1. Jeff Giliberto EDU633 Post University

2. What is Moodle?
Moodle, which stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment (Brandl, 2005, pg. 16), is a powerful, open source LMS learning system which is can be used for K-12 schools, Colleges and Companies. Since Moodle is an open source platform, it can be used by anyone and excluding hosting and domain cost which would be prevalent in any LMS system, Moodle is completely free. Open source also assures a considerable cost savings by the university, school and/or school district. In addition it allows for extensions and customizations of the LMS system, allowing for content designed for the specific course requirements (Hölbl & Welzer, 2015, pg. 63). Since Moodle is open source, it is difficult to determine how many people are currently using Moodle, but through moodle.net over 64,000 sites have been registered to be using Moodle, with over 214 million users world wide (Moodle.net, 2015).

3. What is Moodle? Moodle’s Mission Statement
Moodle supports teachers with their teaching
Moodle supports learners with their learning
Moodle integrates everything needed for a course
Moodle is open in every way, yet sites can be fully private
Moodle can be used by students for free on any device
Moodle provides the most flexible toolset possible
Moodle can be scaled to any size needed
Moodle allows anyone to contribute to global education
(Moodle.org, 2015)

4. What are the Communication Capabilities of Moodle?
Students, Teachers and Administrators can communication and collaborate with one another in many different ways using the Moodle platform. Some functions that Moodle allows are discussion boards, online chats, web blogs, wikipages and instant messaging (Hölbl & Welzer, 2015, pg ). It is also important to note that since Moodle is open source with a large online community, there are countless more communication modules that can be added to the Moodle platform.
One of these useful community created modules with the Oauth2 authentication log in. This add on will allow for users to log in using Google, Facebook, GitHub, LinkedIn, Windows Live, VK or Battle.net (Mouneyrac, 2015). This allows for one click log ins, making it easier then ever to get communicating on Moodle.

5. How can content be organized?
Instructors have a great deal of flexibility when it comes to content organization. To begin, instructors can create courses and then create separate classes for each course. When uploading or creating content for one class, with a click of a button it can be sent to the other classes, and even courses an instructor is teaching on Moodle.
Although Moodle is not a CMS, or content management system, it does offer a wide range of ways to import, export and manage digital content (Moodle.org, 2013). This includes the ability to import content from external storage sites such as Flickr, YouTube and the Google Drive platform (Moodle.org, 2013).
Content imported can be organized in many different ways including activities, resources, questions and discussions. Lastly, in addition to breaking students up by class, Moodle allows for teachers to group students, to allow for greater differentiation.

6. How will students respond to Moodle?
Due to it’s great flexibility, Moodle is highly customizable and allows for colleges, schools and/or school districts to design a Moodle in it’s liking. When creating the Moodle LMS system, it is important to survey the students and faculty to create a system that fits each of their needs. Once the Moodle system is in place, constant questionnaires and feedback will allow for colleges, schools and/or school districts to update the Moodle to combat features disliked by the students and faculty.

7. What are the benefits for students, teachers and administrators?
As discussed before, the high customization of Moodle allows for an LMS system that is designed around the students, teachers and administrators. Elements and features can be added and taken away based off the need of the school’s community. With the large online community creating modules, almost anything can be found online to be integrated on the LMS. In addition, if the college, school and/or school district needs a certain feature and it can not be found, due to Moodle being open source, an in-house developer can create the needed feature.
Moodle is designed around the needs of each individual educational community, where many of the other LMS systems are designed with the one size fits all approach to LMS.

8. Benefits for Students
By default, students can be broken up into groups, classes and grades, allowing for content to be differentiated for each student.
Content can be delivered in many different ways, including but not limited to video, pdf, audio and slideshow.
Moodle can be used on all platforms, including mobile device.
A badge system feature is added in by default to the Moodle system. This allows for students to receive digital badges for their accomplishments. Badges can be used as rewards and to motivate students.
Built in gradebook and feedback allow for students to stay on top of their academics, as well as track their progress.
No longer do students have to worry about losing assignments.

9. Benefits for Teachers
Integrated gradebook makes grading online incredibly easy. In addition, teachers can assign online quizzes that are automatically graded and put in the gradebook immediately.
Discussion board posts are tracked and counted automatically by the Moodle system. If a teacher requires a certain amount of posts on the discussion board, it will let you know when that number is reached for each student.
Grouping allows for a teacher to provide certain content to certain students, making sure everyone is working on material that is right for them.
Moodle keeps track of when and how long students is logged in for, making it easy for the teacher to identify who's working and avoiding work.
Content can be reused among different courses and classes. In addition, once a course is set up and designed, the next semester/year, the course is already set up for the next group of students. Teachers can focus on tweaking and bettering rather then recreating.

10. Benefits for Administrators
Open-source means Moodle is a cost effective LMS system that even the smallest school districts can afford.
Deep customization allows for an administrator to create an LMS he or she envisions for their educational community, rather then having to use the features provided by companies who create LMS systems.
When teachers leave the college or school district all of their content stays behind, making it easier for the next instructor to continue with the high level of rigor that was previously being taught.
With over 64,000 registered Moodle sites and 214 million registered Moodle users, this LMS system is not going anywhere and will be updated for years to come. Unlike other LMS systems, that are dependent on a company staying in business, Moodle will be around for the foreseeable future.

11. Conclusion
In conclusion Moodle is the best choice when picking an LMS system. The vanilla Moodle platform, or default Moodle platform, comes with features that stack up nicely compared to most LMS systems out there. In it’s vanilla state, Moodle is a fantastic LMS system, but this isn’t even where Moodle shines. The true beauty of Moodle is the fact that it’s open source, making it free and allowing for anyone to customize it to his or her liking. Moodle allows for the teachers, administrators and most importantly, students dictate their LMS system and not the LMS system dictating what they learn.

12. References
Brandl, K. (2005). Are you ready to “Moodle”. Language Learning & Technology,9(2),
Hölbl, M., & Welzer, T. (2015). Students’ feedback and communication habits using Moodle. Elektronika ir Elektrotechnika, 102(6),
Moodle.net. (2015). Moodle Statistics. Retrieved November 1, 2015, from
Moodle.org. (2013, January 30). Managing content - MoodleDocs. Retrieved from
Moodle.org. (2015, June 24). Mission - MoodleDocs. Retrieved November 1, 2015, from
Mouneyrac, J. (2014, September 11). Oauth2 authentication for Moodle - Promo video[Video file]. Retrieved from