Educational Technology Project Charter (1)

Moodle Test Server

Version 1.0

Paul O’Connor

5 October 2010

Executive Summary

• Purchase a virtual server license to run a test installation of MOODLE, a free and open source LMS to investigate if it is a less expensive alternative to Blackboard and if it can be integrated with the applications in place at Lower Mainland College.

• North Carolina Community College System Learning Technology Systems Department reported a 72% decrease in total annual cost after switching from Blackboard to MOODLE (2)

• Other free and open source LMS systems were not considered, MOODLE is used at other local institutions (VCC and UVic) which will allow sharing expertise.

• Capital cost $2 000, and 120 days of staff time. (3)

• To be in place for Winter 2012

Project Administration

Date: Oct 5, 2010

Project Number: 1

Project Name: MOODLE Test Server

Project Sponsor: Paul O’Connor

Department Primary Contact: Paul O’Connor

IT Primary Contact: Mr. X

Project Capital Costs: $2 000

IT FTE Effort (in days): 120

Purpose and Objective

• To purchase a virtual server license and run a test installation of MOODLE

• To investigate the compatibility of MOODLE with Lower Mainland College’s existing applications (Banner, Mediasite, Elluminate, Luminous, iTunes)

• To allow faculty members to test the functionality of MOODLE and run demonstration courses from the test server.

• This project will evaluate the viability and costs of moving to a free open source LMS. MOODLE will not have an annual licensing fee, but may require additional support staff to be hired or contracting a third party to provide support. Other institutions have reported an overall decrease in operating cost once the transition from Blackboard to MOODLE has occurred. (2)

Alignment with Strategy

• Goal 2.3 a of the Strategic Plan is “Developing programs and/or pathways of studies, where demand warrants, for online and/or hybrid delivery” (4) and investigating which LMS to use supports this goal

Scope

The following are in scope:

• Purchase of a virtual server license and deployment of a test installation of MOODLE and integration with the College’s applications (Banner, Mediasite, Elluminate, Luminous, iTunes)

• Documenting the time required for set up, any issues that arise in integrating applications with MOODLE,reporting on the costs of migrating all courses to MOODLE, reporting the estimated ongoing costs of moving to MOODLE as the College’s sole LMS.

• The committee on Educational Technology for Teaching and Learning (ETTL) will designate two courses to run using MOODLE as the LMS and the faculty members will report on 1) the ease of course migration from Blackboard 2) a comparison of the ease of use of the most frequently used features (ie discussion forums, announcements, email, assessment and assignment tools) and comment on the impact of features that MOODLE lacks (digital drop box and date and time restrictions on release of materials) (5)

The following are out of scope:

• Putting MOODLE into production as the College’s sole LMS

• Training faculty to use MOODLE

• Initial course migration to MOODLE will be done by the IT staff, but final adaptation of course content for the two test courses will be done by faculty on their accountable / PD time.

Estimated Costs

• Capital Costs: $2 000

Benefits

Direct Benefits (Cost Decrease):

Indirect Benefits (Avoided costs):

• The total costs of using MOODLE are expected to be lower than Blackboard. (2) MOODLE will not require an annual license fee and some of this money will need to be reallocated to support staff or outside contracts.

Soft Benefits:

• Faculty and staff will be able use Moodle.org for support, forums and conferences

Deliverables

Description	Completion Criteria
Virtual server	Virtual server installed
MOODLE	MOODLE installed
integration	MOODLE integrated with exisiting applications
Course migration	Two courses are migrated from Blackboard to MOODLE
Course delivery	Two courses are delivered via MOODLE
Evaluation	Faculty report on ease of use and feature comparison, IT department reports on integration issues, migration costs, ongoing costs.

Risks

# 1	Risk: MOODLE cannot run on virtual server	Probability: L	Impact: H
Triggers: email to that effect
Preventative Actions: Check with IT department
Contingency Plans: increase capital request to allow purchase of new server

# 2	Risk: MOODLE cannot integrate with proprietary applications	Probability: L	Impact: H
Triggers:
Preventative Actions: research prior to project initiation
Contingency Plans: investigate other open source options for these applications

Assumptions

The following assumptions have been made in formulating the Project Charter for this project:

• Enough server space is available to allow a virtual server to be set up for MOODLE

• MOODLE will run on a virtual server

• There will be faculty interest in testing MOODLE

Alternatives

• Continue to use Blackboard

References

(1) Template adapted from Douglas College Project Charter Template, http://www.douglas.bc.ca/ceit/employee-services/general-information/et-projects.html, accessed Oct 5, 2010.

(2) LMS Feasibility Study (Executive Summary) Part II of the Open Source Collaborative Moodle Assessment Report, pg 2.

http://oscmoodlereport.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/osc_feasibility_study_summary.pdf, accessed Oct 5, 2010.

(3) I am happy to discuss privately where these estimates came from.

(4) Douglas College Strategic Plan 2010-2015, pg 15. http://www.douglas.bc.ca/__shared/assets/Douglas_College_Strategic_Plan_2010-201564990.pdf, accessed Oct 5, 2010.

(5) Colgate University, Moodle for Blackboard Users (Faculty).

https://sites.google.com/a/colgate.edu/moodle/moodle-for-blackboard, accessed Oct 5, 2010.