Moodle has responded to the needs of students and faculty in reaction to inevitable technical difficulties. However, the process of creating a flawless university software system is still ongoing.
Bob Larson, a lecturer in communication, said he uses Moodle in certain situations but doesn’t like the software overall.
“It’s the lesser of evils to use it,” Larson said. “My other classes I just email.”
The problem with Moodle, Larson said, is that it was designed by people who are extremely computer literate whereas “for the rest of us, good luck.”
Martin S. Dulberg, senior coordinator of Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications, said that although Moodle can be very difficult to use for some people, support and training options are offered for faculty members.
In the meantime, DELTA continues to upgrade the program in an attempt to fix problems and add functionality, Dulberg said.
Larson said this year’s refinements improved the program, but he still thinks there should be more done for those who don’t want to use the advanced features, suggesting the option of a simpler Moodle.
“They should have two versions of Moodle, one with all the bells and whistles,” Larson said. “All I want to do is upload my files and make sure [the students] have access to them.”
Dulberg said that as of right now, Moodle can use as much or little as they desire.
“For example you can use forums, post notes to your Moodle space and add links to external web sites without using quizzes or the grade book,” Dulberg said.
Dulberg said that although DELTA is constantly working to improve Moodle, problems, like login errors, occur. Often times these are a result of incompatibilities between software programs, such as Shibboleth, which is created by the Office of Information Technology, not DELTA.
He compared this phenomenon to the different departments and colleges on campus working together.
However, on-campus problems are not the only culprit for errors. According to Dulberg, web browsers can cause major problems with functionality.
“[Web browsers] all have little shortcomings,” Dublerg said. “Just like every car has recalls. There’s some little bug or problem with them. And they manifest themselves in different ways.”
Dulberg said that one problem that was occurring with the new version of Moodle involved PDF files that were embedded in a page. He said this was because the PDF viewers in the browsers were required to do the work, however it didn’t with some browsers.
“It turns out that Internet Explorer was horrible at it,” Dulberg said. “I can’t remember what other browser was having trouble as well, I think it was [Google] Chrome.”
Dulberg said that this is an example of DELTA having to make changes and adapt. He said that it switched the program default to open PDF viewers in a new window after receiving complaint calls, effectively fixing the problem.
According to Dulberg, N.C. State previously used Blackboard until about three years ago, but decided to create its own software because of the constant changes that would force faculty and students to completely relearn the software.
“Our goal is to provide one set of tools, or collection of tools, for everyone to use to provide a certain sense of consistency,” Dulberg said. “We have a responsibility to look at all of the tools out there.”
In addition to adapting to computer software, Moodle is now becoming more accessible on mobile devices as well.
“Mobile is a very new thing for us,” Dulberg said. “Obviously people have been carrying around phones for awhile and the number of students carrying smart phones is going up every year.”
One of the difficulties facing this technology adaptation is the unknown of what functionality students actually wants to do with their phone.
“Obviously, they may want to check a date, or find out when their homework is due, [or] what room they’re meeting in, [things like that],” Dulberg said.
Dulberg said although that functionality has been added, there are other uses that could become problematic if used, such as attempting an exam on a mobile device.
“We’re trying to discourage people from doing that,” Dulberg said. “But we took a stab at coming up with a mobile theme so that when you view Moodle on a smart phone. “It’s very easy for you to get to the information or content, not so much the activities. This is going to be a work-in-progress.”
Dulberg said that N.C. State was going to continue to get feedback from students and have a “responsive design” that will respond differently to different devices and fit them best.
Moodle will continue to evolve in the near future, and students and faculty can expect changes in the not-too-distant future.
“I can’t tell you when we will have the new version out but I imagine sometime during next summer when we have the next tweak or iteration [of the mobile platform],” Dulberg said. “Just like Moodle itself is slowly evolving, so will the mobile platform.”
