The Great Debate: Moodle vs Blackboard

          With so many students either dual-enrolled or with plans to enroll into Oregon State University or University of Oregon in the future, is the LBCC online schooling system out of sync?

           Even Chemeketa is in transition from their current online provider to Blackboard.  Their transition should be complete by the school year’s end, according to their school website.

           Should LBCC do the same and move out of the Moodle world?

          Either in Moodle or Blackboard the online operating system allows instructors to provide classes, lectures, quizzes, syllabi, grades and forums to students with access to the internet, from the comfort of home or anywhere else.

            Most of us probably don't know, but LBCC operated through Blackboard four years ago.  The main reason we left, according to LBCC Moodle Administrator Paul Tannahill, was price.  Four years ago, Blackboard wanted to raise the price from $16,000 to $105,000.  That would have been a 556.25 percent increase in cost.

           In Tannahill’s opinion, another reason for leaving Blackboard was because the "tools on Blackboard make it clear, (Blackboard) is a commercial product."  What Tannahill is referring to the fact that much of Blackboards features are very cookie cutter and don't allow much room to adapt to the instructors needs.

            His opinion is very different regarding Moodle.  "Moodle is designed to be flexible and adaptable," said Tannahill.  "More bang for our buck."

            When asked if LBCC would change to any other online schooling system if money was not a factor, the resounding answer is no.  

            Tannahill made it clear that instead of switching to a different system, he would continue to work with Moodle.  "The more I work with it, the more I like it," he said.
         
            For these and other reasons, LBCC continues to stick with Moodle.

            Tannahill is not alone in his opinion of Moodle.  Freshman Robin Bonnie agrees.  "Moodle Works," said Bonnie.  Why change what works.

             So where does that leave our dual-enrolled students?  It leaves them exactly where they were yesterday and where they will be tomorrow.  According to Tannahill, this is nothing to frown on.  He believes from his interactions that these students are "80/20 in favor for Moodle."

          

               One dual enrollee disagrees Moodle is a better system than Blackboard.  Dawn Dennis, a dual-enrolled junior at OSU, is in total disagreement   "Moodle doesn't function as well as Blackboard," she said.  Dawn complained specifically to the fact that Moodle has issues when a student tries to copy and paste from Microsoft's Word to Moodle.

        

               One of the things you figure out really fast when talking to the Moodle Administrator is that even after four and a half years, he is very enthusiastic about using Moodle to make our online and traditional schooling a success.

                 When he speaks of ideas and improvements in Moodle, he talks faster and very in-depth with such excitement as someone talking about their favorite football team.  He has ideas about having more classes taking quizzes on Moodle, as this would allow more face-to-face time with professors instead of wasting valuable time grading tests. 

He mentions that 75 percent of traditional classes at LBCC use Moodle in some way, from hybrids to those that use it for access for test and forums, to more traditional classes that use it to give students easy access to things such as contact information, syllabi and frequently asked questions pages.

At a glance:

Schools using Blackboard: OSU, U of O, and soon to be Chemeketa

Schools using Moodle: LBCC and Lane

Blackboard: 5000 Schools

Moodle: 11,961 Schools

LBCC elearning help desk: elearning.support@mail.linnbenton.edu
Student Help Desk:             (541) 917-4630