Lms features compared side by side moodle vs

10/30/2017

LMS Features Compared Side-By-Side: Moodle vs. Blackboard | eLearning Company Blog

LMS Features Compared Side-By-Side: Moodle vs. Blackboard

A reliable LMS is crucial for the success of your sta

training process. And it can

be a daunting task trying to determine which learning or course management system (LMS/CMS) you want to use for your organization. There are many products on the market, and you can’t easily take most of them for a test drive. To help ease your selection, here is a comparison of two of the top LMSs on the market – Moodle and Blackboard Learn. While both systems have many more features to o er than what’s presented here, we focused this article on those LMS features that are more important to our clients.

Moodle There are many di erent versions of Moodle, but the most current stable version is Moodle 3.3. Moodle is an open source learning platform designed to allow administrators to customize the LMS for their particular institutions. You can run Moodle on your own web server or pay for a Moodle Partner to host your site for you, and there is a cloud-hosted option for smaller organizations. Moodle has an https://elearning.company/blog/lms-features-compared-moodle-vs-blackboard/

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active open source community that fuels continued growth and customization of the LMS features. It generally has a major new release every 6 months. Moodle works on a variety of operating systems, mobile devices, and browsers.

Blackboard Learn There are also many di erent version of Blackboard, and it’s important to di erentiate between Blackboard the entity and the Blackboard LMS. The current LMS version that most people think of when they hear “Blackboard” is called Blackboard Learn. The latest version of Blackboard Learn is Ultra, a SaaS (software as a service) cloud-based product. (Blackboard Learn Original, the legacy product, can be deployed as a self- or corporate-hosted product.) Blackboard Learn is licensed directly from Blackboard, and pricing is based on a number of factors, so there is no clear “out of the box” price. To grow and customize the LMS features, Blackboard utilizes advisory boards and user feedback. Like Moodle, Blackboard is a cross-platform LMS, working on a variety of OS, mobile devices, and browsers.

Which LMS is right for you?

The following comparison chart ranks key features of the LMSs with a rating scale from 0 (not available) to 3 (excellent). Keep in mind that both Moodle and Blackboard are highly customizable depending on your institution type and needs, so there’s no “one size

LMS Features

ts all” solution.

Moodle

Blackboard

Pricing $0-$15000 per year for a

It is impossible to get

small to mid-size

pricing from Blackboard

business or school, not

without talking

including salaries for

extensively with a

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internal sta . Price can

Blackboard rep, but it is

vary greatly depending

considered to be one of

on your sta

the priciest LMS on the

needs, and

whether you are self or

market.

externally hosted.

There are lots of settings If you have internal sta willing to invest in Moodle development, or you are willing to pay for Customization

a high-end Moodle Partner package, Moodle is very customizable.

Moodle also has many LTI integrations with other products and services.

you can adjust for your school or business, depending on the contract rate you sign with Blackboard.

Blackboard integrates with many other products and services, although some key services are currently not available, such as Google integration.

Mobile Moodle Mobile is the

Blackboard Learn has a

o

student app and an

cial app for Moodle

and works on Android

instructor app for

and Apple products. At

download to Android and

the time of publishing,

Apple devices. Blackboard

the app had average

Learn Ultra (their newest

ratings of 2.5-3.5 in the

version) utilizes

app stores. The Moodle

responsive web design.

web interface can also be

At the time of publishing,

customized to have

the app had average

responsive web design.

ratings of 2.5 in the

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Android and Apple app stores. Blackboard Learn Original has limited responsive web design for now.

Discussion forums, journals, databases,

Discussion boards, blogs,

lessons, chats, glossaries, journals, chats, and

Online interaction

wiki, workshop (peer

wikis. Few faculty make

assessment), and choice

use of anything beyond

poll. Using add-in

discussion boards. (Note:

features, there may be

Blackboard may have

additional interactive

more interactive

choices available. Few

features, but these are all

faculty make use of

the interactive features

anything beyond

listed on their best

discussion forums and

practices website.)

choice polls.

Live engagement Moodle has a built-in

Blackboard Learn has

chat functionality. There

chat functionality, and

are also add-ins for most

with additional purchase

of the major synchronous

has integration with their

learning tools, including

own Blackboard Ultra or

Blackboard Collaborate &

Collaborate. There are

Ultra, Big Blue Button,

also integrations

Zoom, and WebEx.

available for most of the

(Additional licensing may

major synchronous

be required.)

learning tools, including Big Blue Button and Zoom. (Additional

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licensing may be required.) WebEx can be integrated using CirQLive (requiring yet another license).

The features in The features in

Blackboard and Moodle

Blackboard and Moodle

are so similar, there’s not

are so similar, there’s not much point in outlining

Assessments

much point in outlining

them all – assessments

them all – assessments

can be very rich,

can be very rich,

automated, and

automated, and

customized. Blackboard

customized. Moodle’s

Learn Ultra’s test feature

instructor quiz interface

is a little more visually

is a little clunky and can

appealing than Moodle’s

take some time for

and the interface is a

instructors to learn.

little more intuitive for instructors.

Content repository Moodle’s repositories

Blackboard’s repositories

allow users to upload

allow users to upload

les to a course from a variety of outside

le

les to a course from a variety of outside

le

repositories, including

repositories.

Dropbox, Flickr, Google

Blackboard’s default

Drive, and traditional

repository stores content

computer upload. (You

in a single course and

choose to enable/disable

doesn’t allow instructors

outside repositories are

to share content across

enabled/disabled at the

courses. Organizations

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site level.) Instructors

may upgrade to content

can also search for

collection, which allows

les

from any of their courses

instructors to store and

hosted on the same

access content across

Moodle server. The

le

courses.

repository can be a little tricky to navigate.

Moodle’s goal is to be

Blackboard is committed

fully accessible and

to delivering products

usable for all users

that conform to the

regardless of ability. That

highest levels of global

being said, some modules accessibility standards.

Accessibility

are fully accessible

In 2017, they released

(ForumNG) and some are

Blackboard Ally, an

not accessible (Choice).

accessibility tool that is

Instructors are

being rolled into all of

individually responsible

Blackboard’s LMSs. This

for ensuring that their

tool checks course design

content is accessible,

and materials for

such as PDFs and other

common accessibility

documents.

issues.

Moodle has a wide

Blackboard has a variety

variety of reports and

of course level reports

logs that allow

that allow instructors to

instructors to track

track student progress

student progress and

and successes.

successes. These are

Organizations can adopt

generated at the course

an additional Blackboard

level, and instructors will

module (presumably for

Analytics

an additional cost) called https://elearning.company/blog/lms-features-compared-moodle-vs-blackboard/

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need training to use

Blackboard Analytics,

them well.

that allows for data collection and comparison across courses.

This varies based on features used. Most Ease of use for instructors

instructors

nd the

basics easy to learn, but will need additional training and support to fully use features such as the gradebook and quizzes.

Moodle has a wide Tool variety

variety of tools available that can be turned on or o

at the system level,

such as gami cation and publisher integration.

This varies based on features used. Most instructors

nd the

basics easy to learn, but will require extensive training to customize a course and use more advanced features.

Blackboard Learn has a wide variety of tools available that can be turned on or o

at the

system level, such as advanced analytics and gami cation.

Communication Moodle has a wide

Blackboard Learn has a

variety of tools for

wide variety of tools for

instructor-student and

instructor-student and

student-student

student-student

communication,

communication,

including Chat,

including Discussion

Discussion Forums,

Boards, Email,

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Email, Messaging,

Messaging, Calendars,

Calendar & Events, and

and Announcements.

Announcements.

Students receive

Students receive

noti cations of upcoming

noti cations of course

assignment due dates on

changes in their email

their main Blackboard

and can subscribe to

activity stream.

forums.

Blackboard Learn’s Grade The Moodle gradebook, while comprehensive, is Gradebook

probably one of its biggest pain points for instructors. The gradebook is capable of complex setup and takes training to master.

Center has been redesigned for the new Ultra experience, but users complain that the responsive design makes the interface too clunky for easy use. Like Moodle, instructors will need training to master the gradebook.

Course management (faculty)

Depending on your site

For organizations using

level options, instructors

the new Blackboard

can highly customize

Learn Ultra interface,

their course setup and

course management is

management. Instructors

easy but fairly

can use Moodle as a

constrained in

simple

le repository or

customization. (Ultra is

create a complex online

rolling out new features

course with interactive

regularly, so this

elements. Using Moodle

functionality may

to its full capability

improve.) Instructors can

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requires training, and

complete most basic

instructors who are not

setup with limited

comfortable customizing

training but will need

their own courses may

more support to use the

nd the interface

system’s full capabilities.

confusing.

You can integrate the You can integrate Moodle with your organization’s SIS (student information system), but it is not turnkey. Because Moodle has a vast amount of Course management

customization options,

(administrator)

you can choose to selfhost and install premade customizations and create your own. If you don’t have internal system support, you can pay a Moodle partner to host and support course management.

Blackboard Learn interface seamlessly with your organization’s SIS. You can choose from a variety of building blocks to customize the interface for your organization (depending on which version of Blackboard Learn you select). Organizations that choose Ultra are opting for SaaS cloud hosting, which means a lot of administrative functionality (and costs) will fall on Blackboard personnel.

Community If you value open-source,

Blackboard hosts an

you’ll appreciate Moodle.

annual BbWorld

There is an international

conference. Like many

community that supports

large conferences, the

each other and provide

agenda is bloated and

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improvements. Moodle

session quality can vary

has active online forums

greatly. It is de nitely a

and annual Moodle Moot

good opportunity to

conferences.

make connections and learn from others.

Blackboard has started to operate a community structure on their website, but it is not as robust as Moodle’s community.

TOTAL

Moodle: 42 points

Blackboard Learn: 37 points

Recommendations I recommend Moodle based on my personal experience with both organizations and the LMS features of both products. I worked for a large university that used a previous Blackboard version. Our system administrators had a di

cult time

working with Blackboard. Blackboard would promise the moon, but when we’d ask for bug

xes or improvements… crickets. New versions would break regular

services, and with no visibility into the code, we couldn’t repair issues ourselves.

When they announced a major version upgrade, we were going to have to recreate all of our courses from scratch. No thank you!

At that point, we converted to Moodle. Although learning Moodle was rough for some of our instructors, the ability for our system administrators and programmers to dive into the code was invaluable. We could repair bugs ourselves, customize the LMS to sta

t our needs, and develop new plug-ins and features. Our

was able to take improvements we built and feed them back into the Moodle

community so that other organizations could also bene t. As a public learning institution, we valued being able to give back to a community.

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Customization of the LMS features and control over your learning portal are major reasons to choose Moodle over Blackboard. Another is pricing. Don’t misunderstand – although Moodle is open source and “free,” you will need to invest in some way—either in personnel hours, sta

salaries, or a Moodle partner

to host and support you. However, Blackboard’s lack of transparency with pricing is a major issue for any organization that isn’t sure it wants to fully commit just yet. How do you budget for a completely unknown pricing model? It’s fairly easy to test the Moodle waters before you’re ready to commit – just download a local copy and play to see how you like it.

Overall, both products have bene ts and limitations. Blackboard may be the best tool if you are more comfortable with another company running your system, providing system support, and determining future learning technology needs for your organization. If you prefer administrative control over your LMS, giving back to a learning community, and truly customizing your LMS experience, Moodle is the best option.

As a full-cycle learning cervices provider, we o er a

exible Moodle

implementation to our customers who are searching for a reliable learning management system that o ers their sta

exibility and rich features to help them achieve

training and development goals.

Resources http://bbworld.com/ http://www.blackboard.com/ https://moodle.org https://moodle.com https://moodlemoot.com

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https://assets.uits.iu.edu/pdf/Faculty%20and%20Student%20Evaluation%20of%2 0Blackboard%20Learn.pdf https://sites.google.com/site/elearningmaps/compare https://assets.uits.iu.edu/pdf/Faculty%20and%20Student%20Evaluation%20of%2 0Blackboard%20Learn.pdf https://www.moodlenews.com https://www.slu.edu/its/services-and-products/academic-resources/blackboardlearn/faculty-support/faqs-top-5#5 https://www.umass.edu/it/support/moodle/activity-types-moodle https://www.wired.com/2015/07/blackboard-reinvention/

eLearning Company Blog | October 30, 2017

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