Like Benoit in the case, I am personally not familiar with either platform from the viewpoint of the instructor, but am familiar with other platforms that aid in designing online learning experiences.
The primary question that Benoit should be asking himself is “What are the overall learning goals for students in this online course and how does this technology serve those goals?”. Every other subsequent question that he may ask himself before making a choice should support his answer to that initial question. This question defines the purpose of technology selection as well as its application. Additionally, his own instructional design will play a major role in whether or not these goals are realized (Coates, James, & Baldwin, 2005).
Subsidiary questions that Benoit could ask himself might include:
- How will students demonstrate their understandings?
- How can summative and formative feedback be provided through the system?
- Does Benoit have robust enough troubleshooting and support skills to fix any issues within the course himself (if using Moodle)?
- When considering Bates’ (2014) SECTIONS model:
- Students: Do students need any extraneous software to access the course? Is it device agnostic?
- Ease of Use: Assuming both products meet learning/teaching needs, which is easier to use? Does Benoit or his students require training?
- Cost: Benoit may not be paying for this with money, but with time. Which would be less taxing in terms of time invested? Is it best to endure red tape with support vs. no red tape, but no support either?
- Teaching function – What would Benoit like to include in the body of the course? Which technology makes this available?
- Interaction – What kind of interactions does Benoit want to promote? Between student and content? Student and teacher? Student and student?
- Organization – Does the technology provide affordances that fit Benoit’s style of organization?
- Networking – Can students network between one another and with Benoit to enhance their learning experience?
- Security – Is the technology secure and respectful of student privacy (including assessment and evaluation)?
Regardless of the amount of questions that Benoit could ask, he should always be returning to his purposeful question of student learning goals. This will keep him on track and in consideration of the primary stakeholder in the learning process: the student.
Because I’m a proponent of the no-red-tape route, in this case, I’d probably choose Moodle. I like holding more autonomy over how I design and implement courses, and I would frequently network with colleagues who use the tool, and use their own design and application experiences in order to improve my own.
How many weeks would this take?
I’m unsure here – it truly depends on the level of skill and efficiency with technologies for Benoit. I would say that he would need at least a week to tinker with the technology and to learn its affordances and constraints.
Following a gain of familiarity, I’d give at least a month (4 weeks) for development and curation of digital sources. If he has to create his own media content, I’d tack another 4 weeks onto that preparation time. Benoit should also be prepared to invest time into the ongoing design and maintenance of the course throughout the 13 weeks of semester that his students are enrolled, in order to make improvements as necessary.
References
Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in digital age, Chapter 8. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of Learning Management Systems on university teaching and learning. Tertiary Education and Management, 11,(1), 19-36.http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11233-004-3567-9