UCLA goes with Moodle

As stated on their webpage titled UCLA IT Strategic Vision:

In November, 2006, the UCLA Faculty Committee on Educational Technology decided that UCLA should converge on Moodle as the single open source platform for its common collaboration and learning environment (CCLE).

The additional information that UCLA will remain involved in the Sakai project, but apparently not as a first priority ( “as capacity is available” ), is particularly interesting since UCLA is a Sakai Foundation member.

Via EdTechPost

Michael Kerres on the success of Moodle

Michael Kerres talks about the factors that contribute to Moodle’s success as a learning platform. The sound file is available as an MP3 download near the bottom of the page, called dll-pod2.mp3 (in German).

He lists 3 main hurdles that Moodle has cleared in terms of acceptance by different users of Moodle: system administators, teachers, and students. For each type of actor, the main attraction is ease of use: easy to install for sys admins, easy to set up a course quickly for teachers, and easy and intuitive to use for students. Make it easy and they will come.

Set up and maintenance of Blackboard vs Moodle

from accidental pedagogy
http://accidentalpedagogy.typepad.com/accidental_pedagogy/2006/04/set_up_and_main.html
Apparently Bb and Moodle come out more or less the same…

Survey says more podcasts, less LMSs

A survey of 40 experts on the future of elearning in German businesses says that the up and coming technologies are podcasts, blogs and wikis. Interest in Learning Management Systems is decreasing the most.

Take a quick look at the graphics in the press release (pdf).

The survey was done by MMB – Institut für Medien und Kompetenzforschung.

QMind – Collobarative eLearning Development System

“It can be hard to be on the leading edge of a new category. Not quite an authoring system, not quite a content management system, QMIND is an “eLearning design collaboration platform.” I viewed an impressive demo recently that show how distributed project teams can author in storyboards, port directly into Flash templates, manage QA, and in fact manage every specific development task required. Definitely check this out if you have work on large projects, large teams, or a distributed work environment.”

from Kevin Kruse: elearning-guru.com