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I haven’t been reading the threads over in Moodleland for a couple of months now, so I decided to check in today and see what I had missed. In a word…nothing! Same old disciples spewing the same old propaganda. I noticed the “hot topic” is still, when will Moodle 2.0 be released…calling that a broken record is a huge understatement. It seems the 3+ year development is still at least 6 months away from a true beta…that should be directly after Moodle 2.0 Preview 36

Question: What do all of the following phrases have in common?

• “I put my foot down!”
• “We will release in July. There is no other option!”
• “If we have to cut features, then we will cut features, but it will be released in July”
• “If we miss that date, then we may as well go another 6 months after that which is ridiculous”
• “It’s cast in stone and I will not eat until it’s released!”

Answer: They all came from the Moodle lead dev on 14 April 2010.

See excerpt here: July — It’s cast in stone!

Full Video here: http://moodlemootuk2010.org.uk/?s=Dougiamas (Excerpt above starting at about 54 min)

I do think it’s good they’re taking their time on this release though. The last time I looked at it…back in June…there were a couple of very serious, and quite obvious, security/FERPA issues built into that release–something that has been a hallmark of Moodle since day 1. Of course, I’m not sure security/privacy will matter much given the disastrous interface redesign…the simple fact that it took the lead dev until July this year to finally come to the realization that his new file system (a very poor/amateur attempt at copying the Angel file structure) was a complete disaster is yet another classic example of Moodle dev group-think and a complete disconnect with real-world usage.

I don’t plan to waste my time reviewing “Preview” releases, but once it is considered “stable”, I do plan to take another close look and I will be posting any security/FERPA flaws here. In the mean time, I sure hope Martin isn’t losing too much weight–got to be getting pretty hungry by now

Moodle 2.0…vaporware at its best!

Now that Elluminate and Wimba are owned by the evil empire I wonder if all the Moodle disciples will stop using them? It’s going to be real funny watching the all those BB haters using Elluminate at their next Moodle developers meeting…and it will be even funnier when Moodle finally realizes it can’t keep up and BB owns them within the next couple of years

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In a fact sheet about the purchases, Blackboard officials promised to continue to support both products, including their compatibility with rival course-management systems and open-source systems. “We’ll honor all existing contracts for Elluminate and Wimba clients,” the company adds in the fact sheet.

Employees from the two companies will be part of a new division of Blackboard called Blackboard Collaborate, which will be led by Elluminate’s current president, Maurice Heiblum. READ MORE HERE…..

Last week was a big one for Google fans in higher education. Google Wave opened its doors, and Google Voice now lets students get calls forwarded from their old numbers to their new phones. Google made one more announcement last week—about a new course-scheduling system, CloudCourse—that could potentially have implications for higher education. READ THE REST HERE.

And see the second comment in the comments section of the article…that’s coming and it’s a death sentence to the rigid, out-of-date LMS systems like Blackboard and Moodle. Blackboard may survive as it’s evolving into a full-fledged campus management system, but Moodle, being nothing more than a document repository, gradebook, and discussion forum, is well on its way to extinction.

Sad…

Moodle should make my life easier, not harder. I do appreciate what it allows me to do—post course content without having to fashion an entire course web page on my own, include RSS feeds from other sources, have one central location for grades and hand-ins and such—but I feel that sometimes it is more lacking for power users than for beginners. Good software should accomodate beginners, advanced beginners, power users, and experts equally well, and in this sense Moodle fails.

Source: http://acdalal.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/my-moodle-wish-list/

A very good summary. Moodle is good for beginners who really only need a place to upload some docs, have an online gradebook–if they can figure out how to use it–, and allow students to upload assignments. It does have those features and a few others–essentially the same features it had 5/6-years ago. Hard to believe? Download and install Moodle version 1.5 and look at what it had in 2004/2005 vs what it has today.

http://download.moodle.org/stable15

All the core features are pretty much the same…could explain a lot of the frustrations felt by power users. Yea, Moodle is cheaper than Blackboard, like a Mule is cheaper than a Mercedes. Until, of course, the vet bills (1, 2, 3, etc…) start coming in…then the cost of the Mercedes doesn’t seem so high and it’s a heck of a lot nicer ride without leaving a trail of manure behind it

Of course, Moodle 2.0 has been in the works for about 2 years now and promises to deliver a revolution to the LMS world once released. Moodle.com has opted out of the Google summer of code this year because 2.0 development demands all their time/energy. So, who knows, maybe 2.0 is what power users like the one quoted above have been waiting for…we’ll see.