Weblog Entry by: john arle In Weblog e-Learning Conference 2/11-14/06 modified at Feb 14, 2006 11:34 PM
Published on Feb 14,2006 11:34 PM

Blackboard vs. Moodle: A Comparison of Online Teaching & Learning Tools

This presentation was made by Joan Van Duzer, Instructional Technologist, Humboldt State University. HSU adopted Blackboard (Bb) as their CMS back in 2001. With increasing licensing costs, however, they wondered if Moodle, as a free Open Source program, would work for them. They took a brand new class that had been taught face-to-face for years and developed it on both platforms. They then took 35 enrolled students and announced to them the first day of class that it would be delivered online. Their investigated question was, "Can free software satisfactorily meet the needs of students, faculty, and instructional technologists for online teaching and learning?"

Similar features were used and compared in both CMSs:
  • Electronic assignment submissions
  • Virtual areas for group work
  • Self-assessment quizzes and online testing
  • Sequential learning objects (Moodle only)
  • Embedded ShockWave Flash (.swf) files
  • Tracked specific student activity (Moodle only)
  • Poll (Moodle only)
  • Glossary (Moodle only)
  • Survey
  • Discussion forums
  • Links to external Web pages
As you can see from this list, Moodle offered a couple of features that were not available in HSU's Bb Basic Edition.

The Facilitator's Intial Review:

Moodle advantages over Blackboard:
  • Providing individualized feedback easily to all assignments
  • Easier to track each student's activity in class
    • When and how often parts of class accessed
    • From where students access the course
Blackboard advantages over Moodle
  • More polished appearance
  • Better gradebook
  • Threaded discussions easily differentiate between read and unread posts
  • Announcements are more prominently displayed upon entering the course
Student Satisfaction was evaluated on several criteria:
  • Did Bb/Moodle enhance instruction? - A little over half of the Bb students were negative on this and Moodle students were only slightly better. One needs to remember, however, that these students didn't initially sign up for an online class.
  • Received adequate technical assistance? - About 2/3rds of both groups agreed at some level.
  • Technology-based activities developed problem-solving skills? - The Bb group seemed more positive on this one.
  • Well organized instructional materials? - Both groups were equally positive.
  • Communication tools: Interaction with classmates? - Both groups were reasonably positive on this but the Moodle group a bit more so. Interestingly, however, the faculty member said this course has little student-student interaction in its traditional F2F format.
  • Communication tools: Interaction with instructor? The Moodle group was more positive on this one. Over a third of the Bb group felt this interaction was impeded.
  • Web-based resources were effective learning tools? - Both groups were very positive on this one.
  • Discussion Boards were easy to use? - Both groups were quite positive.
Performance results for both groups were equally strong.

Developer Feedback:

Moodle advantages over Blackboard:
  • Easier to maneuver (fewer "clicks"!)
  • Less area monopolized for navigation
  • Easier to incorporate multimedia elements
  • More tools available (glossary, poll, lesson, journal)
  • Track student activity to see which parts of the course are preferred
  • Quiz tool scores correctly and provides details on the student's use
  • Can be customized to add desired features
  • Features are robust
  • Survey allows as few as two choices
Blackboard advantages over Moodle:
  • Moodle's fixed block at the top wastes screen "real estate"
  • Blackboard's features seem more intuitive for beginners
  • Built-in survey tool already available
  • Readily available "Resources" area for external web sites to be grouped

    Developer Satisfaction
    • Excellent local support to customize Moodle with more desirable features
    • Better results incorporating video in Moodle
    • Campus support to explain features and make implementation suggestions
    • Flexibility results in some confusion when Moodle features are changed with no warning
    • Remarkable array of tools in Moodle-some unavailable in Blackboard
    • Not all Blackboard features work like they should: quiz scoring, replicating the course without breaking internal links, etc.
    Moodle Customizations
    • Essay questions added to the quiz module
    • Surveys added
    • Gradebook improved with added features
    • Date/time programming for topics and/or individual activities
    • Quickmail: Allows emailing all or selected students in a course with attachments and a history
    • Features added to Moodle's Lesson module
    • MyFiles: Students and faculty share files with selected groups
    • Return Assignment: Faculty return graded assignments to students
    Final preference assessment between the two student groups was pretty close to an even split. The faculty member chose to repeat the course using the Bb platform but chose to develop the next class on Moodle because of its journaling capability, something that Bb cannot do.

    The full PowerPoint for this presentation is available at http://www.humboldt.edu/~jdv1/moodle/all.htm. This includes all the data collected that was simply summarized in this report.
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