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Moodle

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Moodle
Developer(s)Martin Dougiamas
Stable release
1.8.10 and 1.9.6 / 3th November 2009
Repository
Operating systemCross-platform
TypeCourse Management System
LicenseGPL
Websitemoodle.org

Moodle: Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment is a free and open-source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment. It has a significant user base with 52,153 registered sites with 30,176,528 users in 2,770,832 courses (as of March, 2009).[1]

Moodle is designed to help educators create online courses with opportunities for rich interaction. Its open source license and modular design mean that people can develop additional functionality. Development is undertaken by a globally diffused network of commercial and non-commercial users, streamlined by the Moodle company based in Perth, Western Australia.

Moodle features

Moodle has many features expected from an e-learning platform, plus some original innovations (like its filtering system).

Moodle is modular in construction and can readily be extended by creating plugins for specific new functionality. Moodle's infrastructure supports many types of plugins:

  • Activities (including word and math games)
  • Resource types
  • Question types
  • Data field types (for the database activity)
  • Graphical themes
  • Authentication methods
  • Enrollment methods
  • Content Filters

Many third-party Moodle plugins are freely available making use of this infrastructure.[2]

PHP can be used to author and contribute new modules. Moodle's development has been assisted by the work of open source programmers.[3] This has contributed towards its rapid development and rapid bug fixes.

By default Moodle includes the TCPDF library that allows the generation of PDF documents from pages.

Specification

Moodle runs without modification on Unix, Linux, FreeBSD, Windows, Mac OS X, NetWare and any other systems that support PHP and a database, including most webhost providers.

Data is stored in a single database: Moodle version 1.6 could use MySQL or PostgreSQL. Version 1.7, released November 2006, makes full use of database abstraction so that installers can choose from one of many types of database servers (Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server are two specific target DBMSes).

Background

Origins

"I'm committed to continuing my work on Moodle and on keeping it Open and Free. I have a deeply-held belief in the importance of unrestricted education and empowered teaching, and Moodle is the main way I can contribute to the realisation of these ideals".- Martin Dougiamas[4]

Moodle was created by Martin Dougiamas, a WebCT administrator at Curtin University, Australia, who has graduate degrees in Computer Science and Education. Dougiamas started a Ph.D. to examine "The use of Open Source software to support a social constructionist epistemology of teaching and learning within Internet-based communities of reflective inquiry". Although how exactly social constructivism makes Moodle different from other eLearning platforms is difficult to show, it has been cited as an important factor by Moodle adopters [5][6]. Other Moodle adopters such as the Open University in the UK have also pointed out that Moodle can equally be seen as "relatively pedagogy-neutral"[7].

The wiki part of the software was forked from ErfurtWiki.[8]

Pedagogical approach

The stated philosophy of Moodle [9] includes a constructivist and social constructionist approach to education, emphasizing that learners (and not just teachers) can contribute to the educational experience. Moodle's design optionally allows students to comment on content (or to contribute content themselves), or to work collaboratively in a wiki.

Moodle does not necessitate a constructivist teaching approach. Constructivism is sometimes seen as at odds with accountability-focused ideas about education, such as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in the United States[citation needed] . Accountability stresses tested outcomes, not teaching techniques, or pedagogy. Moodle supports an outcomes-oriented learning environment. [10]

Origin of the name

The word Moodle is actually an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, although originally the M stood for "Martin's", named after Martin Dougiamas, the original developer.[11]

Moodle can also be considered a verb, which describes the improvisational process of doing things as it occurs to you to do them, an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity. As such it applies both to the way Moodle was developed, and to the way a student or teacher might approach studying or teaching an online course.

"Moodle" is a protected trademark. Only moodle partners get the right to use the trademark to market their services like Moodle Hosting, Moodle Customization etc.

Moodle statistics and market share

  • Moodle has a significant user base with 52,153 registered sites with 30,176,528 users in 2,770,832 courses in 207 countries and more than 75 languages are supported (as of March 27, 2009). The current Moodle statistics can be seen online.[12]
  • The site with the most users is moodle.org with 53 courses and 627,455 users. The site with the most courses is E-learning na VUT v Brně[13] with 19,223 courses and 41,305 users (as of February 19, 2009).[needs update] Parts of the Open University now use Moodle, and it has recently been adopted by the University of Kent[14] for its entire campus, replacing WebCT.

Interoperability

There are many dimensions to interoperability for e-learning systems. Moodle's interoperability features include:

  • Authentication, using LDAP, Shibboleth, or various other standard methods (e.g. IMAP)
  • Enrollment, using IMS Enterprise among other standard methods, or by direct interaction with an external database
  • Quizzes and quiz questions, allowing import/export in a number of formats: GIFT (moodle's own format), IMS QTI, XML and XHTML (NB although export works very well, import is currently not complete)
  • Resources, using IMS Content Packaging, SCORM, AICC (CBT), LAMS
  • Integration with other Content Management Systems such as Postnuke (via third-party extensions)
  • Syndication, using RSS or Atom newsfeeds - external newsfeeds can be displayed in a course, and forums, blogs, and other features can be made available to others as newsfeeds.

Moodle also has import features for use with other specific systems, such as importing quizzes or entire courses from Blackboard or WebCT.

Deployment and development

Moodle has been evolving since 1999 (since 2001 with the current architecture). The current version is 1.9.5, which was released in May 2009. It has been translated into 61 different languages. Major improvements in accessibility and display flexibility were developed in 1.5.

As there are no license fees or limits to growth, an institution can add as many Moodle servers as needed. The Open University of the UK is currently building a Moodle installation for their 200,000 users.[15] It is often known for individual departments of institutions to use the unlimited feature, such as the maths department of the University of York.

The development of Moodle continues as a free software project supported by a team of programmers and an international user community, drawing upon contributions posted to the online Moodle Community website that encourages debate and invites criticism.

There are some auto install packages to facilitate the installation including Bitnami, Fantastico, JumpBox and the Moodle package for Debian. Users are free to distribute and modify the software under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

There are some free Moodle hosting providers, which allow educators to create Moodle-based online class without installation or server knowledge. There are some paid Moodle hosting providers which provide value added services like customization and content development.

Similar platforms

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Moodle stats page
  2. ^ Modules and Plugins
  3. ^ About Moodle
  4. ^ Background - MoodleDocs
  5. ^ Weller, M. (2006), VLE 2.0 and future directions in learning environments, Procedings of the first LAMS Conference, Sydney
  6. ^ McMulli & Munroe (2004), VMoodle at DCU
  7. ^ Sclater, Neil (2008), A Large-scale Open Source eLearning Systems at the Open University, Educase
  8. ^ "Using Moodle - Google Books". Books.google.com. Retrieved 2009-06-27.
  9. ^ Moodle Philosophy
  10. ^ [http://docs.moodle.org/en/Development:Outcomes_examples
  11. ^ http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=27533#129848
  12. ^ Current Moodle Statistics
  13. ^ VUT v Brně
  14. ^ [moodle.kent.ac.uk Kent Moodle]
  15. ^ "A Policy Dialogue Platform | Promoting Better Governance". eGov monitor. 2005-11-08. Retrieved 2009-06-27.
Wikiversity has learning resources about Moodle
Official Moodle resources
Reports/articles
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