Note: This information is taken from the TALL Desk Study

Vendor

Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is an open source application built in PHP and MySQL.

Context

Moodle claims that 'external web applications can be linked in with data passed to them', which could be an opportunity to link elements of Moodle to the ELF.

Relevance

Moodle has been designed to get students involved as a community of learners. The components of Moodle are called 'activity modules' and could be useful in informing the expansion of the ELF which is currently not so activity-based. The popularity of Moodle is partly because of the way it draws students in, and partly because it is relatively easy to install and run, not requiring any Java or .NET skills. Even though it is not a framework, it is relevant to ELF developers because its functionality has captured the imagination of many teachers and learners. Moodle is open source and therefore could be adjusted to work with web services.

Features not directly related to ELF

The 'Survey Module' built in to feedback the student's progress compared to class averages
The 'Journal Module': journals are private between the student and teacher
The 'Quiz Module' is a flexible QTI style quiz generator with no direct mapping to the ELF.
The 'Choice Module' allows students to vote on what they do next
The 'Exercise Module' works in a 'workshop' style and may be merged with assessment
The 'Label Module' allows text and graphics among the activities
Moodle can run a Wiki as an activity