Why would you choose to use Moodle?
As you already know, the University has another course management system in place, called WebVista, which is also fully supported, and which is also used for the delivery of online University courses.
Moodle provides yet another technology choice for course instructors. Choice of technology will depend on the instructor's need and type of learning activities, as some technologies can provide more appropriate solutions.
Choosing appropriate technology: Moodle and WebVista
Things that you may wish to consider when choosing technology for your class delivery:
- Target audience - access to technology and skill level of your students
- Personal preferences for interface design
- Support available from peers and publishers
- Tools and their features provided by a particular technology, and their ability to match your teaching objectives
Main reason to choose Moodle:
- You are interested mostly in collaborative types of activities that include lots of discussions, peer-evaluation, and group building of learning artifacts
In a nutshell
Style of learning activities
Moodle promotes a collaborative style of learning, therefore most of its tools will have an emphasis on communication and peer-evaluation. As an example, students will be able to submit and evaluate each others wikis, glossaries, assignments, or forum postings. They can also take a standard online quiz, check the gradebook or simply download class materials.
Publisher support
Since WebVista had been on the market for a long time, most of the publishers offer pre-built course packages with materials, quizzes, assignments, etc, that you may choose to download and use.
User base
WebVista has a wider user base here on campus, so you can always talk to your colleague about its features.
Interface design /ease of use
Moodle has a flat interface design, therefore almost all of the materials will be presented on the course homepage; it encourages a more linear course structure and the use of small clusters of information and more modular assignments.
Open source
Moodle is a free open source system.
Institutional support
The University provides full technology support both to Moodle and WebVista users. Both systems support single sign-on and guest access.
How to choose:
1. Schedule an appointment with a Digital Media Center Consultant
2. Visit sample Moodle course as a demo student
3. Request 2 development course sites as an instructor; one in Moodle, another in Vista
4. Review outside resources that can help you in your decision process:
- If you are not sure what WebVista and Moodle systems have to offer, visit generic tools overview of Moodle 1.8 and WebVista 4.1
- If you already know both Moodle and WebVista tools, you may use Decision Making tool http://www.edutools.info, where you can rank particular tools in both systems, based on their importance and suitability to your needs. At the end you will get a report that will take all of those into consideration
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