Learning Management System Open Meeting

April 24, 2006

Download LMS Open Meeting PowerPoint Presentation

Blackboard
Overview of Blackboard: (based on faculty responses)
- 68% of the faculty are currently satisfied with Blackboard
- Quiz Generator is a tool available online for quiz creation
- Many students (those who use it) want Blackboard to be mandatory
- There is a high adoption rate with over 1000 courses using Blackboard
- Good toolset that increases functionality

Limitations:
- Those over which we have control
- Those over which we do not have control

Options:
- Enterprise version and other LMSs like Angel and Desire2Learn are much more expensive
- Open-source software is free and can be modified

Edutools (http://www.edutools.info) is an online assessment tool for evaluating learning management systems.

Moodle
Moodle Experiences
Experiences of those who have used it:
1) Seemed like a good tool to use, but there were too many extra pieces of information available that seem to distract the attention from the actual course. It also seemed like Moodle offers too many options.
2) Blackboard does not make it easy for professors to create quantitative quizzes. Moodle, on the other hand, offers many more quiz options and has more capabilities, making it much easier to create quantitative quizzes.
3) Moodle looked like it would be an easy program to learn.
Although the quiz options in Moodle might not be as valuable to an instructor who teaches composition, it is understandable how those options can be helpful in other classes; for example, in those where a professor has over 100 students.

- What is needed in Moodle are various modes, such as novice and expert.

Moodle Options
- Possibility to see users who are online and to IM those users
- RSS feeds allow to show headlines of various sources

Question: Are the blocks seen in Moodle - system wide?
Answer: Blocks seen on the main page are set up by the system administrator. Blocks that are within a particular course site can be modified by professors to meet their needs. Particular blocks can be added or removed, allowing for greater personalization and customization.

- Latest news block is useful to students who want to find out upcoming events
- Course menu is expandable
- Course can be set up in three ways: by topic, by week and by a discussion-focused social format
- Currently Moodle does not offer an Announcement page like the one in Blackboard, but announcements can still be given in the top block.
- Various recourses and activities (such as quizzes and wiki’s) can be added from the drop down boxes

Question: What does the gradebook in Moodle look like and how do you work with it?
Answer: The gradebook is not the greatest feature and still has room for improvement. It does offer an option for downloading it into excel, but requires some time and playing around with in order to understand all of capabilities. It will need to be made more user-friendly in the future.

Question: It is possible to use both Moodle and Blackboard right now?
Answer: Yes, both Blackboard and Moodle are currently available and can be used simultaneously. Moodle is available at http://webtest.bradley.edu. It would actually be more beneficial if instructors would start using Moodle right now and test it to see if they like it or not and provide us with some valuable feedback.

Question: Could we leave Blackboard and also have Moodle in the future?
Answer: Of course, this is a possibility. Bradley would not be unique if we were to adopt something like this. But then this defeats the purpose of having just one system to serve all of our needs. Bradley is looking for not just an educational tool, but also for an organizational tool. Keeping two LMSs would not be practical, but, on the other hand, would give us the opportunity to learn from the additional software and give us the chance to refer back to and count upon the main system, Blackboard, whenever needed.

Comment: Faculty probably wouldn’t mind having two systems, but the students might have trouble with it and might not be so enthusiastic about this.
But today students do a lot of multitasking, so they would be used to this in any way.

Comment: It would be helpful if instructions for using Moodle would appear on the Blackboard screen and would guide students/faculty to Moodle.

Question: How do the actual costs of Blackboard compare with what Bradley would need to pay for Moodle?
Answer: Blackboard’s costs gradually increase as the company expands. The enterprise version would cost significantly more than the Basic edition that we have now. As for costs for Moodle, the hardware costs would remain the same, but software costs would disappear since Moodle is open-source software. However, additional staff with developing skills would be needed in order to set up and configure Moodle.

Sakai
Sakai overview
- Relatively new software, in development stage
- A lot of time/programming/money would need to be put in for development and customization at Bradley
- Currently a 3rd party company – Unicon – is offering a test site ($185 for up to 20 students for 6 months) for users who want to try teaching with Sakai. Unicon will help users install and set up Sakai. There is even a 90-day free test drive during which users can try out Sakai for themselves (but no students can be added). More information is available at http://www.sakaitestdrive.com/
- Sakai still has a long way to go to be as good as Blackboard.
- Something that Sakai lacks is grading on the spot, which is a feature that Moodle offers.
- Sakai was built by researches, with a primary goal of having a repository of files and exchanging files, something that it does very well.
- A big advantage in Sakai is its option of allowing one course site to have multiple sections within it, with their own separate gradebooks, etc.
- Sakai also offers a syllabus builder
- Formats for uploaded quizzes in Sakai are very limited
- If Bradley was to use Sakai, it could be outsourced from a 3rd party, like Unicon

Question: It sounds like Sakai is trying to recreate Blackboard? What is their goal?
Answer: Sakai is an open-source software and is simply an alternative to Blackboard/WebCT. Such programs as Sakai and Moodle are developed as alternatives to commercial applications to meet certain needs of the people behind the development. More so, many of the current prosperous commercial applications started out the same way. This type of software offers opportunities for the future and is constantly evolving.

The Executive Director of the ITMS department agreed to pay the cost of a test site in Sakai (through Unicon) for faculty who would like to try teaching with Sakai.

Comment: Bradley needs to find a system that would be cost effective and meet its needs.

Question: Is Blackboard responsive to complaints or outside competition?
Answer: When Blackboard bought WebCT, people were afraid that Blackboard had taken over the market. But in reality, this made the case of open-source software even better, since it is much more affordable. This keeps Blackboard in check and makes it listen to customers and open-source software developers.

General Overview
- Focus groups are needed for feedback and for conducting research

Comment: Everything that is being done is for the benefit of our faculty. It is important for those present at the meeting to share their thoughts and ideas with colleagues to get them interested and involved. More faculty need to be informed and involved in order for us to make the right decision.

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