In order to make his decision, Benoît will have to ask himself which platform offers him the most support.  He is already armed with some technical skills, a comfort with WebCT from his current face-to-face Business course and some web design content development for personal projects. This expertise will also serve him well in Moodle.

WebCT/Vista

Working at a large University, and host on its own server, WebCT/Vista requires the support of the universities IT department.  Colleagues have stated that the new LMS has only half of its original functionality, thus facilitating the need for Benoît to access IT-help.  By current accounts, it is hard to get in touch with, and response times are markedly slow.  Benoît would count this as two strikes against WebCT/Vista.

Moodle

Moodle is based in the English Department, and while not falling under the umbrella of the University’s IT Department, a large University will have a large English Department, and so the number of support personnel that Benoît can access for help is substantial.  An open source LMS, technical help is also available online, another plus for access to support, and availability on his meagre timeline of 5 hours per week. As more of the English Department faculty members continue to use Moodle, Benoît will be able to provide his Business writing course a look consistent with other departments in the University.

Since both LMS pose unfamiliarity to Benoît, he is going to need some support, which Moodle offers more of in this scenario.  If Benoît had access to our ETEC 565 discussion forum, he would clearly note that lack of training, Pro-D, or IT Support pose substantial roadblocks to the implementation of new Educational Technology, and should choose Moodle.