Reading – Transition to Moodle (Florida International University)

I believe that asking questions is a good thing, and can often bring a greater sense of understanding in whatever subject area you currently inhabit. The question of whether your current VLE (or LMS or CMS or whatever you classify it as) is the right one for your Institution seems to be one of those questions that people would rather you didn’t ask. I’m not sure why considering the costs involved in maintaining a VLE infrastructure; surely we can ask if we are getting value for money?

Which is when I found this:  Transition to Moodle, Florida International University

The article outlines the FIU’s position in the development of their VLE, from WebCT to BlackBoard via the BlackBoard purchase of WebCT, through to the evaluation of alternative systems.

“Our testing and evaluation of open-source alternatives showed that both Sakai and Moodle offer comparable tool/feature sets compared to Blackboard. However, the Moodle university, user, and developer communities are substantially larger than those of Sakai. In addition, Moodle is rated higher on ease of use by many in the LMS community.”

If the question is asked, and the answer (after proper consideration and evaluation) is that your existing VLE system (BlackBoard, Sakai, Moodle, etc) IS the right choice for you then so be it. I’d be happy with that kind of answer, so long as it has been properly addressed. If the answer is NO then that is the right time to ask the next logical question … what should you be using for your intended outcome?

Has your Institution asked this of itself? Are you migrating from one VLE or LMS system to another (if so from what to what)? Please share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment below.