Moodle: A Viable Option for Learning Management Systems (LMS)

Moodle is Right Price

Like the majority of departments across the world, there are budgetary constraints to follow. Within this limit, the challenge becomes how to best provide information, training, and courses to our audience as well as how to make the interactive vehicle (online interface) as "usable" as possible.

Certainly, there are large enterprise-level systems, like BlackBoard, that do a great job...but what if you do not have the funds to procure this? What options do you have to provide information for your users?

Enter Moodle: a free to use open source Learning Management System ("LMS"), which can be customized in any way. Here is the official word from the Moodle website (which they call a "CMS"):

"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 50,000-student University."

And they're not joking...currently there are a myriad of websites--both in the US and worldwide--that employ Moodle as their information vehicle. Check out the long list of Moodle Sites in the US.
While there will always be better--and probably more expensive--solutions to providing an LMS for your audience, it is nice to know that there is always something (free) that can fit into any fiscal budget.

Check out Moodle and see if it might be a viable solution for your Instructional Design or Learning Technology needs.