Oodles and Oodles of Moodle

It seems that students have stopped hating Moodle.

After almost a full semester of everybody using Moodle instead of Blackboard, students have adapted to the new portal.

Senior Allison Poulin who had used Blackboard for three years, took an online class using Moodle during the summer and said that it took her some time to get used to the change.

"Now it's okay because I know how to use it, but at first it was really frustrating," said Poulin.

Another student, junior Wesley Hatch who only used Blackboard for a year before the Vermont State Colleges switched to Moodle says, "It's about the same. It's nice to have everything on one page now."

Members of faculty have learned and are enjoying the aspects that are different than they were in Blackboard.

One different feature on Moodle is the glossary, which allows students and faculty to create an online dictionary for the class.

Another is a forum, which is like the discussion board on Blackboard, but is set up so professors can choose to not let students see others' replies until they have entered their own original responses.

Professors can also post more interactive quizzes than before, which can be in the form of games such as Hangman or Snakes and Ladders.

"The fact that it's interactive makes it fun to use," says Meaghan Meachem, EJA Professor and the "Moodle Medic".

As the Moodle Medic, Meachem has done faculty trainings and continues to help faculty over five Vermont colleges use the new portal.

Meachem thinks of Blackboard as being a filing cabinet where everything is stored away and you have to go looking for it, while Moodle is all laid out right in front of you.

 "[Moodle] really forces us to think differently about the way we present materials," says Meachem.

She says that while there are challenges for professors when working with it, it makes things easier for the student.

"It's all in one place. You don't have to go hunting for it," says Meachem. "It's more obvious about what's expected of you as a student."

English Professor Andrea Luna, one of the fifteen professors who piloted Moodle last spring, says, "it works for me. I love it… and my students seemed to like it too."

The change from Blackboard to Moodle officially happened right after graduation in May.

"The version of Blackboard we were using was being phased out by the company, so we had to upgrade, either to the new version of Blackboard or to something else," says Luna. "Moodle is more flexible, less expensive, and widely used in educational settings all over the world."

Meachem says that hundreds of thousands of dollars were being spent on Blackboard across the VSC.

The VSC made this decision to change to Moodle with feedback and suggestions from both faculty and students.

"They really had four programs on the table and solicited help from everybody to make a decision. It was nice that they were so inclusive."

Moodle is an open-source program so it updates itself automatically without the VSC having to purchase the updates. This will save the schools money.

One question is left unanswered in all of this, and Poulin comes right out and asks it.

"And why is it called Moodle anyway?"

Meachem responds that she is unsure, saying, "Moodle. Noodle? What? You never know."