Moodle

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Moodle is an open-source learning management system (LMS) that can be put to use in a variety of settings (colleges/universities, corporations, etc.). The purpose of this entry is to highlight Moodle's features; the challenges that would arise, if we were to transfer content from JPartner to Moodle; and questions that remain about the software.

Contents

Moodle's Features

Moodle offers a lot of features that prove helpful in any LMS. The ones that I (Kevin) have tested include:

  • Blog (with tagging and tag cloud)
  • Calendar/Events
  • Chat
  • CSS Editing (via FTP)
  • Database
  • File Upload
  • Forum
  • Glossary (with highlighting of terms in courses)
  • Grade Reports
  • Groups
  • Lesson Functionality (a slide-show format that roughly mimics JPartner's structure for CE courses — it includes "Think Ahead" questions)
  • Messages (different from Chat and a bit slow/choppy)
  • Multi-level Permissions (very fine-tuned)
  • Online Support (robust)
  • Questionnaires
  • Quizzes
  • RSS Reader
  • Themes (Skins)
  • User Profiles / User Management
  • Wiki (based on ErfurtWiki and absolutely awful -- nothing compared to MediaWiki)

Challenges

With each of our JPartner-powered CE courses, the user experiences a single workflow from reading the initial information (e.g., learning objectives) to receiving the final certificate. While Moodle offers a slightly similar experience with its Lesson, said functionality can only hold the main course content. All of the other material (e.g., pre-test, post-test, handouts, etc.) have to be stored on separate pages. (For an example, check out the test version of The Primary Care Physician's Role in Addiction Treatment — registration and log-in required.) If we didn't like the Lesson arrangement, then we could restructure our courses so that they followed a more open, non-slide-show format (e.g., check out this course from The Open University).

I also have run across some (potential) glitches with the Quiz functionality. For some reason, the pre- and post-test are rendering a bit differently from each other, even though they should be the same.

Another challenge comes in testing and grading. For example, JPartner's "Think Ahead" questions aren't meant for grading — they're just to get users, well, thinking. However, Moodle treats all such activities as graded items. Even if one sets up a maximum grade of zero for a question (implying that it shouldn't count), Moodle will indicate to the user that he/she got a grade of 0/0.

In terms of certificates and time tracking, various third parties have developed plug-ins to assist in those endeavors. One can install a Certificate module that--according to its documentation--is "completely customizable." The documentation also includes instructions on how to block student access to a certificate until a "lesson dependency" has been overcome (e.g., receiving a passing grade). Developers are also working on a broader level "to add support for 'conditional activities' to Moodle (see documentation).

Questions

  • I'm having difficulty with pop-up links in the Lesson functionality.

CE/CME Sites That Use Moodle

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