1. An LMS By Any Other Name… Jonathon Sweetin & Tina Farmer Pitt Community College Moodle =

2. Purpose This presentation is not a how-to guide for using Moodle or Blackboard. The audience for this presentation are current Blackboard users who are experimenting with Moodle. This helps transition Blackboard users to Moodle terms. We are NOT Moodle experts!

3. Agenda Background Information Similarities and/or Differences – Layout – Course Administration – Student Management – Content Management Conclusion

4. Background Information PCC adopted Blackboard in 1999. Currently, 550+ active courses with 5000+ students. Summer 2007, PCC joined the North Carolina Moodle Users Group sponsored by the System Office. Moodle to date, 27 courses with 670 students.

5. Blackboard: Layout The Bb layout is based off the navigation bar on the left. Bb uses different content areas for different things. Within each content area, folders and subfolders can be used to further organize content. Instructors like this method because it’s all very neat and organized. Students must “jump around” in the course to find things and sometimes complain that it’s a bit confusing.

6. Moodle: Layout The layout of Moodle is about as far away from Blackboard as you can get. As far as the organization of your course, everything’s just out there. In Moodle, you do not have different content areas and folders…at least not in the same sense that you do in Bb.

7. Moodle: Layout Moodle is very “shallow” and this can be a huge hurdle for instructors accustomed to Bb. Instructor’s resist not having their folder, but students actually seem less confused. The use of Blocks allows the instructor to customize the tools and resources that students see.

8. Moodle: Layout List of Blocks 

9. Blackboard: Control Panel In Bb, you can edit every part of the course from the Control Panel. Blackboard’s Control Panel

10. Moodle: Administration Block No control panel in Moodle. Instructor-only options are in the Administration block. No content editing. Moodle Administration Block

11. Blackboard: Edit View Blackboard’s Edit View feature allows you to edit content right from the content page. Content Page Before Clicking Edit View Content Page After Clicking Edit View

12. Moodle: Turn Editing On In Moodle, you use the Turn Editing On button to “turn on” the content editing tools. Course Page Before Clicking Turn Editing On button Course Page After Clicking Turn Editing On button

13. Blackboard: Course Options Most changes to the course structure and settings are made from the Course Options area of the Control Panel.

14. Moodle: Settings Edit Course Settings is located in the Administration block Most course structure and settings are controlled on this screen including: – Names – Summary – course format – Availability – start date – enrollment status Edit Course Settings Screen

15. Blackboard: Enroll Users

16. Moodle: Assign Roles Very different terminology from Bb- Assign Roles. Located under Administration Block. Enroll & Un-enroll is done on the same screen. **Unlike Blackboard, in Moodle when you un- enroll a student their records ARE NOT LOST!** Assign Roles Screen

17. Blackboard: List/Modify Users

18. Moodle: Participants Users are called Participants in Moodle. Accessed under the People Block. Can filter by time since last activity. Can sort by all column headings. Displays pictures, if added to profile. Gives quick access to student’s profile & blogs. Can quickly send messages to selected students from this screen. Participants Screen 

19. Blackboard: Announcements By default are not emailed. Appear on the first page students see.

20. Moodle: News Forum The News discussion forum is used to keep students up to date in the course. It is in every course by default. All participants are subscribed by default. News forums are RSS enabled. Found in the 0 block of the course. News Forum Screen

21. Blackboard: Content Items

22. Moodle: Content Items In Moodle, things are broken down into more specific categories than in Blackboard. Moodle gives you two types of items to add. Resources are things for students to read or look at. Activities are things for students to do. Moodle Resources Moodle Activities 

23. Blackboard: Item Availability Must modify each item to change availability. Can be controlled by date/time. Adaptive Release gives advanced options for automatically setting availability when certain conditions are met. Options when modifying a folder in Blackboard

24. Moodle: Hide/Show Item A whole section or an individual item of content can be hidden. Simply click the eye – no need to edit each item. No date/time or adaptive release on resources. Main course page, in Edit mode

25. Blackboard: Assignments There are two common ways to post assignments in Blackboard. The “old way” with instructions typed into a Bb item; submitted via drop box or email. – Items or columns were manually added to grade book to hold these grades. – Submitted files had to be viewed elsewhere. The “new way” using the Assignment content type. – Links directly to the grade book. – Submitted files are viewed from within the gradebook.

26. Moodle: Assignments Assignments in Moodle similar to the new Assignment content type in Bb. Tied directly into the Grade book & Calendar. View work, leave comments & grade all on the same screen. Assignment Types: – Advanced Uploading of Files allows multiple files to be submitted, also lets you send a file back to the student. – Online Text allows submission of text only without a saved file. – Upload a single file similar to Advanced Uploading of Files except they can only submit a single file and you can not send a file back to the student. – Offline Activity is anything you want to enter a grade for, that they don’t submit through assignments. Types of assignments available in the “Add an Activity” box

27. Blackboard: Attach File In Bb, files are attached to content items.

28. Moodle: Files A folder structure can be created to organize and store your files. All uploaded files are stored in this area. Can be used to help you stay organized. – If you need to update a file, simply re-upload it and overwrite the previous file. No need to modify the content item pointing to the file. Can give students access to specific files or folders Files screen in a Moodle course Link files or folders into the course content by Adding A Resource

29. Blackboard: Gradebook Very slow to load. Headings fall off screen – can be confusing. Can display/edit by item or user. Each individual grade is a link.

30. Moodle: Grades Primary difference from Blackboard – This is a place to VIEW grades, not Enter/Edit them. Looks a lot different than Bb. Grouped by category - need to click the category title to see individual assignment grades. There are several view options that can drastically change the appearance. Weighting is similar to Bb.

31. Moodle: Grades Unlike Bb, it allows for assignment exemptions and curves. Prints students names on left & right for easier reading. Will reprint headers after # of rows for easier reading. Individual grades are not links - can’t edit an individual grade from the grade book screen. Unlike Bb, grading is always done per assignment – never per user.

32. Moodle: Grades Initial view grouped by Categories View of individual grades after clicking on Assignments Category

33. Blackboard: Grading Very time consuming, especially if you need to grade submitted files. Multiple OK’s, Submits and page reloads per grade

34. Moodle: Grading Definitely a WOW! One screen lists each student, their submitted work and date submitted. Quick grade option lets you record a grade and leave comments for each student without having to submit each one individually Quick Grade option – choose grade from drop down & leave brief comments

35. Moodle: Grading Grading an Advanced File Upload Assignment. Everything is on one screen. A single click takes you to the next student. It’s a small window so each student loads quickly.

36. Blackboard: Course Statistics Slow. Minimal information. Few sorting or grouping options. Logs for individual dates are hard to read. Bb statistics for the month of August

37. Moodle: Reports WOW, WOW, WOW!!! Can see details about every click made. Can sort, filter and view in greater detail. Reports screen

38. Blackboard: Email

39. Moodle: Message If a student is online, when you send a message an instant message box alerts them to your message immediately. If they are not online an email is sent. You can message students in bulk from the Participants screen. A Message History log is saved of all messages you send through Moodle. Messages are automatically sent to student whenever you post grades. Incoming message

40. Blackboard: Calendar Cumbersome & time consuming to use. Not very prominent in the course.

41. Moodle: Calendar Big WOW! Displayed prominently on the main course page. All due dates are auto-linked directly into the calendar. Mouse over highlighted date for more info. Students absolutely love this feature. Events can be set at the school, class, group & participant level.

42. Blackboard: Glossary Simply a list of terms Not interactive within the course

43. Moodle: Glossary Your students can post glossary entries or you can restrict this privilege to instructors only. If a term in the glossary appears with-in the course, it is auto linked back to its definition. You can turn this feature on and off.

44. Conclusion More information or link to the presentation & handout go to the PCC Moodle Users Group at jsweetin.wordpress.com Contact Info: Jonathon Sweetin: jsweetin@email.pittcc.edu Tina Farmer: tfarmer@email.pittcc.edu