Free Technology Tutorials

The research report attached to this post was published in the “International Journal of Information Technology and Knowledge Management, January-June 2011, Volume 4, No. 1, pp. 233-238“. It covers some major security flaws in Moodle that will not surprise anyone who has been following Moodle security issues for the past few years. I no longer need to use Moodle, but for those of you who do rely on it, don’t be fooled…just because I’m no longer dedicating time and effort to publically demonstrate major security flaws in the Moodle code and design, don’t take that as a sign that those problems no longer exist! I know of at least two major security holes in the latest version of Moodle and one of them is just as bad as this one I publicized not long ago…and like that vulnerability, it has been discussed in the Moodle forums for months and has received no attention by the devs. If that security issue is not addressed in the next few months, then I may do another “open demonstration” for the public…that seems to be the only way to force action by the Moodle lead dev.  Read more... (516 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

I thought for sure we were headed for a showdown of Blackboard vs. Moodle. However as time progressed, even months before the RFP went out I could tell that there was a big buzz about Canvas. So much that Moodle fell right off the radar of pretty much everyone.

Source: http://blog.usu.edu/kevin/2011/11/04/getting-ready-with-canvas/

Moodle: 1990′s technology in 2011

This is  becoming an everyday thing now. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with all the colleges, universities, and K12 systems that have decided to dump Moodle and move into the 21st century with their LMS, but whether I post about it or not, the move is happening.  Read more... (318 words, estimated 1:16 mins reading time)

I’m reminded of a line in that commercial…Lost another to Ditech, aka, Moodle lost another to _____________ you fill in the blank

A learning management systems task team composed of 20 faculty, four from each of the colleges, chose Instructure Canvas over Blackboard Learn 9.1 and 10 other systems during the summer.

“We took 12 proposals from various learning management system vendors and narrowed it down to two,” Usha Venkat, director of information and communication technologies, said Sept. 19.

Source: http://www.theranger.org/canvas-program-to-replace-blackboard-vista-1.2639275#.TooNN7K3N2J

Moodle = 1990′s technology in 2011!

The switch to Canvas represents “a really necessary upgrade to kind of move into the 21st century,” he added.

After analyzing over 1,000 faculty and student survey responses and listening to feedback from focus groups, CIS opted for the Canvas platform. When the committee tested different systems in front of groups of students in the Sharpe Refectory last spring, the response to Canvas was overwhelmingly positive, Kagan said.

In many ways, the new system will be like “a blank canvas,” facilitating the addition of new tools as they emerge as well as having multimedia capabilities, Bergeron said.  Read more... (148 words, estimated 36 secs reading time)

Hawaii Department of Education Selects Blackboard Learn 9.1 to Replace Open Source LMS.

The Hawaii Department of Education’s Extended Learning Opportunities and Student Support section has chosen Blackboard Learn™ 9.1 to replace an open source learning management system (LMS) Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) announced today. The platform provides online courses for over 1,200 students through the Hawaii Virtual Learning Network-ESchool (HVLN-ESchool) and over 500 teachers annually through the HVLN-Project Inspire program.  Read more... (178 words, estimated 43 secs reading time)

NMSU will be replacing Blackboard CE 8 with Instructure Canvas as its learning management system (LMS) for the Summer 2012 semester.  View announcement here.

In a lengthy evaluation process at NMSU, Canvas received the highest evaluation marks from faculty and students and met the University’s evaluation criteria better than any of the other available options.

According to Steven Leask, senior project analyst for Instructional Innovation & Quality, who managed the evaluation process, the university’s LMS Task Force came to “unanimous agreement on what would be recommended. And there was no second choice.” The task force comprised about 25 faculty, students, learning specialists, and technology administrators from the Las Cruces and Community College campuses.  Read more... (202 words, estimated 48 secs reading time)

After nearly 12 years of using Blackboard’s WebCT to run online components of the classroom, the U will be switching to a new online program, Instructure’s Canvas, which will be fully adopted in the summer of 2012.

“Comparing Canvas to Blackboard would be like comparing an iPhone to a cellphone made in 1998,” McGhie said.

If Blackboard is a 1998 cellphone, then that makes Moodle about the equivalent of a Model 28 teletypewriter

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that Moodle with its outdated 1990′s technology didn’t even make the short list by the evaluation committee at Auburn. I applaud their decision to adopt a true “web 2.0″ platform reflecting the technology of this decade.

Below are some highlights from the full article here: http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2011/07/14/Auburn-U-Moves-to-Open-Source-Canvas-LMS.aspx?

Auburn University, with about 25,000 students, has decided to move off of Blackboard Vista and onto Instructure Canvas following a multi-months evaluation process.

The LMS evaluation was done by a working group composed of IT people and faculty members. Along with Canvas and Blackboard Learn 9.1, other contenders included Moodle, Sakai, and Desire2Learn. The short-list consisted of only two products: Canvas and Desire2Learn.  Read more... (220 words, estimated 53 secs reading time)

Today is the first time I’ve looked at the forums over in moodle-land in a couple of months and it seems not much has changed. Moodle 2 is still a disaster, or in the words of the very first post I read, a “semi catastrophe”. This was supposed to be the summer of upgrade to Moodle 2 after it being declared “stable” for a year new. Other than single user hobby sites, I doubt 1% of the real production sites out there have upgraded. Maybe Moodle 3.0, due to be released in 2020 will solve everyone’s problem . For now, it looks like 1.9 will be around for a very long time….officially supported or not.  Read more... (303 words, estimated 1:13 mins reading time)

Have you ever had someone tell you they were planning to do something and before they even finished their thought, you knew they were on the road to disaster? Well, if not, read Mr. Lewis Carr’s blog post here and just sit back and wait! Looks like he posted part 2 here and may have already figured out what a mistake he was making…nothing for a couple months now.

Lewis, if you are reading this, take my advice and stop while you’re still ahead and have a functioning Moodle site…yea, using Moodle 1.9 is like using 1990′s technology, but at least it works…well, kind of.  Read more... (112 words, estimated 27 secs reading time)

Just looking around moodle-land today and it only takes a couple minutes to see that Moodle 2 is still a disaster and is as unpopular as ever. With summer coming up, and many organizations facing the decision “to upgrade or not to upgrade, to Moodle 2″ I think the answer is clear–Upgrading to Moodle 2 could be the worst decision you make all year.  Read more... (1185 words, estimated 4:44 mins reading time)

Its been a while since I last checked into Moodle-Land to see what’s happening–in a nutshell, nothing new–Moodle 2 still sucks

In scanning a list of a few hundreds posts, one of the newest is titled: “Moodle 2.02 runs dead slow”. In that post, the author makes some very familiar statements:

My  students are falling asleep while waiting for pages loading in 2.02!

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For all Moodle end users…. DO NOT UPGRADE TO VERSION 2.x if you are running 1.9x ok    IT IS NOT WORTHY!

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 Read more... (324 words, estimated 1:18 mins reading time)

I’ve scaled back quite a bit on posting about the frantic cries for help, destroyed sites, and pure anguish being expressed in the moodle.org forums a result of people attempting a Moodle 2.0.x upgrade–the fact is, posting about what a disaster moodle 2 is, has become the norm over in moodle-land. But I found the following post in moodle-land today worth re-posting. To answer the posters question–without a complete backup–NO, you’re stuck.

Hi,  Read more... (148 words, estimated 36 secs reading time)

After over three years of development and nearly four months after the Moodle lead dev declared Moodle 2.0 Stable, 14 independent colleges have concluded that Moodle 2.0 is “Not production ready”…in fact, it’s far from being suitable for any real production environment.

Moodle2-Status-Report  Read more... (461 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

I would say the title of this posts about sums it up. This was pulled from the post on moodle.org pasted below. The poster is rightfully frustrated with the general usability and navigation system. If you have played with it at all, you can understand where the poster is coming from…unfortunately for Moodle, the navigation system is the least of the unmitigated disasters awaiting those who upgrade to Moodle 2 “stable”…or as my friend Marc would call it…Moodle 2 stable-but-broken  Read more... (389 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

A couple days ago, I reported about the hair-brained idea of ending support for the latest stable version of moodle — moodle 1.9.x — in December of this year. Seems that resulted in a lot of backlash for Moodle HQ. So today, Mo announced support would continue through June 2012 and in the same announcement, stated the following:

I hope this assuages any fears anyone had (possibly having the misleading “End of Life” in the title of this thread wasn’t helping much!)

Source: http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=168021#p738502  Read more... (208 words, 2 images, estimated 50 secs reading time)

It’s official…Larry, Mo, and Curly leading Moodle into the future

The official advice being given for months on moodle.org has been, if you are planning on upgrading to Moodle 2.0–don’t! Anyone who has been following the moodle 2 saga, knows that’s good advice. Now, the moodle lead dev (aka Mo) chimes in and announces that support for moodle 1.9.x will cease less than a year from now, in Dec 2011.  So, let’s see where that puts you:  Read more... (432 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

1. You are responsible for your institutions moodle install.

WARNING: This report is (NSFMD), Not Safe for Moodle Disciples. Read at your own risk!

http://www4.ncsu.edu/~n51ls801/MoodleTwoNCSUCoursesFall2010Web.pdf

This is a “must read” report for anyone in a decision making position considering adopting Moodle as an institutional Learning Management System (LMS).

The very first line in the Introduction section of the 61 page report should serve to alert any reader that this is not your typical “I’m a blind Moodle lover and can’t see the flaws” type report that is prevalent on moodle.org.

Our experience with using Moodle as a Learning Management System contrasts sharply with the faculty experiences described in Vista to Moodle: Everybody’s Doing It2  Read more... (936 words, estimated 3:45 mins reading time)

Why do I like Marc (net-buoy)? Below is an example…hard to find that kind of integrity around moodle-land these days. Most of the free thinkers have left and it’s a place dominated by disciples–some so obvious they even change their names to things like “Moodleman”

Oh dear Julien….. yet another back-handed remark from the evangelistas?

Ian, what I find untenable is that during the discussion on moodle.org of the specifics of the possible enforcement by Moodle HQ of any rights to the use of logo, trademark etc., you and others remained mum. I can;t just blame it on Brits as people on this side of the pond seem to have turned their backs on Mr. Emerson and seem to be most willing to duck, duck… until they are the goose, at which point they appear to whine inordinately….  Read more... (244 words, estimated 59 secs reading time)