sufficient. Sufficiency would be the most challenging from this set of guidelines. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Zwart (2010) blogs that conventional LMS platforms don’t fully leverage the potential of the net as a connection machine for learning, instead they are usually silos that see themselves as the centre of the learning technology experience and lack capabilities to support a more distributed experience. It could be argued that as technologogy continues to advance, this kind of opinion will be come more dispersed and detrimental. Newer and more connective devices and platforms could see market share changing in the future. Although it should be stated that open-source platforms such as Moodle have the potential to harness this shift, due to the available code being open to updating.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Any educational institution should be aware of the professional development needs of staff that are required to use an LMS. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Crawley (2004), suggests that many teachers in higher education are “ill prepared, practically and psychologically, to embrace and utilize e-learning, and often unconvinced of its value in their teaching”. Penfold (2006) states Universities especially need to embrace the online education movement and provide teachers with motivation and training so they can provide students with a richer quality learning experience using tools and techniques to enhance learning and assessment. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">TECHNOLOGICAL

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In addition, from a administration perspective, it requires a platform running Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP. This can be a barrier to some users, spending on their IT set-up. Downloading and setting up can be tricky, and the instructions are not overly helpful with regards to troubleshooting (Bremer & Bryant, 2005). In addition, there is significant research into barriers to online learning. Muilenburg & Berge (2005) reported the top eight factors were:
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">learner motivation
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">time and support for studies
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">cost and access to the Internet
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">technical problems
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">administrative issues
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">social interaction
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">academic skill
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">technical skills

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Independent variables that significantly affected student ratings of these barrier factors included: gender, age, ethnicity, type of learning institution, self-rating of online learning skills, effectiveness of learning online, online learning enjoyment, prejudicial treatment in traditional classes, and the number of online courses completed (Muilenburg & Berge, 2005).

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">CONCLUSION:

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle is rapidly gaining market share. Research shows that rival LMS Blackboard is rapidly losing market share to open-source software such as Moodle and ANGEL, especially as older platforms such as WebCT reach the end of their useful market life. Indeed (???) (2010) now cites research showing Moodle has superseded Blackboard in popularity and utility, both for educational and non-educational use. The comparable functionality and versatility of Moodle certainly gives dollar conscious global educational managers serious food for thought in the selection of their online learning platform. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Moodle’s constructivist principles included from the design phase encourages and supports collaboration. Technical improvements over time will further augment pedagogical support, allowing Moodle to deliver on it’s premise “an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity” (Moodle.org, 2010). Moodle functionality, when used appropriately, can encourage a collaborative learning environment, stimulating meta-cognitive engagement and reflective learning, consistent with currently accepted pedagogical principles and theory.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The relative strengths and weaknesses of Moodle, from both a technological and pedagogical stance are comparable to most other LMS platforms. The major issues arise around the e-learning context as a mode of delivery (for both teachers and learners), and also the necessary professional development of administrators and facilitators to ensure confidence and competence in using this mode of delivery. <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When considered critically against other virtual learning platforms, Moodle is a strong contender in the global market.

Note 1: Raymond's central thesis proposition was that Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow (which he terms [|Linus's law]): if the source code is available for public testing, scrutiny, and experimentation, then bugs will be discovered at a rapid rate. You could argue that the opposite for proprietary software, since the working version of the code is available only the developer. Note 2: Please note that the APA Style Guide to Electronic References warns writers that wikis (like Wikipedia, for example) are collaborative projects which cannot guarantee the verifiability or expertise of their entries. Rationale for use: Wiki's are designed to be collaborative projects, therefore it is appropriate to cite other wiki's for this project as an example. For this reason, I have only done this once.