Moodle vs. other LMS systems

I'm curious, what the consensus here is on the preparation time per course for a specific type of LMS and, if possible, could you tell me as a faculty adjunct which learning management system would be easiest and lowestprep time, in your experience. I am looking into the use of moodle and wondering how faculty view this system as an instructional tool and student learning platform. Thanks!

 

I haven't used Moodle, though I've heard it's intuitive and easy. I've used WebCT (now part of Blackboard), eCollege, Blackboard, Angel and a private system. I would say that a good LMS system reduces time and frustration but that one can become an expert at any system and the LMS doesn't usually slow things down. The trick to becoming efficient is to learn the tricks and time-saving features that are part of any system and that just takes practice. And in the case of frustrating systems (e.g. Blackboard) I just learn to ignore the annoying parts!

 

I have used eCollege and Moodle. I would say I like eCollege more but that is probably because I have more experience with it. eCollege recently upgraded and I hate the new version. The pages load slower, there is a "subject line", and a few other annoying things.

 

I would suggest the use of the term "LMS" (learning management system) is inappropriate when applied to products such as Moodle or Blackboard. Those are learning platforms for instructional delivery, but an LMS is a much different beast.

 

I would have to say that eCollege or Angel have the lowest prep time but either are easy to learn and manage. Moodle can have its hangups but its easier to incorporate multimedia in Moodle. Blackboard just takes too long in my opinion and looks rather dull. It depends on how tech savvy your faculty members are and how quick they can grasp things. One thing about eCollege is that its quite easy to clone course shells and duplicate courses. With Blackboard you have to actually go in and grab the modules you want.

 

Interesting. I've seen "LMS" used frequently to refer to the delivery platforms. So, LMS has a different definition - one related to how learning is achieved? I don't have time to look it up now but I'll do some research later. Thanks for the info.

 

"LMS" (Learning Management System) and "CMS" (Course Management System) are the most commonly used terms in the U.S. for these kind of systems. "VLE" (Virtual Learning Environment) is most popular in non-US publications.

Systems used primarily in academia (Blackboard, Angel, Desire2Learn, Moodle, Sakai, etc.) differ significantly in features from learning/talent management systems used in industry (e.g. SumTotal, Saba).

Having taught with and administered an number of these systems (Blackboard, Desire2Learn, WebCT, Angel) and developed with Moodle and eCollege, my observation is that Angel is currently the most robust system (from both an instructor and administrator point of view). However, since Angel has been acquired by Blackboard, I have noticed some programming glitches that did not exist before. Since Blackboard's priority is migrating their customers to Blackboard "NG", I fear that the former WebCT product with continue to grow more unstable and that Angel will follow. This is really a shame.

Moodle is a fine system--not quite as robust as the commercial LMSs, but is getting closer all the time. Sakai (which like Moodle is open source) is also worht a look. Desire2Learn also has a very good system (thankfully, they will no longer have to waste money on the silly Blackboard lawsuit).

 

So far as a user:
WebCT, Blackboard, Sakai, Dokeos, Moodle and D2L. As a user I find D2L to be the best, for the teacher and student.

Now as an admin, I prefer Moodle

 

I really liked D2L as an instructor and admin: reasonable learning curve, nice feature set and really nice ability to set up different levels of permissions for begining, intermediate and advanced faculty.

Blackboard was OK as an instructor (the assignments feature and new gradebook are nice), but was frustrating as an admin (lousy tracking and reporting tools).

WebCT had a robust feature set, but a confusing interface for novice instructors with several different control panels. I liked it, but some of my colleagues preferred the ease of Bb. The WebCT technology was better than Bb's (which is why Bb acquired it a few years ago).

Angel has probably the most robust instructor feature set, but it can sometimes give the instructor too many choices, so it tends to be a bit more difficult that Blackboard or Moodle. The admin tools have been rock solid and allow for a number of different kinds of reports to be run. Now that Bb has bought Angel as well, it remains to be seen whether they can incorporate Angel's technology into the Next Generation Bb product (the two systems are built on different platforms--Angel is .NET, while Bb is Java).

I like the ease and logical formatting of Moodle (a bit closer to a Facebook page than other LMSs), but I need to become more acquainted with the admin tools. Most of my colleagues running Moodle are either doing blended courses or small sets of online courses (although Chicago State University is moving from Blackboard to Moodle as the primary institutional LMS).

How big is your Moodle installation? Do you host the system yourself or use an outside vendor (e.g. Moodlerooms)?

 

I can't say enough positive comments about using D2L!

For the past few years I have been a "Sessional." Which means at some schools its a fight to get online to the system. I had used moodle before for others, and just broke down and got a webhosting account + domain. (no ads/pop ups) As an instructor I think about the time I spend dealing with IT to "set up a course" shell/etc, it's just not worth it! The school I was at least year, took them till November to get me online, so the first term was a wash!

At first it was just for me, but I have 2 other instructors using it this term and I am servicing 1/10 of our college for less then 0.1% of the direct cost of BlackBoard (could never get into the real cost with IT support).

 

The fees for an LMS depends on the number of concurrent users, server/database space and whether the user or the vendor hosts and maintains the servers. At my last institution, Blackboard cost over $100k per year. Moodle would, of course, be far less expensive.

For me the issue would be the ability for the system to be able to effectively administer hundreds of courses for more than 3,000 online students and nearly two dozen online degree programs.

 

Your real issue is size of each course, number or concurrent users, etc.

check out http://docs.moodle.org/en/Installations_10000_plus

I would contact Vancouver Island University (fka Malaspina U-C) as that seem to be suited to your size.

 

Thank you--there are a few institutions of interest to me with sizeable programs (such as Athabasca and the Open University of the UK).

 

Note: it says Athabasca is going to Moodle. Now I don't know their status, I know last year courses were using other programs but they do have a nice tutorial page:

http://www.athabascau.ca/moodletrain/index.htm