After a few sessions of poking around, I think both offer the same capabilities so the only major difference I see is the layout or look. So I think it is totally subjective whether one is better than the other as far as the feel goes. I think their functionality is the same, but I don’t know if they will interface with district Student Information Systems well or at all. So from a teacher stand point, I think they are both great. I will say I preferred the layout of Moodle, it just felt easier to navigate and I found the vocabulary they used more straight forward. Ever since my first class with Blackboard, I’ve found I had to dig and dig to find what I was looking for and never felt like I was digging in the right place. I haven’t had to use Moodle for a class and have only seen brief presentations on it from other classmates in other classes, so I haven’t worked a lot with it. I liked the Moodle format where you add assignments and such from the calendar view.
If I was in charge of picking one of the other, I’d have to make sure it worked well with the district Student Information System and if Moodle did, I would have to go with them. Who can argue with FREE. When I was first poking around, I kept saying to myself, “WOW, this is free?” It looks so professional and polished and it had every single choice any teacher could ever think of for creating an online class. As you can tell, I was very impressed. Go Moodle!!
You might also want to try www.CourseSites.com which Moodle News has described as being more free than free http://www.moodlenews.com/2010/source-wars/
ReplyDeleteCourseSites is a free, hosted, and supported version of Blackboard which does not required you to set up any additional hosting or servers. Students can even log on with their existing GMail or Twitter accounts. CourseSites also features course structures for your course so new course shells can come pre-loaded with helpful example content, pre-defined navigational layouts, and pedagogical advice for you to start off on the right foot with your course.
Great post Tracy, I too like the layout of Moodle better...It goes back to the old addage, "less is more".
ReplyDeleteI think your right, they are similar and it is just a matter of personal preference. But FREE is very good. :)
ReplyDeleteFree is awesome! But I think BB is my facorite. I thought it was easier to navigate around and create assignments and discussion boards.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the language. It certainly makes it easier, especially for non-tech types, when the language is in plain speech instead of jargon.
ReplyDeleteMoodle is customizable since it's open source. It takes work but it's possible. Blackboard is what you get from them and having the support is nice.
ReplyDelete