We are all enjoying the fringe benefits of online learning. As a student of BHSU, my experience has been with the program WEBCT. I was not aware there are other programs out there that serve the same purposes as WEBCT. I found the articles interesting but I believe first hand experience with each program is the best method for evaluating the differences. Since I don’t have that option, the articles will have to do.
As described by Wikipedia, Moodle is a Course Management system. This system is a free, open source platform. Moodle boasts a user base of over 18,000 registered sites with 7.27 million users in over 712,000 courses. The actual number of current active installations is unknown, but what is known is that Moodle is downloaded over 500 times a day. Because there are no license fees, an education facility can add as many Moodle servers as needed to conduct business.
Wikipedia states that Moodle was designed to assist educators design online courses offering opportunities for full interaction. Moodle boasts its open source license allows many people to develop additional features and added functionality.
Moodle was the brainchild of Martin Dougiamas, a former WEBCT administrator at Curtin University. Moodle’s philosophy utilizes the constructivist theory of education. This theory emphasizes the learners role in their own education. Moodle's features reflect this in it‘s various design aspects, making it possible for students to contribute entries and work collaboratively on projects.
Moodle’s features include forums, quizzes, blogs, wikis, database activities, surveys, chats, glossaries and Peer Assessment. Moodle also has multi-language support.
WebCT (Web Course Tools) is another course management system. One of the biggest differences from Moodle is that WEBT is sold to colleges and other institutions. WebCT was originally developed at the University of British Columbia by a faculty member in computer science, Murray W. Goldberg. WebCT is remarkable as being the first commercially successful virtual learning environment. During the five years after its inception it was the gold standard for e-learning.
According to Wikipedia, WebCT has been criticized for being the most difficult of the course management systems to use. Part of this criticism is due to the flexibility and power of the system. WebCT offers several options with more of the structure left to the individual instructor. Instructors may add tools to their WebCT courses such as discussion boards, mail systems and live chat, as well as content such as documents and web pages.
As I stated before my only experience is with WEBCT. I enjoy using this program and especially enjoy the opportunity to take many of my classes online
Works Cited:
Wikipedia, Retrieved 10 March 2007, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle
Wikipedia, Retrieved 10 March 2007, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebCT
Saturday, March 10, 2007
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