Open Source Software

An interesting example of Open Source software I found is Moodle. I think Moodle would be very, very helpful in an educational setting. Moodle is a "course management system." It is a tool designed to help instructors, students, and schools as whole cultivate online learning communities. The Moodle website is even created with the Moodle software! The website describes is further:

Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities. You can download and use it on any computer you have handy (including webhosts), yet it can scale from a single-teacher site to a University with 200,000 students. This site itself is created using Moodle, so check out the Moodle Demonstration Courses or read the latest Moodle Buzz.

Registrants speak over 75 languages and hail from 193 countries. However, most of the website and online support for the program is written in English. Moodle must have a good reputation throughout teaching communities if it has managed to cross over so many language barriers. Clearly it is refined and reputed enough that teachers in non-English speaking countries are able to use it effectively without easy access to online support.*

*Moodle.org does offer "Language Packs." These packs help automatically translate parts of the software into any of 78 languages. However, it must be hard to find the appropriate pack to download without some prior knowledge of English by which to navigate Moodle's website.



Since its creation Moodle has seen over half a million registered users on its website alone. There are at least 45386 websites made from Moodle. The Moodle Sites page offers excellent examples of Moodle-made webpages. Also, a resourceful instructor could browse these links for lessons and tips to use in their classroom.

An example of a Moodle-based site is A Way to Teach. This site uses Moodle to its full potential. It features pages for different subjects, forums, comments, galleries of audio and visual material, polls, current discussion topics, and more. It is also fairly aesthetically pleasing, probably from one of the many free Moodle themes available for download.

The easiest way to begin using Moodle is through their website http://moodle.org. From the homepage teachers can download the program and language packs, learn how to use the software, look over FAQs and tips, ask questions on community forums, see demonstrations of what Moodle can do. And best of all, everything is completely free!

The one inconvenient aspect of the website if that you must register to access many of its off-shoot pages. Luckily, registration is fairly quick and painless. For a direct registration page go here. You'll have an attractive, efficient, and free website for your class or school in no time!