It’s Official: We are Moving to Moodle
Status
>> Moodle will be rolled out gradually for production use for the 2009-2010 academic year. We will still be using Blackboard as our production course management system for 2009-20010.
Will We Still Be Using Blackboard?
Yes. Blackboard will be definitely be in use for the 2009-2010 academic year, and if you are using it, you should continue to plan on using it for next year. If you have been using it for your courses in the past, please plan on continuing to use it this Fall and Spring as usual, however we will phasing it out of the next two years as we move to Moodle.
History
In March of 2008, the LMIS committee approved a document recommending the adoption of Moodle as our Learning Management System. A copy of the report is available here.
The Faculty Senate unanimously approved this recommendation on March 24th. Find out more about Moodle here.
The Search for a Blackboard Replacement
There has been an ongoing evaluation other Learning Management Systems (LMS) to replace Blackboard, sponsored by the LMIS Committee since Fall of 2006.
In January of 2007, testing and evaluation of Moodle began by a select group of faculty appointed by LMIS, the technology advisory committee of the Faculty Senate, who appointed a subcommittee to do the evaluation. The original members of the subcommittee are and additional subsequent testers of Moodle were:
- Randy Bentson, Faculty
- Renee De Voursney, Student
- Diane Kelley, Faculty
- Elizabeth Knight, Library
- Pepa Lago-Grana, Faculty
- Patrick O’Neil, Faculty
- Lotus Perry, Faculty
- Dan Sherman, Faculty
- Yvonne Swinth, Faculty
- Randy Thornton, Instructional Technology
- Linda Williams, Faculty
To find out more, please feel free to contact any of the committee members or testers.
What is the time frame for implementing Moodle?
Moodle will be gradually phased in over the 2008-2010 academic years.
Can I start using Moodle now on my own?
Yes! Any UPS faculty or student may log into Moodle with their UPS network / email name and password. Faculty will find that their current courses are already setup in Moodle, and their students already added. You need only build out the course. Your students can already login to it with their UPS email name & password. You can access it here:
Contact Cindy Riche for more information or to arrange training if you’d like.