When it comes to posting online class content, many professors default to Blackboard. Some, however, prefer an open-source alternative with a social networking feature.
Moodle is a cost-free, learning management system that offers customizable features to fit different class environments. Greg Kessler, assistant professor of computer assisted language learning, has been running the Ohio University Moodle server for the past eight and a half years.
“It’s customizable,” he said. “You can make it meet your unique classroom needs rather than a one-size-fits-all solution like Blackboard.”
IT Communications Manager Sean O’Malley said that though there is no centrally run Moodle server on campus, some professors choose to use it in lieu of Blackboard.
“If you want to use Moodle, you would need to connect with someone who has an existing server,” he said. “We just host the existing server and keep it running.”
Kessler said he initially brought Moodle to OU on his personal computer, running it through an outside server before the university began hosting the program late last year.
“It’s now integrated with the active directory,” he said. “Anyone with an Ohio ID is already connected with the Moodle.”
A basic feature of Moodle is a user profile and photo, Kessler said. “People like the social network aspect of it. Even just the feature having people’s picture associated with everything they post provides a human connection,” he said. “It’s so simple but, in a way, very profound and meaningful.”
Although Moodle offers unique features, it is not very transferable for the OU database, O’Malley said.
“The majority of the plugins written for Moodle use a different database than we use,” he said. “So we could run Moodle centrally here, but it would end up being in a very generic form. A lot of the cool stuff people like about Moodle are the customizable plugins.”
After using Moodle solely for his class sections, Kessler added, colleagues have recently been asking him to set pages up for them.
“I started sharing it with others in my department, then to others in related departments, and now it is a side project of my job,” he said.
Kessler added that because of Moodle’s open-source status, anyone could develop features for the system at no cost.
“In North American universities, Blackboard has a commercial advantage,” he said. “There’s this idea that if you pay a lot of money for something, it’s supposed to be better. In some respect, I guess open-source alternatives are always the underdog.”
The interaction between Moodle’s advocates helps create a small-town environment that appeals to Kessler.
“I tend to think that all the people around the world interested in making a tool better works a lot better than a small group of people who work for a company who make a tool,” he said. “Moodle is just an example of many tools like that.”
cd234008@ohiou.edu
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