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
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Open-source platform, flexible plugins, and enhances educational management
What is our primary use case?
How has it helped my organization?
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.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Moodle for roughly a year now. I also used it around 15 years ago.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Moodle is fairly stable with no significant issues.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Moodle meets our scalability needs to a satisfactory extent. We have not faced any issues with scalability.
How are customer service and support?
We don't get technical support directly from Moodle, so I can't provide a rating for their customer service.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Negative
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I have not personally used any other solutions similar to Moodle for the same use case.
How was the initial setup?
The initial setup of Moodle is straightforward for someone with decent knowledge in Linux.
What about the implementation team?
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.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Moodle is a free tool and open source, so there are no direct costs for using it.
What other advice do I have?
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Easily customizable and has an improved user interface
What is our primary use case?
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.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Moodle for more than 10 to 15 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We haven’t faced any issues with the solution’s stability.
I rate the solution’s stability ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and support?
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.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
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.
What about the implementation team?
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.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Moodle is an open-source solution that is free of cost.
What other advice do I have?
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.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Offers customized features that allow us to see whether students visited the platform and watched the provided videos
What is our primary use case?
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.
How has it helped my organization?
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.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using it for 20 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
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.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and support?
Generally, the support is okay.
How was the initial setup?
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.
What about the implementation team?
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.
What other advice do I have?
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.
A highly flexible and customizable learning management system with a wide range of features, providing educators with the tools to create engaging and interactive online courses
What is our primary use case?
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.
How has it helped my organization?
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.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with it for approximately nine years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
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.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
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.
How are customer service and support?
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.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
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.
How was the initial setup?
I would rate the initial setup process around a seven out of ten.
What about the implementation team?
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.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
In terms of cost, it is available at no charge.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate it nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Has good technical support services and an ability to import and export documents in multiple formats
What is our primary use case?
We use Moodle to manage course information, create assignments and set user levels.
What is most valuable?
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.
What needs improvement?
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.
For how long have I used the solution?
We have been using Moodle for three or four years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I rate the platform's stability a nine out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We have 600-800 Moodle users in our university.
How are customer service and support?
The technical support services are good. We can find information about various issues on their forum as well.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
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.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
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.
What other advice do I have?
I rate Moodle a nine out of ten. They provide thorough documentation on the forum.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
A flexible and customizable environment providing reliability and scalability, and fostering interactive and personalized online learning experiences
What is our primary use case?
There are various use cases and the choice depends on the module you want to employ and explore. It can provide good machine-learning capabilities if that is the need.
What is most valuable?
One of the most valuable aspects is the ability to input data into the model. After feeding the data, the model becomes a tool that can be leveraged to retrieve and analyze information, allowing for various functionalities such as data access and manipulation.
What needs improvement?
Sometimes, discrepancies arise when the information is not updated or lacks precision, potentially leading to the model producing misleading or incorrect outputs based on its training. To ensure improvement, there should be a concerted effort to feed the model with more accurate information for better results. While the existing functionality is serving its intended purpose, there's a need for ongoing enhancements to elevate the product.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with it for approximately two years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
I would rate its stability capabilities eight out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
It provides excellent scalability. I would rate it ten out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
I would rate its technical support services eight out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Positive
How was the initial setup?
I would rate the initial setup eight out of ten.
What about the implementation team?
There isn't a fixed or standard timeframe for deployment; it depends on the specific circumstances and requirements of the situation.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The licensing cost is quite high and it operates on an annual basis. The pricing starts at a minimum of eight hundred dollars and can go even higher. Considering the economic context, particularly in this part of the world, it might be perceived as a significant expense.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I would rate it ten out of ten.
Widely used learning platform with limited control options that can be customized to meet the unique needs of different educational institutions
What is our primary use case?
We use it for course management, reading exercises, sharing information, and face-to-face learning with our students.
How has it helped my organization?
Some of my colleagues use Moodle in a passive way, just to post learning material. Some others use it more actively, to have an almost live interaction with students.
What is most valuable?
The ability to insert a variety of tools, create and organize course content, and share large volumes of materials, written, audio, or visual, is very valuable. You can integrate videos, and add music, or what might be needed for a certain class. I believe it's perfect for language acquisition because it enables one to develop all the skills.
What needs improvement?
If you use it for any form of assessment, you need to integrate some kind of control which is hard to implement with this platform. It would be good to have a feature that would ensure that students are the ones performing the given assessment.
For how long have I used the solution?
Here at the university where I work, we have been using Moodle for over sixteen years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
It is very stable. There were occasional crashes during lockdown when everybody used it during exam season, but it was solved quite easily and quickly.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Moodle is a free online learning platform, but it also offers a paid version.
What other advice do I have?
I would suggest attending some sort of course related to the solution before working with it. There are online guides available that are useful and can provide bits of advice on how to integrate other activities and maximize the use of the platform. I would rate it seven out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?
Has efficient features for demonstration and integration
What is our primary use case?
I use the solution to manage module demonstrations for the customers.
How has it helped my organization?
The solution facilitates students with an efficient learning platform.
What is most valuable?
The solution's most valuable features are LTI and integration with various platforms.
What needs improvement?
The solution's navigation features need improvement. Its interface design could be more user-friendly.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using the solution for ten years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
The solution is stable.
How are customer service and support?
The solution's technical support could be better. I have to access the manual in case of queries.
What was our ROI?
The solution is good in terms of investment.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
The solution is free of cost.
What other advice do I have?
I recommend the solution to others and rate it a nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
Plenty of modules, highly flexible, and advantageous different user types
What is our primary use case?
I was using a Linux computer searching on the internet for educational tools back in 2007 and I came across Moodle. I was trying to find out if Moodle is an open-source system. I downloaded the Linux version and I installed it. I was impressed with what I saw, it is a wonderful system, free of charge, and it has everything you need.
I did some research and found out Moodle is a cloud-based system. I was able to host it and install it myself.
Initially, I was creating a classroom, similar to Google Classroom and I was putting all of my material on the platform and designing courses.
I used to be an English teacher. I was teaching English as a second language(EAL) in different language schools. I was originally keeping my materials in folders, in hard copies on storage devices which was difficult.
I decided that I would create a Moodle classroom, and I put all my material in the Moodle classroom. I organized my courses chapter by chapter. I put all of my lesson plans, lessons, classwork, assignments, and everything else I needed on the platform.
What I liked most about Moodle was that I could create nice online quizzes. It takes very little time to do. You don't have to even read the paper, it automatically evaluates the quizzes. It gives the student grades and provides a lot of useful statistics. For example, it indicates which question was the hardest, easiest, and where students made the most mistakes. Everything is available to you. You couldn't do this in regular paper test hard copies. This was my first use case.
I moved to Poland and that is where I am currently. At the school where I started working, they were organizing something similar to a nationwide math contest. Students are supposed to go to a center where they could take the test. There were hard copies of the test being sent around Poland to all of the schools. Teachers arranged when students were taking the test and it was done by writing on an answer sheet and they were sending it to us. We were evaluating, and getting back to them with the results. It was a lot of work, and many people had to be involved. It was a costly event.
I mentioned that I can do the whole contest in Moodle and it won't cost us anything. All we need to do was have a strong server because there will be many students taking the exam at the same time. The server will be our only cost.
I installed the Moodle on the server, and I created quiz classrooms for each year group, such as grades seven, eight, and nine. I created the test and assigned the starting time and duration. All the teachers needed to do was take the students to the IC lab and help them start the test. As soon as they submit the test, we had the results whole country-wide.
A large problem we had previously was if you were asking 20 or 50 math questions, and because it was similar to an Olympiad, you needed to have rankings, such as first, second, and third place. Sometimes it happens that several students are answering the same number of questions correctly. We did not know how we were going to decide who was going to be on the rankings list. The ranking was going to be a problem because you don't have any other way, but with Moodle, we were telling the students the ranking will be based on first, the points you receive, the number of questions you answer correctly, and a second criterion is the time. The time it took them to answer the questions. If the number of right answers is the same, the second criterion was the duration.
I could organize a nationwide exam, and nearly 10,000 students took part in it. This is a substantial accomplishment. Normally in order to organize what I did 10 years ago when these online solutions were not very common it was difficult.
I'm working for an international school and we have an admission period. During this time all those students come to enroll. We do a placement test before, usually math and English. They were the traditional way, we were taking them into a classroom, we were assigned a teacher, and the students would do the test. We had to read the test and get back to the parents with the result, which was taking a lot of time.
In 2015, I created a placement test in Moodle. No matter how many students came, or what time they came, we only needed to take them to the computer lab. They could start their own test, have their own duration, and as soon as they submit the test, we had the results.
Normally for every student, you had to arrange a teacher, because they come at different times.
I am stopped using Linux and I am on the Mac ecosystem. There's no point in using the software version of Moodle because it is best when it is on the cloud and it's accessible from everywhere by all of the students. If you want to only use it for yourself, for example, I want to have a system where I can put all of my material, you can use a software version of it. It will be private and only limited to you. One of the largest advantages of Moodle is that it has different user types, such as teachers and students with different roles.
I have tried different cloud services and different systems. There was one when I first came to the school here where I worked, they were using a local system. I used SiteGround and used another solution before. When I first started using Moodle, we had our own Linux server, which we were keeping internally.
How has it helped my organization?
The use of Moodle has benefited our organization by limiting the time needed to conduct tests and quizzes for students.
What is most valuable?
Moodle has plenty of features. They are always updating the solution to a newer version.
When you create a course, you can add activities or material. In the activities section, the module that I use most often is the assignment module. The second one is the quiz module. There are many modules, such as labels, pages, and PDFs. These are the modules that I use most often. The quiz module is a strong one because you can use many types of questions. For example, on some platforms, such as Google Classroom, you can create a quiz using Google Form. In Google Form, you have a multiple choice checkbox. In Moodle, you have more power. One very valuable feature is the randomization of questions. Additionally, you can randomize the answers, which is important. Imagine you want to give a test to your students on a particular topic and they sit in the ICT suite where the computers are very close, which means they are sitting next to each other. If they are on the same page, it's very likely that the exam is not very safe, they could cheat. What the randomized question does is while one student is doing the first question, the next student is actually doing the 15th question. The answers are randomized giving another layer of cheat prevention.
I save a lot of time using quizzes in Moodle. For example, you have a class of 20 students, and you want to do a test in English. Evaluating the answers and grading them takes a lot of time for a teacher. I spend half of the time then if I was to do it on a hard copy when I create the quiz. I am quicker now than when I started since I have more experience. I spend no time reading the test because Moodle automatically gives me the results. I can take a look at each of the questions that a student had difficulties with. I can visit those questions quickly and give more feedback. I can see every kind of mistake students make in each question, the statistics are very useful.
Since I have created a test already in a particular topic, next year, all I need to do is, double-check it. I don't have to do anything at all. I can use the test for the next year all ready to go.
What needs improvement?
It would be a benefit if there was an easy single sign-on with social media services for Moodle. There are some plugins that I tried, but they didn't work seamlessly. it is a work in progress. Having the single sign-on with social media services would be appreciated because in my school we are using Google suite and the main reason why we use Google Classroom is that it is integrated seamlessly with the suite.
If I have the same seamless integration with Google suite with Moodle, I would use Moodle more often. I'm using it for myself, but school-wise, it's limited because of the ease of access.
Google Classroom is very simple, and straightforward for teachers. It has many features with most being basic. It's easy for everyone to learn. Moodle has a lot of advanced features which can scare people who are not advanced users. If Moodle could improve user-friendliness or more people would use it. This includes the user interface and the overall user experience could improve. When comparing it to Google, it's a bit more difficult. For example, with Google Classroom, as long as you have a Google account any teacher can go there and create a classroom. However, with Moodle, it's a bit difficult. You need to have a system first. It has to be installed, and then you need to know how to create a classroom. You need to know how to use those tools. It requires some getting used to and some training.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been using Moodle for approximately 15 years. I've been using Moodle all the time, even when I am not using it in my organization. Similar to, Google Classroom, I always have Moodle installed on my own server. My material is always on Moodle and I create courses on the platform. Moodle is a very precious asset for any educator.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
Moodle is reliable. As a teacher, for example, I have some courses, such as a placement test. I created them seven or eight years ago. They are still available to me when I used to teach English. People were wanting to know their level of English. I created a simple placement test online, starting from very basic questions, all the way up to advanced levels. It was a half an hour test, but mostly multiple-choice, it doesn't cover everything. It doesn't test speaking or writing. There was a reading section that was not very comprehensive. However, it gave an idea about the user's grammatical competence and vocabulary.
I created the placement test a long time ago. Anyone who's curious about his or her English level, I gave them a username and password, and they could take the test, and it helped. No matter when you install it, as long as you are regularly updated, you won't have any problem. If you are using Moodle 2.2. You installed it 10 years ago, and there was a regular update; for example, 2.3, 2.5, and 2.8. They are nearly on version 4.0 and if you upgraded from 2.4 to 3.8, you would have a problem. However, as long as you're regularly upgraded, you will not have any problem. It will be stable there are no problems.
I never had a problem but I do not know the experience of using it in a university. However, I know that there are millions of users of Moodle and a lot of higher educational institutions are using it. It is very popular in universities.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
We decided to use Google Classroom, and only have some individuals who are interested are using Moodle. When I organized the nationwide contest, there were 12,000 people in the system and approximately 1,000 teachers from all around Poland. I did the mathematic test for them and they were all in the system.
I use Moodle often personally. The company I work for makes the decisions whether we use Moodle or not and we do not have plans to use it.
How are customer service and support?
Moodle has a large open-source community behind it, everyone is helping each other.
Moodle is an open-source system that has the Moodle community. There are forums, but there is no company behind Moodle. You don't have direct contact to ask anyone. All you can do is go to the forum and find the answers to your problems. The problems that people face are very common. There are a lot of places where you can find answers to your questions. There is no customer support, as far as I know. You have to find the information yourself to receive answers.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
The company I'm working for is a new company. We are using Google Classroom right now. We previously used to use Office 365. However, we switched to the Google suite, because we enjoy the Google suite much better.
I am using Google Classroom in parallel with Moodle.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, most schools were using Google Classroom because it's much easier for everyone to use. I still continue to use Moodle because it has a lot more functions and I do some online teachings. It gives me a lot of flexibility and a lot of options. It has a lot more sources and modules to create activities, create quizzes, and question types.
How was the initial setup?
When doing the initial setup of Moodle the deployment process is simple. Most of the hosting services make it very easy. For example, if you use SiteGround or any other large services for hosting, these systems are available there. It is similar to WordPress, if you want to install WordPress, you only need to click on it and it automatically installs, Moodle is the same. If I want Moodle, I only need to have hosting and then a URL sub-domain name.
If my company has a certain domain and before it, I put LMS, such as a learning management system. That's the company's web address. I need to define the subdomain. Then it takes only two to three minutes of work to install Moodle in regular hosting. Once you install it, you have an administrator username and password, that you set up. You then can log in, create your classrooms, and share them with the co-teacher that whom you want to share the classroom. Lastly, you need to import your students.
The good thing about importing students is that you can do it in bulk. You can put the students' emails and names in a Google Sheet or CSV file. When you import them they will be automatically in the system. You only need to create your course design, of how you want to see it. For example, you can decide if you want to make it on a weekly or topic basis. If I want to create a Moodle, it will not take me very long. Registering a host and creating a class, will not take me more than one hour. I can register the hosting, install it quickly, and create the classroom. It's a very quick process to deploy Moodle.
The number of people involved in the deployment will depend on the capability of the person or people involved and the resources they have. Since I have access to all of the resources and because of my position, I can register the hosting myself. I'm a Moodle specialist, I can install and create. As a teacher, I can create a classroom. Somebody in a company has to purchase the hosting. This could be the accounting department if you work in a company. An ICT administrator has to install the system and whoever wants to use the system, you need to give them access to the system as an administrator, to allow them access to create their users, classes, and invite their students as users.
It can also depend on how large a scale you want to branch out with Moodle. For example, if it's going to be a system that a lot of people will be using, then you might want to have a big server, such as Amazon AWS or Google Cloud. It depends on concurrent users, and at the same time, how many users will be using the system. If you don't have a strong server, it can crash. It depends on the use case and how many people have to be enrolled. If it is installed and only teachers use it, all the processes are simple but you need to know how to do it.
What about the implementation team?
I was able to implement the whole solution myself.
Moodle typically does not need a lot of maintenance. However, it depends on where Moodle is hosted. If it is hosted in large companies, they always release updates. When you regularly update the system it doesn't require any maintenance. Moodle itself has new releases, and the plugins you install also have releases for the new version of Moodle. There is not a lot of maintenance required. Thre are times I do not use Moodle for one or two years, and I suddenly need it. I go back to it and only need to update the plugins. I am prompted on the screen and I click the update buttons. It updates in a couple of minutes and it's ready to use.
What was our ROI?
The solution is free, it has been very useful. We are able to limit the number of people involved when doing tests and quizzes which has saved a lot of money and time.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
Moodle is a free open-sourced solution. This is one of the best aspects of Moodle.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
I have evaluated other options.
What other advice do I have?
I'm a Moodle specialist and I wrote my graduation paper on it.
I would advise others that they should invest their time in using Moodle because Moodle is very good. It's not made for profit, it is made for education and educators, and I'm enjoying it. I would suggest that it should be always there and available for any institution. Although school-wide, we use Google Classroom, I always make Moodle available for our organization even though it's not being actively used. I know when I can use it, and what I can do with it. If it's up to me and had my own organization, school, or education center, I would use Moodle more actively.
I rate Moodle a nine out of ten.
The reason I did not give a rating of ten for Moodle is that it is not a private company's solution. When you have a private solution, you pay attention to user experience. You can make it easier for teachers to use it, but Moodle with all of its functions, if you know how to use them, you will enjoy them.
There are new systems that make life a lot easier for teachers, step by step. For example, creating the first activity, next activity, et cetera. You are guided when you design your course, but with Moodle, you have to design everything, how you want your student to proceed. You have to create all the content by yourself. That's what the teachers don't like. They don't want to put in the time to design the course and put everything together. It's a bit time-consuming compared to new products available. However, Moodle is free and available to anyone at any time to install. It would be unfair to rate Moodle an eight.