Centralized Moodle Server
Joe Schmoe, Director of Information Technology Jayne Blaine, Director of Educational Research & Development
Dear Joe and Jayne:
Camosun College Library intends to develop several modules over the next several months that instructors can integrate with their classroom and online courses. To aid with this project, and for other reasons I will outline, I’m proposing that Camosun College establish a central Moodle server.
Why Moodle
Several practical and strategic considerations:
• Strength in diversity. It’s strategically advisable that a college of Camson’s size employ more than one LMS, including one that is open source, in order to avoid complete dependence on its commercial LMS and to have an alternative with which to compare the commercial software. Blackboard successfully sued Desire2Learn for patent infringement, making D2L’s future increasingly tenuous in an industry fraught with mergers and acquisitions (Young, 2008). Should D2L fail, or be acquired by the Blackboard monolith, then Camosun would have an open-source LMS tested, implemented and ready to go.
• Consolidation. The Computer Technology faculty already have an unauthorized Moodle server running in their department for a few courses. The server I propose would be an opportunity to bring ComTech’s Moodle courses onto an approved, centralized and securely maintained server.
• Efficiency, for some. Moodle is faster and easier for course authoring for newer staff, myself included, who are familiar with Moodle (but not Desire2Learn) from other contexts.
• Low capital and overhead. Moodle requires very modest server hardware. As well, the library intends to be somewhat self-supporting, and to start out “small” with quite basic (and brief) Moodle courses; so IT support, at least in the first year, would be minimal (mainly a few administrator/authoring permissions) and would increase very incrementally if more features are desired. By some accounts, Moodle can be up and running on a Linux server in under an hour (Rais, 2006). Linux servers cost less than half as much to run than Windows servers (Orzech, 2010), and the incremental cost of maintaining the server in our IT department’s existing server room should be minimal.
• On-site autonomy. You will also be aware that our IT department has been markedly unimpressed with D2L’s service support, while at the same time has been frustrated at not being able to implement timely on-site fixes to D2L’s proprietary LMS.
• Separate identity. As the library’s instruction moves increasingly online, it’s vital to have a learning platform that’s visibly distinct from D2L. Our experience has shown that providing the library’s instruction in D2L courseware, and linking to it from regular D2L-based courses, has the effect of confusing a large proportion of Camosun’s students.
Criteria for evaluating Moodle against other options
I used seven factors for evaluating LMSs (per Kim and Lee 2008): (1) suitability of design in screen and system; (2) ease of course procedure; (3) interoperability of system and suitability of academy administration; (4) ease of instruction management and appropriateness of multimedia use; (5) flexibility of interaction and test and learner control; (6) variety of communication and test types; and (7) user accessibility.
The factors were developed to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of LMSs in support of e-learning, “rather than focusing on the functions and features of LMSs” (Kim & Lee, 2008).
Resources needed to bring a Moodle server online
The following are estimates, and the costs involved should be seen as part of a long-term investment:
| Hardware: | |
| Iomega StorCenter Pro ix4-200r NAS Rackmount Server: | $1,000. |
| Cabling: | $35 |
| Resources to install the server and bring it online: | |
| Two hours @ $50/hr. | $100 |
| To install Linux: | |
| One hour @ $50/hr. | $50 |
| To install Moodle: | |
| One hour @ $50/hr. | $50 |
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| Total cost: | $1,235 |
References
Kim, S., & Lee, M. (2008). Validation of an Evaluation Model for Learning Management Systems. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 24(4), 284-294. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Orzech, D. (2010). Linux TCO: Less than half the cost of Windows. CIO Update . http://www.cioupdate.com/article.php/10493_1477911
Rais, M. (2006). 45 Minutes to a Moodle Education Server: An unofficial beginner guide to Moodle. Really Linux . http://www.reallylinux.com/docs/installmoodle.shtml
Young, J. (2008). Blackboard Customers Consider Alternatives. Chronicle of Higher Education , 55 (3), A1. Retrieved from ERIC database.
Image collage by L. McCallum