By Brian Ray
Six years ago Dr. Allen Futrell, chair of the University of Louisville’s communication department, began to use Moodle, a free online course management system, rather than Blackboard.
According to Futrell, the best thing about Moodle is that it is open source, which means that he can modify it to fit his needs. Also, he says Moodle is easier to navigate, it uses less screen real estate, linking to outside sources is easier, it includes more course tools and one can ascertain more detail on assignments and quizzes.
Gale Rhodes, assistant Provost at the University of Louisville said. “To change systems under the present circumstances would be a time-consuming and costly transition that would not be beneficial to students and would separate us from the mutual supportive bond we now share with the other higher education institutions in Kentucky.”
Rhodes explains that although the Moodle software is free, it is not without cost. ?Since open source software does not have a corporate entity behind it, institutions have to be self sustaining in application development and support.
?This means either hiring additional skilled personnel to support the installation or contracting with an outside commercial vendor to provide ongoing support services.
Sophomore anthropology major Joshua Herbert said, “Blackboard always allows you to access important information for class, such as a syllabus or instructor’s e-mail address. It’s also a good way to see how you are doing in a class.”
Not all students are as enamored by Blackboard. They complain of frequent downtimes and spotty service. “Sometimes it doesn’t let me log in, then when it does, half of my classes won’t open,” Kristen Joslin, freshman justice administration major said.
According to Rhodes, the current license cost for the Blackboard Enterprise Edition which includes the Content and Community System, is $73,470. ?This cost includes updates, patches and technical support from Blackboard.
Even though the university will be facing budget cuts, there is no plan to use another course management system because U of L is a participant in a consortium of colleges and universities in Kentucky. That means that they received the software at a heavily discounted rate and that other institutions in the state use blackboard as well Rhodes said.
“Some faculty do not use Blackboard at all,” said Dale Billingsley vice provost for undergraduate affairs. “Most faculty, including me, do not use Blackboard to its full capacity. I post my course descriptions and syllabi, assignments, and supplementary materials so that they are accessible to any student in the course.”
“I don’t like the fact that teachers aren’t very consistent with it. They rarely put the grades up,” said Josh Howard a junior business administration major. “They expect us to check it regularly know how it works when they don’t even update the material. It’s frustrating.”
With everything the university has invested into Blackboard, Futrell will likely remain the exception.
