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Moodle has been gaining a lot of attention as of late. Unfortunately, there are a few disadvantages of using Moodle for both the administrators and students that you should be aware of. Knowing them may help you make an informed decision about the system and whether you should use it.
What Is Moodle, Anyway?
Before you figure out the disadvantages of using Moodle, you better take a moment to look at what Moodle is and why people use it.
“Simply” put, Moodle stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. In English, this essentially means a system that educational institutions use to deliver courses and learning material to students. Colleges and Universities often use Moodle, but other schools and businesses use the software, too.
The main reasons for using the system is because it is available at a relatively low cost, it has many different abilities that teachers and administrators can use to teach, and it is – to a certain extent – easy to implement. That being said, there are quite a few disadvantages of using Moodle that you should be aware of.
- It’s open source
- Great community
- Customizable
- Widely available
- Sell content online
- It’s familiar
- It has loads of content available
Another advantage of Moodle is that it allows for many different types of content formats to be uploaded and available for use by the students and the instructor. Moodle not only allows for learning to be done online or at a distance but also it allows for resources to be available to students in who are in instructor-led classes. Moodle also has different options and tool available for use. Moodle allows for communication to happen between the instructor and students and students can also communicate with each other. Communication in Moodle range from forums, blogs, chats and messages among the individuals who are enrolled within a course. This is an advantage because if the course is an online or distance learning course, communication is key to ensure that the lesson is effective and if there is a problem, there are resources available to allow for effective communication.
Disadvantages Of Using Moodle
Even though the system has some advantages and is respected by a few institutions, there are a few problems and cons. This is, of course, because nothing can be perfect.
The first big issue is the fact that Moodle is not fully developed to cope with big projects. While it may be useful for colleges or universities of small to medium size, the system might not work efficiently with larger schools or serve as a great way to conduct all classes in a city.
The latter example is more hypothetical than factual, but if a Board of Education were to experiment with such an idea, Moodle may not be the wisest choice. Along these same lines, the more students that access the platform, the slower the system becomes.
This can be troublesome for students when they are trying to take quizzes or tests, or just simply trying to access the course content. The website can also shut down on occasion, blocking the opportunity for students to access course materials.
In addition to the lack of complete development, Moodle users frequently complain about the troubles they experience with customization. In order to perform efficient customization, you are going to need to know how to program and have some type of knowledge when it comes to coding.
