Moodle: an invaluable FOSS tool for education in the developing world

C. OSVALDO RODRIGUEZ

Free and Open Source Software for Sustainable Development in Developing Countries

United Nations University Press

Año: 2011;

The combination of online classes and software tools used for the management of the learning infrastructure (known as Virtual Learning Environment, VLEs or Learning Management Environment systems, LMSs) are producing a big impact in education. The technical quality of video conferencing for online classes (video streaming technologies and products like Elluminate, WEBEX or open source Openmeetings) are improving daily together with the reduction of their implementation and running costs. Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is a free and open-source e-learning software platform. It is the most popular VLE tool available with a user-base of 50 thousand registered sites with 40 million users in 4 million courses with presence in nearly every existing country and available in more than 75 languages. For developed countries this combination of online teaching and VLE has opened a new chapter in education. For developing countries it could signify a breakthrough. In this chapter we describe Moodle as a software tool, its history and future developments and also analyze the effect it has made in all levels of education: university, secondary and primary. A big part of the chapter is devoted to the impact Moodle implementations have made in the developing world. The work and experience with Moodle of the Grupo ICT4DAR (Grupo ICT (Information and Communication Technology) for Development Argentina) in Argentina will also be exposed.