Feb. 4, 2010
Noodling with Moodle
by Paula Van Brocklin
With all the technological gadgets and products available today, here's one you may not know about: Moodle.
Like WebCT, Moodle is a course management system that helps students and faculty manage classes online (i.e., post grades and syllabi), but that's where many of the similarities end. Iowa State's information technology services staff is comparing the two to determine what, if any, advantages Moodle might offer faculty, staff and students.
Moodle vs. WebCT
The primary difference between Moodle and WebCT is how the two systems are created. WebCT is owned by a company called Blackboard. If Iowa State wants to change some of the basic WebCT programming, it can't. Moodle is an open-source product, created primarily for higher education. The code is open to anyone and sharing is encouraged. And since Moodle is open to all, there is no licensing fee to use it. But that doesn't mean Moodle would save ISU oodles of money.
"The big thing with open source products is that they don't carry any licensing fees," said Jim Twetten, director of ITS academic technologies. "The flip side of that is there's also no company to call when you need something, so you have to have more staffing [for Moodle]."
Moodle's code also is "lighter" than WebCT, which makes it run faster. While speed is not a factor on ISU's powerful campus network, Twetten said Moodle could have the upper hand in distance-learning, particularly to remote places.
"The big thing with open source products is that they don't carry any licensing fees. The flip side of that is there's also no company to call when you need something, so you have to have more staffing [for Moodle]."
Jim Twetten, ITS academic technologies
Moodle pilots at ISU
Iowa State's ITS staff is conducting two informal Moodle pilot programs. The first began last fall, and involves contracting server space with an outside company called Moodlerooms. This is called a hosted service, which means the university does not need to purchase hardware to run Moodle on campus.
"We have support staff here, but all the infrastructure exists on the east coast where Moodlerooms is," Twetten said. "The tradeoff of the hosted service is we have no need for infrastructure here at all, but we pay an annual fee to that company to [host] it."
There currently are 16 classes in English, computer science and the human sciences using Moodle Rooms for course management activities.
So far, Twetten said ISU faculty who use Moodle say it's easier to use and more intuitive than WebCT. But WebCT offers more features than Moodle, which may make WebCT seem more complicated.
The second ITS pilot is looking at how well Moodle runs on a campus server. This pilot began in January, and currently is hosting two classes.
"We'll experiment with these two courses, make sure everything is set up and then probably make a broader announcement in the summer or fall asking more to join," Twetten said.
Wanted: Your opinion
The Community of Educational Technology Support (ComETS) is interested in knowing how well WebCT and other campus educational technology services are serving students, faculty and staff. Look for more information in Inside Iowa State at the end of February about ComETS' comprehensive needs-assessment survey hitting campus e-mail inboxes in March.
