Moodle is a mature free Open Source Software web-based application that was first released in 2001 by developer Martin Dougiamas. Since then, it has continued to be actively developed, supported, and managed by Moodle HQ and developers worldwide. Today, Moodle is the world’s most popular learning management system, with over 268 million+ users all over the world. Over 1,500 third party free plugins are available in addition to the hundreds of plugins that come in-built with Moodle.
The current version of Moodle 3.10.3 was released on 25 Mar 2021. This will be long-term supported (LTS), meaning 3.10.3 has double the time to receive security fixes than Moodle releases usually do. These special kinds of versions are released every two years. Moodle has a significant release every six months, minor releases every two months, and there are weekly + (plus) releases in the mix as well.
Moodle is used in elementary, high schools, colleges, universities, government, private industry, healthcare industry, and non-profit organizations. Anyone can have their own Moodle site on Mac, Linux, Windows operating system on a web server, or a cloud service.
Moodle Integration
Moodle provides a seamless flow of information between your most important systems. Many famous course formats and integration with other systems including:
Authentication systems: Dropbox, Windows, VKontakte, Blizzard Entertainment, Yahoo, Twitter, Yandex, OpenID, UNI•Login, Windows Live ID, Azure Active Directory, Office 365, MediaWiki, WSTrust, CAS Server, External Database, FirstClass Server, IMAP server, LDAP Server, NNTP Server, POP3 Server, RADIUS server, Shibboleth, Facebook, Google, Github, LinkedIn, KeyCloak and other OAuth 2 identity management services.
Course types supported: Moodle courses, LTI courses, SCORM courses, xAPI formerly known as Tin Can API.
Web Conferencing and Collaboration: WebEx, OpenMeetings, Adobe Connect, BigBlueButton, Google Hangouts
CMS and Applications: WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Office 365, Google Apps, and others.
Repositories: Alfresco, Box, Dropbox, Evernote, MERLOT, Picasa Web Album, Amazon S3, Equella, Flickr, Wikimedia, Google Drive, OneDrive, WebDav.
Note: New integrations are being added by way of 3rd party development efforts. Support for some may also be dropped eventually.
The Advantages of Moodle LMS
Open-source and freely available for download under the GNU GPL license, Moodle is designed for those who would rather focus their time, money, and efforts on developing practical e-learning courses than on never-ending expensive licensing.
Ease of Use:
With an intuitive interface with self-descriptive navigation features, Moodle is very easy to use. The simplicity of the technology means you have to invest a minimum of time in training your students and instructors to use it effectively.
Moodle LMS’s simple interface consists of only three distinct columns. All your training courses can be accessed from the middle column.
Stable and innovative:
Like your smartphone, Moodle LMS stays up-to-date with the latest technology, trends, and user needs.
The function and purpose of a website can change over time, and thankfully, Moodle helps you stay on top of those changes. Regular updates mean that the LMS stays relevant, problems are resolved, and new and exciting functional features are added regularly.
Open source:
Moodle is an open-source platform, which means that its source code is available for modification or enhancement by anyone. As open-source software, Moodle is being improved every day by thousands of developers around the world, who are contributing new functionality to the platform. A steady stream of new plugins thus makes the Moodle LMS more convenient and useful every day.
Moodle Community:
Moodle has more developers creating new plugins than any other LMS of its kind. Although it has had complaints about not having a robust offline support system, the online Moodle community is conducive and available.
Whatever question you have, there’s always someone waiting to answer your Moodle-related queries (probably for free). The community aspect of Moodle is the most precious and rewarding part of using this LMS.
You Have Control of Your Site:
No more waiting for your web developer to make simple updates to your Moodle site. With Moodle LMS, you have control of nearly every aspect of your site and can easily make those updates yourself.
Easy to Customize:
Your website is in the driving seat – Moodle is just the engine. You can easily customize the site with your company name, logo, and brand colors so it looks more like a training management platform than a random website. The look and feel of the site can be 100% customized so your brand can shine through on your site, and provide a unique experience to your visitors.
How Do I Choose the Right Moodle Hosting?
With so many hosting options out there, it can be challenging to navigate all the features they offer. Here’s a list of important questions you can ask to evaluate the right Moodle hosting for yourself:
- Is there server uptime guarantee?
- Do they have 24*7*365 customer support
- What add-ons and features do they have?
- What are their technical specifications?
- Do they have free domain and hosting migration?
- Where are their data centre locations?
- What are their upgrading or downgrading options?
- Is their control panel and user interface easy to use?
- What kind of customer reviews do they have?
- Do they offer free SSL certificates?
Hosting providers like Cloudways offer a range of features to suit your specific needs.
Conclusion
Moodle provides a flexible, complete, and secure learning management system.
The basic system may not look as sleek as other LMS products, but it’s much easier to use and install Moodle LMS than its competitors. The user features include course authoring, a calendar tool, personalized dashboard, detailed logs, intuitive and straightforward text editor, convenient file management, collaborative tools, and activities and progress tracking capabilities.
There’s a lot to love about Moodle. It enables individual educators, institutions and organizations to fill their private websites with dynamic courses that expand learning anytime, anywhere. The LMS is free, but you need to have a server to run it. If you don’t have a server, you can rent server space from Amazon or a service provider like Cloudways.
