GradPoint is a K-12 learning management system (LMS) from Pearson, supporting student engagement and communication, student encouragement and self-assessment, and other tools to support student learning and progress.
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Moodle
Score 7.3 out of 10
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Moodle is an open source learning management system with hundreds of millions of users around the globe and translated into over 100 languages, used by organizations to support their education and training needs.
Great for independent learning, whether in large/small group setting, or individually. Harder for us to have students work on their own though, since it requires constant passwords to move on from one section to another for quizzes and tests. Is going to be especially hard for our students to work independently over the holidays (to stay on pace) when they can only go so far before having to stop for a password before they can go further.
Moodle is great for any environment where a class or other learning activity needs to be completed in an asynchronous manner. It can be used to post information, create interactive threads for discussion, issue quiz and exam work with grading, track and grade progress, and keep track of attendance. It is an overall wonderful solution for managing asynchronous learning.
It is very user-friendly right from the get-go. I am able to navigate throughout the system, and between areas easily, going from one class to another, from one student to another, or pulling in whole classes or groups of students, depending on my needs.
GradPoint is a very useful tool for everyone - our students, paraprofessionals, teachers, directors, and administration. So across the board, it helps us all access the information we need to on a daily basis, whether in the classroom or at home.
As a special education teacher, it allows me to work with my particular students one-on-one and individualize their learning according to their IEP and learning styles. I like the ease of use and versatility, and ability to use it in the classroom and then at home, go over information needed to prepare for the next day.
I have seen multiple mistakes in the questions/answers that need to be corrected/updated. I think these are kinks that need to be worked out and once resolved, will be fine.
When I filter for one student's name and then go to one of their courses, there is no easy way to go back and see all the courses for that one student - it always takes me back to the COURSE which lists all the students, not the one student I was just working with. Would save some steps if there was an easier way to navigate back to the one student and all their courses.
Wish there was a way I could (as a teacher/administrator) copy when reviewing the quiz/test questions with a student, so I could paste it into Google or other search so that we can research the question together. You can't copy/paste anything from inside the quiz/test review section, I am assuming for security reasons, but still, as a special education teacher, makes it a bit harder for me to go back over missed questions and review information.
The interface is not very intuitive. You must know what you are looking for in order to navigate effectively.
Although installation of Moodle is easy, it is a little more difficult to configure it with your other Learning tools. As an example, LDAP synchronization is a little difficult.
The interface is a little dated, even though new releases keep coming out (which is great!) none of them really add value to the appearance of the platform.
We use it because it is what have committed to back in 2011. Perhaps Moodle will evolve and advance in a positive way that will alleviate most of our user-based gripes? Perhaps it will not appear to be as cost effective given the need for a certain level of engineering and support staff to maintain it at a future level of sustainability? It's hard to say. As an enterprise scale critical application, we like it, but don't love it. Our instructors don't particularly like it at all.
Moodle can be used on a tablet, on a mobile phone, and on a PC. It is easy to navigate for learners and figure out for administrators. The learners can easily complete tasks and the administrators can easily track completion. The last thing about Moodle that one may not realize is that it somewhat resembles Facebook in its layout. This means that users are already familiar with the interface and therefore they are more comfortable using it.
Yes, Moodle is always available. We are self-hosted and Moodle is always up and available. The only time that it is not available is when we are upgrading it each semester. It is then down for just a few planned hours. That is in-between semesters and we let the faculty and students know. We do it on a Friday evening and it is back up within a few hours.
Moodle is an excellent LMS in relationship to any other one that I have seen or used. The pages load quickly and the reports complete in a reasonable time frame. Moodle has taken on Respondus, StudyMate, BigBlueButton, Turning Tech, Turnitin2, Certificates, Attendance, Tegrity, Questionnaire, Virtual Programming Lab, and Badges. All of these programs work right in with Moodle and do not cause any issues. Instructors may also use Camtasia and Snagit software as well as using webcams, downloading videos from the Internet, adding into books, or any of the many other areas within Moodle. Our instructors use the grade books without many problems and really don't ask questions much anymore. We upgrade Moodle every semester and are currently on 2.9+. Our instructors have basically learned to use most of the resources and activities.
Moodle is open source, and must be evaluated in that context, but one also has to provide a fair comparison to competing products with commercial backing. Support varies depending on the component of Moodle. Bug reports in Moodle Core that affect security or stability are dealt with promptly. Functionality requests or features not working smoothly may or may not be addressed, depending on whether the functionality desired matches the "vision" of Moodle HQ. The user community provides excellent support for initial installation and configuration, but more complex questions may go unanswered, unless they are noticed by someone who happens to know the answer. The support forum feature at the Moodle site (the same feature used within Moodle itself) does not provide granular subscription to topic discussions, apparently by design, and Moodle HQ seems resistant to changing this feature.
Find a partner who will work with you during the implementation process. Be sure to provide ample training for veteran users on the changes and for newbies on the overall product.
While your search bar was only able to find one (that I don't really think applies), the state of Georgia has two programs that are very similar: Georgia Connections Academy and K12. I have been a homeschool teacher for years, and am familiar with both of these programs. I feel that GradPoint stacks up very well to these other online learning platforms, and probably better, especially for administrators. My company selected GradPoint, not me, but I do believe they made a great decision, having used Edgenuity before and having many problems...hence their switch to GradPoint.
Blackboard has clear advantages in rubric management, and offers a content management system of its own. The largest barrier is cost for smaller or financially-disadvantaged organizations. However, as in any IT project, adequate resources must be made for even "free" software.
Well, I administer Moodle for a dozen of our divisions and there is a wide range of flexibility between offerings. I have course instructors who use every module i their course, chock full of videos, pictures, links to web tools for synchronous sessions within the asynchronous course. I also have others who are content with a syllabus, a few pdfs, links to podcast lectures and a few simple assignments. No matter if your organization is big or small, or if your requirements are strict for credentialing or non-existent (for internal know-how), Moodle can accommodate you.
Positive Impact: Works well with our independent sites all over the state, yet allows us to still be all connected.
Positive Impact: Works especially well with me and my special education students. Can go back over each and every missed question, review, clarify, discuss, and achieve mastery. For a special education teacher, this is just lovely!
Negative Impact: I really love GradPoint, but the only negative is since GradPoint is so technology driven, if you have a particularly tech savvy student, we have seen they can 'work around' some of GradPoint's features and 'get ahead'. I am not so tech savvy myself, but this is what my site director has told me, and I would think that is not good and should be looked at/further review/investigation.
While it certainly takes more time to develop an online training vs a face-to-face we can offer the same content over and over again and meet a larger audience. There's no way we could have offered these trainings face-to-face to the same size audience. Economically it's just not feasible. Moodle allows us to share multiple trainings on a variety of topics over extended periods of time in a cost effective way.
The impact on early interventionists is still being evaluated, but we do know that early interventionist now have more ways to access professional development than in the past. The ability to customize the registration page has allowed us to track which agencies in Virginia are having their staff participate and we can see which topics are favored above others.
Other LMS's were far too costly. Aside from the monthly hosting fees (less than $200 a year), and the time it took to do the initial install and setup, Moodle is free. Once it's setup the only elearning costs are related to the development and creation of each training and then the setup of training on Moodle. This allows us to devote more time and money to the development and creation of more courses vs. the management of the system.
Minimal tech support for the users is required and most requests are limited to lost/userid passwords. The course designer is able to manage tech support needs for the users because so few requests are received.
