Nick, >Money and Education? In terms of cost Moodle would cost us just as much >as Blackboard. In order to get Moodle to do the same things we do with >Blackboard it would cost us a lot of money.
I'd say this depends very much on the size of your organisation, and what resources and skillsets you have. Plus expectations you have for the system. Open University in the UK (not an insignificantly sized institution) has moved to Moodle. So it works for them. I teach at a Technical Institution ( 3000+ students ) and it works for us. Smaller organisations definitely suit Moodle. I'd question your assertion, but for that argument you need to supply facts AND detail. Also some creative thinking is required to deal with the new challenges that come with Open Source software. > >Then comes the tech support aspect, with Moodle who do I call when >something doesn't work right? The man hours it takes to find the answer >to a problem are much higher. My experience is that a proprietary product just CANNOT compete with an active community. Moodle has public forums that operate 24 hours a day (due to the sun moving around this planet), and any issues seem to be dealt with in hours if not minutes. As well, there are certified Moodle support companies in every major country - so you can get what you want to pay for. I do not think even Blackboard can match that level of support. > >I don't know how many users you guys are dealing with, but Blackboard >has a pretty good support team when there is a critical problem. When >40,000 users can't get on to the system, people start complaining. With Moodle you have a CHOICE. (a) use community support <especially if you're small> (b) pay for a certified Moodle partner to support you <if you have the funds and the need> and (c) do it yourself - well your IT department can, because the source code, and all the support document is freely available online. If your institution has 40,000 users, then certainly it could / should employ the people to provide support on site. Their roles can combine technical and pedagogical aspects. PLUS you can extend Moodle in any way you require, without having to rely on one company with a monopoly on the development. Finally, the resources that come from literally hundreds (if not thousands) of developers around the world, developing "in context" (that means usually educators actively involved in development instead of programmers in Dilbert cubicles) makes for a far more enlightened and evolutionary product. Moodle's rapid success is testament to that development model. kind regards Gary Benner Waiariki Institute of Technology Rotorua, New Zealand ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Upgrade to Adobe ColdFusion MX7 Experience Flex 2 & MX7 integration & create powerful cross-platform RIAs http:http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;56760587;14748456;a?http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=LVNU Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:225300 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
