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Here's the situation regarding the Open University's use of Moodle. We selected Moodle in October 2005 as the basis for our institional VLE after deciding that no commercial system met our requirements. We had been intending to build our own system but thought that Moodle would allow us to achieve the desired functionality much more quickly. An added benefit was that we were launching into a vibrant worldwide community of developers and users in which we felt we had something to offer at the same time as gaining from the enhancements others were making to the system. We then embarked on an extensive programme of adding the required functionality to Moodle, tidying up the codebase etc. In particular we commissioned Moodle.com to build a roles and permissions architecture which now gives fine grained control over who gets access to what. For example if a student posts a defamatory blog article we can switch off that student's access to the blog module while retaining their access to the rest of their course. We also required significant accessibility enhancements given the large number of disabled students we have at the OU. It is probably true to say that there was more to do to Moodle than we originally anticipated, that some of the code left a lot to be desired and that there were significant gaps in functionality however we now have almost all of our courses on the system and 10,000 unique logins a day. With over 200,000 students and increasing use by courses of the VLE that is set to scale up considerably. We have 12 full-time developers adding code to Moodle as well as various pieces of work currently being outsourced. This scale of work was expected and we remain within budget for the OU VLE Programme. All the non-OU specific code is being fed back to the Moodle community. We are particularly excited at the moment with: * mystuff - a new eportfolio module for Moodle that is currently being tested * a new wiki module for Moodle that we are building (the existing one is not adequate) * enhancements to the Moodle quiz engine enabling us to decommit from a proprietary assessment system * links to our structured authoring system allowing content primarily designed for print to be instantly incorporated in Moodle * enhancements to the podcasting module currently being outsourced * an offline version of Moodle we are developing in collaboration with Intel In summary, yes Moodle wasn't fit for our purpose when we got hold of it but we knew there was a lot to do to it and while there are pros and cons of working with open source products we're in a considerably better situation now than if we had chosen any commercial or any other open source product - or attempted to build our own VLE from scratch. It has been a very positive experience working with the Moodle community under the leadership of Martin Dougiamas and great to be able to just add a new feature ourselves rather than having to wait for a commercial provider to do so! Niall Sclater OU VLE Programme Director sclater.com On Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:52:17 +0100, Wyatt, Tristram <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >I'm not aware of any rumour but it's worth remembering the scale and >complexity of the OU's existing enterprise systems. Integrating any system >with that is going to be a challenge. > > > >Bath University apparently switched without problem, ditto goldsmiths, to >Moodle. > > > >Best wishes > >Tristram > > > > _____ > >From: Virtual Learning Environments [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of >Malcolm Ryan >Sent: 24 April 2007 15:42 >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: [VLES] Blackboard v Moodle > > > > >I wonder if anyone at the OU would like to comment on the rumours I heard >today from a senior colleague who reported that the OU had 19 people working >on Moodle, that it was considered unfit for purpose and they were having to >re-write huge chunks of the code to make it do what they wanted - I was >surprised! > >Malcolm > >Please respond to Virtual Learning Environments <[log in to unmask]> > >Sent by: Virtual Learning Environments <[log in to unmask]> > >To: [log in to unmask] >cc: >Subject: Re: [VLES] Blackboard v Moodle > > >Tim > >When we looked at the difference it was the sheer cost that we tried to >justify, given Moodle works from a quick download and install. Plus the >political issues at the time surrounding Blackboard's patent claims put us >off even more. > >The other benefit is that Moodle is so easily customisable. I'd love to see >all of education move to Open Source where possible on the desktops - >especially ubuntu. > >James > >-----Original Message----- >From: Virtual Learning Environments [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of >Harrison Tim (Staff) >Sent: 24 April 2007 06:56 >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: [VLES] Blackboard v Moodle > >If you are looking to upgrade to the enterprise version of blackboard where >does the comparison with moodle fit in? Surely you should be looking at the >additional features that blacboard enterprise offers and justifying those. > >I am confused > >Tim > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: Virtual Learning Environments <[log in to unmask]> >To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]> >Sent: Mon Apr 23 15:54:48 2007 >Subject: [VLES] Blackboard v Moodle > >Hi all, > >Has anyone made a comparison between the above 2 VLE systems? > >We currently use Blackboard basic and need to justify upgrading to >Blackboard Enterprise. > >I'd appreciate any thoughts/research from other users. > >Thanks from Carshalton College. > > >Susan Jackson > >e-learning trainer > >020 8544 4411 > > > > > > >Carshalton College >Open Evenings > >This year's Open Evening dates: > >Wednesday 16/5/2007 - 5pm to 7:30pm > > > > > >Confidentiality: This e-mail and its attachments are intended for the >above-named only and may be confidential. If they have come to you in >error you must take no action based on them, nor must you copy or show >them to anyone; please reply to this e-mail and highlight the error. > > >Security Warning: Please note that this e-mail has been created in >the knowledge that e-mail is not a 100% secure communications medium. >We advise that you understand and observe this lack of security when >e-mailing us. > > >Viruses: Although we have taken steps to ensure that this e-mail and >attachments are free from any virus, we advise that in keeping with >good computing practice the recipient should ensure that they are >actually virus free. > > >Views Expressed: The views expressed in the e-mail are the >responsibility of the individual who has sent the e-mail and do not >necessarily represent the views or policies of the College. The >person who has sent this e-mail is personally liable for the content >of the e-mail. > >***************** List information: ***************** Remember - replies go >by default to the entire list. Access the list via the web on >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/vle.html To unsubscribe, email >[log in to unmask] with the message: leave vle > >***************** List information: ***************** >Remember - replies go by default to the entire list. >Access the list via the web on http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/vle.html >To unsubscribe, email [log in to unmask] with the message: leave vle > >_______________________________________________________________________ >Malcolm Ryan (Flexible Learning Co-ordinator) >School of Education & Training, University of Greenwich, Maritime Greenwich >Campus >Old Royal Naval College, Park Row, Greenwich, London. SE10 9LS > >TEL: +44 (0)208-331-9741/9230 FAX: +44 (0)208-331-9235 >E-mail: [log in to unmask] >Work at home: +44 (0)208-488-6614 Mobile: +44 (0)7808-594930 > >Location: http://www.gre.ac.uk/about/greenwich/greenwich_directions > >CeLTT Programme: http://www.gre.ac.uk/celtt >Getting to Grips with eLearning: http://www.gre.ac.uk/celtt/workshops > >* Join me at ED-MEDIA 2007 in Vancouver, Canada >http://www.aace.org/conf/edmedia/ >AND >"Design for Learning" with Gilly Salmon and Linda Creanor at the University >of Greenwich on Wed. July 4th 2007. > >"Treat every day as a miracle and celebrate your achievements" > >University of Greenwich, a charity and company limited by guarantee, >registered in England (reg no. 986729). Registered Office: Old Royal >Naval College, Park Row, Greenwich SE10 9LS. >***************** List information: ***************** Remember - replies go >by default to the entire list. Access the list via the web on >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/vle.html To unsubscribe, email >[log in to unmask] with the message: leave vle > >***************** List information: ***************** Remember - replies go >by default to the entire list. Access the list via the web on >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/vle.html To unsubscribe, email >[log in to unmask] with the message: leave vle > >***************** List information: ***************** >Remember - replies go by default to the entire list. >Access the list via the web on http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/vle.html >To unsubscribe, email [log in to unmask] with the message: leave vle > ***************** List information: ***************** Remember - replies go by default to the entire list. Access the list via the web on http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/vle.html To unsubscribe, email [log in to unmask] with the message: leave vle