Moodle

We use Moodle  to manage our students' information, the classes, and the course catalog, which are mainly related to education. It serves as a learning management system for teaching in class.

Moodle  is free and open source, which reduces a significant portion of the Total Cost of Ownership. It is supported by the community, making it easy to find solutions to any issues. The plugins are also very flexible, allowing for additional features.

The valuable features of Moodle include its open-source nature, which makes it free to use, and the supportive community that assists with any issues. Additionally, the plugins are very flexible, and you can develop your own to add features. The anti-plagiarism plugin is one that we use most frequently.

The customization of the interface could be improved. Although we can load and change themes, it still always looks like Moodle. We have not found a way to significantly alter its appearance.

We have been using Moodle for roughly a year now. I also used it around 15 years ago.

Moodle is fairly stable with no significant issues.

Moodle meets our scalability needs to a satisfactory extent. We have not faced any issues with scalability.

We don't get technical support directly from Moodle, so I can't provide a rating for their customer service.

Negative

I have not personally used any other solutions similar to Moodle for the same use case.

The initial setup of Moodle is straightforward for someone with decent knowledge in Linux.

Assuming the infrastructure is ready, one person can handle the installation. However, it still requires maintenance from time to time. That said, it is minimal and nothing to worry too much about.

Moodle is a free tool and open source, so there are no direct costs for using it.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

Our clients use Moodle for learning and managing all the phases of learning for schools or companies. They also use the tool for enrollment, training on the job, forums, certification, events, and meeting management, including real-time meetings.

Moodle is useful for several things, and you can customize it. The solution has a rich and vibrant community where you will always find someone who has tried what you are doing and is willing to help. Moodle is the most used LMS in the world, by the way.

The solution should continue to allow and foster the ability to integrate with cloud services. It will be helpful because we can easily integrate the tool with other services like Microsoft Office 365 and the Google environment. The more the tool is open, the more it can be integrated with something more complex.

I have been using Moodle for more than 10 to 15 years.

We haven’t faced any issues with the solution’s stability.

I rate the solution’s stability ten out of ten.

The solution itself is able to scale provided that you implement it during the deployment. You can do it, but you must learn how to do it. We have massive Moodle installations. The most known example is the Open University site. If you are a good system designer, you can scale the solution. We have plenty of examples of major installations of the solution.Most of my customers for Moodle are medium-sized and enterprise businesses.

I rate the solution a nine or ten out of ten for scalability.

Moodle has a user community. If you are willing to buy technical support, you can use a Moodle partner, and the quality of the Moodle partner is pretty good.

Positive

The solution's initial setup is pretty straightforward, provided you make some key choices, such as following the normal requests. Normally, people implement the solution on a Linux system. The problem comes from the fact that the Microsoft ecosystem continues to evolve and change. As Moodle is the effort of a community, the effort goes more to places with more usage.

The solution's deployment time depends on your skill. Someone who has done their homework can deploy the tool within minutes. The process is pretty straightforward, where you can automatically create templates.

I am currently switching to containers. Earlier, we fetched the latest version directly from the code repository using the buildup inside. We also installed different plugins that a particular installation requires.

Moodle is an open-source solution that is free of cost.

Normally, users use the latest version of the solution, which is 4.1. The last implementation I made for a customer was 3.7. It takes a while, but people normally update the solution. Users have the ability to use all the solution's features or build a new feature themselves through plug-ins. Moodle is a kind of kit tool that you can personalize for your use.

Moodle has made a lot of improvements to its user interface. The solution is now incorporating AI and integrating different Moodle sites in a single place or a single Moodle net.

The solution is perfect for someone doing normal LMS work, wanting to experiment, or willing to use their time to allow your feature to create content. The tool allows you to build and try your ideas, ask somebody if you need it, and share the result. If you go to the level that you need to write plug-ins, you will also be able to create a small business regarding plug-ins on this.

Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We use Moodle at the entire university where I work. We have some universal common units offered online. Lecturers make videos, create questions, and so on. All students need to do is log into the platform and use it for learning, even for self-study. They can take quizzes and later do examinations.

We use Moodle as a learning management system (LMS) through SaaS, and they support our students well on campus with all the applications we have.

We have customized it with other in-house solutions.

We have features for monitoring performance. We had a partnership with some researchers from Japan. They provided a way to monitor student performance and follow up on their progress from day one. We have another add-on for what students are doing and what they are expected to do.

The features we have customized allow us to see whether students visited the platform and watched the provided videos. We can monitor and see if they actually spend time watching the videos or studying the materials posted by the instructors. The monitoring aspect is important for students.

An improvement would be to have it support physically challenged students, who we think should be able to participate in some of our courses. If the learning management system could support blind students or students with learning disabilities, it would expand the reach of education by providing tools that support challenged learners.

In future releases, I'd like to see more features that support challenged students, as I just mentioned above. This is because of the university's goal to make education accessible to all groups without discrimination. If we can have more tools that support students who are challenged, that would be very good.

If AI could help, that would be nice. We want to support learners who are remote and provide learning to disadvantaged learners or certain groups of people. AI would come in very handy if Moodle had such capabilities.

I have been using it for 20 years. 

It is stable enough because our provider is called KENET for Internet. KENET is a Kenyan network that supports all learning institutions, so the internet is quite stable. They understand that the university is always running, so they have to make sure that the internet is stable and that the servers being used are stable. 

We have technical people who always support and provide the resources. It is quite stable because we have a dedicated network.

It is flexible enough. It is flexible in terms of not only supporting our student community, but also supporting other government applications, or government needs. We sometimes carry out training for special groups like health workers. We have their training onboarded and support them in training in the field, where they can access their material wherever they are.

Generally, the support is okay.

It was easy to install. It was straightforward.

The challenge isn't the installation itself but rather onboarding the resource platforms to use it. The technical staff didn't need much time or training to learn it. 

The most time is spent getting the resources on the platform, understanding the modules and functionalities, and training the users of the system.

Learning curve:

If you are training technical people with an IT or computer science background, it's usually easy for them. But when onboarding other users from different fields, like biological sciences or healthcare, it takes a bit more time. The learning curve is higher for them. But eventually, we get there because they have to use the system. So, maybe if the tech staff takes two training sessions, it could take five or six for other users, almost double the time.

Customized configuration: 

We customized Moodle because we have many resources for students who work on a schedule, as we train computer science students. So, we don't just use it as it is, but customize it to align with our own compass.

We have dedicated people employed to take care of it and maintain it. They always have to make sure it's up and running and everything is working.

We have a whole team which manages all our online programs. We have about five or six staff members who take care of the system and the entire management of online learning programs.

I would rate it an eight out of ten. It's a good tool. It would reach ten if it could help us reach out to these groups and have AI capabilities, I would give it a ten.

Why I would recommend this tool:

It is good because it helps people learn wherever they are. It provides flexibility in terms of having our students continue with their work and at the same time study. We are able to reach out to students who are part-time and can schedule their time. Sometimes, they are at work, and sometimes, they are studying, so it is a good thing that they don't have to come to study on campus. 

Students can study from wherever they are. We have had students from as far as other countries in the East Africa region, and also students who have their undergraduate in the university and maybe they have relocated to another country abroad. They can still continue with master's courses if they like our programs, because of the learning management system that we have. So, in terms of flexibility, it's good.

In terms of reaching out to areas where they could have resource constraints for the lectures, Moodle is good. We can have a class that is unlimited, so we can reach out to more people. 

And the self-paced learning Moodle provides is also good. It's more scalable. Students can refine and repeat assignments many times, which is a good thing.

I utilize Moodle for training purposes, particularly for our internal clients, aiding them in transitioning to remote learning and online education, especially amid the pandemic. I assist internal clients, particularly those in the ICE and Monitoring branches, with their online learning initiatives. Additionally, we regularly host seminars on the Moodle platform, covering a range of topics from basic to advanced radar and satellite training.

Moodle has proven to be highly effective for training and professional development within our organization. It has replaced the traditional practice of sending individuals on courses across the country, offering coast-to-coast accessibility. We've also begun utilizing badges for internal certification, streamlining the process of recognizing achievement. As its usage has expanded, we started with native Moodle on our section and have since extended it to other groups.

The integration of third-party plugins or tools has influenced our utilization of Moodle. While we haven't implemented as many filters as we potentially could have, one individual has managed administration duties and the integration of these tools. This individual has also been involved in other areas, dedicating significant time to programming within Moodle for a specific program for one group. This process has spanned several years, demonstrating the commitment required to bring these enhancements to fruition.

The customization features of Moodle significantly enhance the learning experience for our users. Previously, we aimed to incorporate end-line filters to make our courses bilingual, allowing learners to switch between French and English, even during exams. It was advantageous as it simplified course management, consolidating content into a single stream rather than separate English and French streams.

The initial setup was somewhat complex. One aspect that I found a bit confusing was the dual editing system, where you could edit the layout of the course separately from editing the content. I often found myself unsure of which mode I should be in. In hindsight, I think having clearer distinctions between these editing modes would be helpful.

I have been working with it for approximately nine years.

It offers excellent stability capabilities. I would rate it ten out of ten. Occasionally, there have been instances where features didn't function as expected. However, overall, I find the system to be satisfactory.

We haven't encountered any scalability issues with Moodle. We've been moving in the direction of enhancing interactivity and dynamism in our courses, which naturally requires more time and effort. I would rate it nine out of ten. Upon joining, many individuals undergo training on Moodle, with the possibility of accessing it later depending on their role. The total user count exceeds a thousand, and we offer a foundational course introducing newcomers to the ECCC environment.

Technical support was primarily managed by one individual, with occasional assistance from another over the past two years. Initially, we had our own team for this purpose, but it was eventually disbanded due to resource constraints.

In terms of features, Brightspace is relatively comparable to Moodle, but it lacks a language filter or equivalent. Personally, I prefer sticking with Moodle because of its flexibility, particularly regarding language support. Given our bilingual requirements, having both languages within one course in Moodle is advantageous compared to managing separate courses in Brightspace. Currently, we have separate development and production sites for Moodle, but this process will shift to Brightspace in the future, although Brightspace currently lacks a development site. While Brightspace may be simpler to use, its simplicity comes at the cost of reduced functionality compared to Moodle.

I would rate the initial setup process around a seven out of ten.

One of our trainers was tasked with handling the deployment and maintenance of Moodle. Additionally, we had a few technicians working on it. We had initially set up a separate Moodle instance specifically for technician training. Another technician, who has since moved out of the training section, experimented with Moodle by downloading a Moodle package and deploying it independently on personal equipment to explore its capabilities further.

In terms of cost, it is available at no charge.

Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.

We use Moodle to manage course information, create assignments and set user levels.

The product's most valuable feature is the ability to import and export documents for courses, assessments, and questionnaires in any format. It also integrates with tools, including scripts and Python programs, for generating questionnaires.

Sometimes, the gradebook can get broken if an incorrect formula is entered during creation. It might require administrator assistance or a course rollback to resolve. The students and I can also upload the documents in a folder, but teachers cannot leave feedback. These particular areas need improvement.

We have been using Moodle for three or four years.

I rate the platform's stability a nine out of ten.

We have 600-800 Moodle users in our university.

The technical support services are good. We can find information about various issues on their forum as well.

Positive

The deployment time depends on the user's prior experience working with the product. It takes approximately two hours to complete for new users. I rate the process a six out of ten.

We considered several options before choosing Moodle, including Google Classroom and Canvas. We decided to work with Moodle for the availability of plugins or modules and alignment with the functionality to help us disseminate course materials. In comparison, Google Classroom could have been more suitable for our university.

I rate Moodle a nine out of ten. They provide thorough documentation on the forum.