Posted by
Waski_the_Squirrel on Saturday, January 31, 2009 10:33:35 PM
Over Christmas, I quit using
Blackboard as my online courseware. I switched to its open source cousin,
Moodle. I am sincere when I say that both are good programs. I was quite happy with Blackboard, but Moodle proved more suited to my specific needs. Part of this was due to bugs in Blackboard. Blackboard has since been updated and the company claims that most of these have been eliminated. I cannot verify this as the version of Blackboard I have available is old.
Price
I actually don't have to concern myself with this one. The state of North Dakota has made Blackboard available to its schools. It is a prohibitively expensive piece of software and few schools in our state could afford it, the necessary servers, and the technical expertise to operate it. Moodle is open source, so the software is free. The other expenses are real, but I found an alternative at
Ninehub.com. Schools could afford a better host or even set up the necessary host themselves.
Bugs
There were some unfortunate bugs in Blackboard. One of them had to do with uploading files. When students tried to upload files (to turn in an assignment online) it didn't work in the most common browsers and operating systems. I had no trouble with the Firefox browser in Linux (or even on my Apple--most of the time). On Windows machines, it simply didn't work with Explorer. Since this is the most common combination, I see that as a SERIOUS problem. This has been fixed in newer versions of Blackboard, but not the one available to schools in North Dakota.
The other bug that really got under my skin was with "calculated questions". These were questions where I entered a formula. The computer would come up with random numbers for that formula so that each student had a somewhat randomized version of the particular problem. I love this for my subject. The trouble was that Blackboard had only a limited repertoire of numbers: between 1-1000. It couldn't deal with negative numbers, larger numbers, or really small numbers. This was another serious limitation in my subject. Also, some commands in the formula did not work. The commands have since been fixed, but the limitation in numbers has not been fixed. Again, that's immaterial because North Dakota is still running an older version.
Math
I teach math and science. A nice formula editor is a must for me. Blackboard has a lovely formula editor that uses Java and a mouse-operated control panel. This is fine for occasional use, but very slow for regular use. Moodle makes it possible to use LaTeX commands to format mathematics. I simply type the formula inside a double set of dollar signs. It's very fast for me to use. $$H_2O$$ is a lot faster to type than to wade through Blackboard's menus to write the formula for water. This was the single greatest reason to switch for me.
Interface
Blackboard is very attractive. A nice column of buttons runs down the left side of the screen and takes the user to different sections of the program such as "Assignments", "Announcements", "Course Documents", "Course Information", and a host of others. The student's first view is the announcements. The trouble I saw was that students didn't know where to find things. Now, with enough practice, that would cease to be a problem. However, with limited computers (at that time), I couldn't use Blackboard enough to give them the practice they needed.
Moodle puts everything on the main screen. One can divide everything up by topics or weeks, but the main point is that it is all right there. (To avoid confusion, students can collapse everything so that they only see the current topic.) This eliminates all problems with students trying to find things and it makes it easier for the teacher to customize everything for his own particular needs.
Lessons
As I've experimented with online courseware, I wanted to find a way to teach lessons online, but require formative assessment on the way (to check that they have learned and offer alternatives depending on their learning). Moodle has this in a primitive form. I was able to better embed lessons in Blackboard, but without the formative assessment.
Social Media
Blackboard has forums but very little else to allow students to work together. Since all my students are right there in the room, forums aren't much help. Moodle allows each student to contribute to a class glossary (and comment on the entries). It also has a utility for a Wiki. These are available add-ons for Blackboard, but aren't part of the standard program, and they aren't part of North Dakota's particular version.
Verification
I'll throw a grab-bag of features in here. Blackboard has a huge overlap of features with Moodle. However, what really bothers me when I work in Blackboard is that every time I do ANYTHING, it pops up a new screen to tell me I just did it. For example, suppose I write a new question. I enter the question and click "OK". Blackboard then pops up a new screen that says, "You just created a new question." Then I have to click "OK" again. This is a perfectly fine precaution for something like "Do you really want to delete everything?" However, since it doesn't offer the chance to take back my action and it's for EVERYTHING, I fail to see the point.
My final reason for the switch was passwords. High schools kids are terrible at remembering passwords. In North Dakota's version of Blackboard, they need to get a password through another group (the same folks that provide Blackboard). Unfortunately, when they forget, they need to go to the school's tech director. He then must make a request for a new password. A "forgotten password" makes for a convenient way to avoid work. With Moodle, I have control of the passwords.
I like Blackboard and used it very happily for 5 years. So far, I happen to like Moodle better.