Overview
What is Moodle?
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.
A simple and useful online method for distant learning
Best LMS Solution
Moodle Workplace - Perfect workplace learning tool
Great LMS, Non-existent customer service
Moodle in a Mid-Sized Company - Great Value
Easy installation, cost effective solution for institutions with technically talented staff to implement.
Moodle for everyone
Are you a teacher looking for Learning Management System that is simple, functional, and easy to use? Moodle has it all for you!
Useful tool for online course content
Learning with Moodle
Moodle is a flexible and reliable learning management system that is great for assessment too.
Learning management at its best, considering the price point
Best tool for web based learning.
You get what you pay for
Moodle provides education across many industries and ages
Awards
Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards
Popular Features
- Progress tracking & certifications (25)10.0100%
- Assignments (26)9.898%
- Learning administration (24)9.898%
- Course catalog or library (23)9.696%
Pricing
What is Moodle?
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.
Entry-level set up fee?
- Setup fee optional
Offerings
- Free Trial
- Free/Freemium Version
- Premium Consulting/Integration Services
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Product Demos
How to take Demo Assignment and appear in ESE-2020 by Moodle App from Mobile
MEDIAL Plugin for Moodle - Demo Video
Moodle Demo | Account Creation | Teacher View | Student View | Adding Resources | Joining Courses
Moodle Webex Integration Demo
French on an e-learning platform - Clip Class' Moodle
Moodle Google Hangout Demo
Features
Learning Management
Features of LMS and LCMS systems, related to designing, administering, and consuming learning content in an educational, corporate, or on-the-job context.
- 9.4Course authoring(22) Ratings
Users can develop and assemble online learning content.
- 9.6Course catalog or library(23) Ratings
Learning content is organized into a course catalog or browsable library.
- 9.2Player/Portal(23) Ratings
Students or employees can engage with content and take courses using this interface, which may be called a player or portal.
- 10Learning content(21) Ratings
The vendor offers high quality pre-made courses or assets. These may be specific to certain industries or technologies.
- 9.4Mobile friendly(23) Ratings
Students or employees can access content from mobile devices. Course authors can develop responsive learning content.
- 10Progress tracking & certifications(25) Ratings
The system tracks individuals’ progress on courses, scores, transcripts, certificates, etc.
- 9.8Assignments(26) Ratings
Users can assign courses/curricula to individuals or groups, with due dates.
- 9.2Compliance management(20) Ratings
Users can identify potential risks and ensure that requirements are met and that certifications are up to date.
- 9.8Learning administration(24) Ratings
Administrators can manage the content and people (students/employees, course authors, instructors, etc.) on the platform.
- 7.8Learning reporting & analytics(22) Ratings
Provides insights into course completion, engagement with learning content, etc.
- 9.4Social learning(23) Ratings
Includes features for collaboration and knowledge sharing among peers.
Product Details
- About
- Integrations
- Competitors
- Tech Details
- FAQs
What is Moodle?
Moodle Features
Learning Management Features
- Supported: Course authoring
- Supported: Course catalog or library
- Supported: Player/Portal
- Supported: Learning content
- Supported: Mobile friendly
- Supported: Progress tracking & certifications
- Supported: Assignments
- Supported: Compliance management
- Supported: Learning administration
- Supported: Learning reporting & analytics
- Supported: eLearning
- Supported: Assessments
- Supported: Live online learning
- Supported: In-person learning
- Supported: Micro-learning
- Supported: Video learning
- Supported: eCommerce
- Supported: AICC-compliant
- Supported: SCORM-compliant
- Supported: Tin Can (xAPI) compliant
- Supported: Social learning
- Supported: Gamification
- Supported: GDPR Compliant Learning
- Supported: Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning
Moodle Screenshots
Moodle Videos
Moodle Integrations
Moodle Competitors
Moodle Technical Details
Deployment Types | On-premise, Software as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based |
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Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, Mac |
Mobile Application | Apple iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, Mobile Web |
Supported Countries | Worldwide |
Supported Languages | All languages |
Frequently Asked Questions
Comparisons
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Reviews and Ratings
(244)Community Insights
- Business Problems Solved
- Pros
- Cons
- Recommendations
Moodle has a wide range of use cases across different educational institutions and organizations. In higher education, it facilitates communication, provides learning materials, and assesses student learning. It serves as an essential training portal, offering online courses, quick reference guides, and knowledge base articles. This platform also caters to organizations' learning and development needs, accommodating different skill sets and objectives. Additionally, it supports early intervention providers by enabling self-enrollment, progress tracking, assessment recording, and grade viewing. For instructors in both online and face-to-face classes, Moodle acts as a Course Management System for posting and grading assignments, exams, and quizzes. Librarians can participate in professional development remotely through Moodle's various media options and scoring reporting features. It is also used for safety training coursework with the flexibility to integrate different media types. In K-12 schools, Moodle supplements courses such as Health Education and offers online courses during summer months. Private liberal arts colleges rely on this platform for student engagement, activity tracking, and grading. Furthermore, Francis Lewis High School has found that Moodle increases enrichment for students while streamlining the workload for educators.
Moodle is recognized for its continual development, simplicity, and vibrant community support. This makes it a suitable choice for those new to e-learning as well as school districts with limited resources. It's designed to enhance teaching and learning experiences through features like lecture note uploads, progress monitoring, grading tools, online quizzes/tests, and reporting capabilities. Beyond the education sector, Moodle supports internal communication within companies by providing chat functionality and information sharing between managers and employees at all levels. Moreover, it serves as a useful tool for task management and constant updates on assignments to improve workflow efficiency. Whether it is hosting online courses for K-12 schools or managing faculty development opportunities across campuses or facilitating information sharing within committees or group projects—Moodle accommodates a wide range of needs. It tracks training delivery for state employees, delivers student orientation, manages various rotations, organizes coursework for faculty members, and provides a centralized space for sharing course-related information, assignments, grading, and document repository.
Flexibility for customization: Users appreciate the open-source nature of Moodle, as it allows for easy extension and customization without additional costs. This flexibility is highly valued by many reviewers, as it enables them to tailor the platform to their specific needs and avoid clutter.
Active user community: The active user community of Moodle is praised for its continuous support and extension of the platform. Many reviewers commend the engagement process and transparent roadmap for development, which gives users a clear understanding of the platform's future direction. They also value being able to contribute directly by fixing bugs or enhancing functionality.
Strong support for learner interaction: Users find that Moodle's constructivist design supports various means of learner interaction. Many reviewers specifically mention the strong support for discussions within Moodle, facilitating effective communication and collaboration among learners.
Outdated and Confusing User Interface: Several users have expressed dissatisfaction with the user interface of Moodle, finding it to be dated and confusing. They feel that it is difficult to navigate and locate specific features within the platform.
Limited Reporting Tools: Many reviewers have noted that the reporting tools in Moodle are not sufficient for their needs. They often have to rely on third-party plugins to generate comprehensive reports, which can be inconvenient and time-consuming.
Complex Gradebook Functionality: The gradebook function in Moodle has been a source of frustration for many users. They find it complex and overwhelming, with numerous options and settings that can be difficult to understand. This complexity leads to an increase in support questions and makes it challenging for beginners or intermediate users to effectively utilize the gradebook.
Based on user reviews, here are the three most common recommendations for Moodle:
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Users highly recommend taking advantage of online resources and YouTube videos for assistance with setting up and managing Moodle. These external sources can provide valuable guidance and support throughout the process.
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Users recommend Moodle for those looking to do virtual education or distance learning. Moodle is recommended due to its many features and status as an open-source resource.
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Users recommend exploring the plugin library in Moodle to discover additional tools and ways to engage students. This feature offers a range of options for enhancing the learning experience and providing diverse learning opportunities.
Overall, these recommendations emphasize the importance of seeking external resources, exploring alternatives, and utilizing additional features to optimize the use of Moodle as a learning management system.
Attribute Ratings
Reviews
(51-62 of 62)Why I Moodle
- Moodle tracks the actions of learners very well.
- Moodle is extremely extensible with a large library of plugins available.
- Moodle integrates with with other systems very well through the availability of an API and authentication plugins.
- Moodle has a very flexible way of organizing course material allowing instructional designers to be creative.
- Moodle can support any number of learning assets including SCORM, LTI, and online html pages.
- Moodle integrates with several virtual classroom solutions including, WebEx, BigBlueButton, WizIQ, and VideoWhisper.
- Learning Moodle is difficult for new users because the interface is not the most intuitive.
- Moodle does not allow learning assets to be used in more than one course which leads to storing duplicate content from time to time.
- Moodle does not allow courses to be assigned to multiple categories.
- A list of completed courses are not available to be shown to students, teachers, or administrators. There is no easy way of seeing which enrolled courses a student has completed.
- History is lost when a student is unenrolled from a course.
Moodle from a Moodler: Open Source, Powerful, Awesome
Moodle is used by our four coordinate campuses, including Crookston, Duluth, Morris, and Rochester/Twin Cities. Across all campuses, Moodle is used with approximately 65% of all courses, and approximately 70% of all enrolled students use Moodle for at least one course.
In addition to our academic use of Moodle, it is also used by departments across the University for employee training, housing and sharing resources easily within departments, and in some academic units for tracking promotion and tenure materials for their faculty.
Blackboard was an expensive course management system, and during the recession in 2008 the University was looking for ways to cut costs as much as possible. Moodle was a clear choice as a course management system because it is an open source software with an active development community, which allowed our developers to seek fixes and enhancements developed by other institutions, as well as providing our own back to the community.
- Facilitates asynchronous interactions through tools such as Forums.
- Creates a platform for instructors to reach out individually to students on coursework through the Assignment tool.
- Allows for extensive and varied quiz questions, from standard multiple choice to complex calculated answers.
- Gives our students one centralized place to access all course materials, helping them keep on track with their courses throughout the semester.
- The Gradebook is an area that could use significant improvement. There are many different aggregation options, which makes the gradebook a very powerful tool, but it also makes it very inaccessible to beginner and intermediate users.
- Forums should allow for both anonymous responses, as well as private responses.
- The terminology can be improved for greater clarity. One example is "Common Module Settings". This is a setting which exists on all activities and resources. The function of these settings is to restrict by groupings and control visibility. "Common Module Settings" does not clearly indicate the actual functions in this section.
Because Moodle is Open Source software, a key question to ask during the selection process is "Do we have the development resources to maintain our instance of Moodle?". Moodle.org and the Moodle Tracker forums allow for community crowd-sourcing of solutions, but home-grown solutions are necessary.
Moodle review from an higher Education point of view (Faculty)
- It's easy to create various activities [assignments, videos, slides, files, quiz...]
- It's easy to copy one course from past semester/cohort to a new semester/cohort, to avoid re-creating from scratch
- It keeps track of student login times.
- The quiz function is highly configurable: mix order of questions, mix order of choices, time limit, auto-correct + grade [save me a lot of time and let students take quiz online at home]
- The grade book can be confusing and not working the way we want; some illogical tweaking may be necessary.
As for any software solution, make sure to understand the needs of the students and the faculty as well as other requirements. Although Moodle is easy to use, some students or faculty may not be as technology adept. Moodle (and other partners) has developed an extensive library of videos and training resources.
Moodle 2.6: Like it but not loving it
Our mission is to deliver high quality online learning experiences for degree-seeking adult learners (median age: 35, more women than men, most working fulltime + families). Moodle enables us to achieve this in a financially feasible way compared to the costs associated with Blackboard.
- Moodle is open source, so it is "free". It can be installed locally or on a typical Web hosting service.
- In the hands of people with the right skills, it is flexible, and has a lot of reporting capabilities if the administrator knows how to query the system.
- With built-in LTI (Learning Technology Interoperability), it can connect to and exchange data with any third-party system that is LTI compatible. This is HUGE. Using LTI, however, is imperfect at times, so one must tenor expectations.
- Moodle interface design and organization is inconsistent and sometimes labyrinthian. For most online instructors, the interface is not intuitive at all. We answer many support questions for simple things where good design would have made it self-evident to users. There are often far more choices and options for users than are needed, so there is some disorienting clutter.
- No one understands the Moodle gradebook. No one. It is a total mystery. It is only with constant everyday use against multiple kinds of problems will anyone understand how to make the gradebook work properly. Most of our support calls center around this. However, I understand that the Moodle 2.8 gradebook will be significantly simplified.
- Moving instructional content around in Moodle is clumsy. Instructors often make a total mess of their course content requiring Ed Tech staff to clean it up.
- Moodle is very intuitive for the e-learner. Students have found it easy to access course material.
- Adding assignments and resources is very easy in Moodle. The updated version of Moodle allows the instructor to 'drag and drop' files into the course.
- There is an integrated gradebook in Moodle which allows the instructor to monitor student progress.
- The gradebook in Moodle is not as functional as I would like to see. Students sometimes find it difficult to monitor their grades in the Moodle gradebook.
- There are upload file size limits that should be increased to allow students to upload larger documents/projects.
- I would like to see more options for designing pages in Moodle.
Moodle 2.X - Positively Positive
- Moodle 2 is user-friendly, specifically with the new drag-and-drop function that allows the user to easily add resources to a course.
- Moodle is cost-effective.
- Moodle has a variety of plug-ins that can add different features.
- Because Moodle is a free, open-source learning platform, the support for Moodle is limited to other users, not a support team from Moodle itself.
- Gradebook can be difficult for novice and even average users. Many of our faculty choose to utilize their own grade book because Moodle's is not user-friendly.
Moodle, an easy to use and effective LMS
- Allows for flexibility in look and feel
- Has features that allow both student and faculty contribution
- Has numerous 3rd party plugins to enhance the environment
- Improve the wiki module to allow easier commenting by other users
- Create an easier means for students to share video content in forums
- Have a way to set certain assignments as viewable to other students - for the submission only.
Review of Moodle
- Moodle can host content that can be updated quickly.
- Moodle has a simple, easy-to-use interface.
- Students usually report greater satisfaction using Moodle than other options.
- While it is built for social constructivism, it still ends up being mostly instructivist in nature. The design does not push towards social constructivism.
The instance of Moodle I supported had roughly 30 courses running at various times and for various durations.
- Free - Moodle is free, especially if you can support it in-house. Especially in academic settings, money is very tight and Moodle helps to alleviate some budgetary concerns.
- Open Source - Moodle is open source, so if there is a feature that Moodle doesn't have, or doesn't support well, you can have a developer create or expand upon the feature you need.
- Multiple Authentication methods - Moodle supports (out of the box) many different authentication methods. It's also not too difficult to develop new methods as needed.
- Documentation - Moodle has some features which are very poorly documented. Developing for Moodle is often very frustrating. Also, I have often found answers to my questions about how a particular part of Moodle works in the forums section, and not in the documentation where it should be. The documentation does not seem to be well maintained.
- Community - The community mods are often very curt and dismissive of others' concerns, especially when it comes to reporting bugs.
- API - Moodle's developers API is not always the most straightforward or easy to use.
Moodle for Middle School, Engage with Parents!
- Classroom creation and modification is fantastic
- The users out in the world have run into just about every problem and they can walk you through anything you may want to do in the forum
- It is free and easy to set up
- It is not as polished as some products. Creation of new skins or color themes to match your school is arduous.
- The end users who are not tech savvy may require additional assistance. You may have to create these materials yourself.
- Some of the extra modules you download may not work precisely as you want them to.
- I hate updating the version on our server.
- Moodle is open-source. This means we are able to easily extend Moodle without having to pay for additional functionality. An active user community continues to extend and support Moodle use. We are able to contribute directly by fixing bugs or enhancing functionality, and these changes can be submitted to the community for use by others. We can also make use of enhancements submitted by other users. The roadmap for development and the process of engaging in that process are open and transparent.
- Moodle is constructivist by design, supporting several means for learners to interact with one another as part of the learning process. Support for discussions is reasonably strong. The Workshop module, while complicated to configure, supports peer review of work using instructor-defined rubrics.
- Moodle supports standards such as IMS Common Cartridge, LTI (Learning Tool Interoperability), XML-RPC, etc., allowing content to be imported from other systems (or exported to them). This enhances our ability to incorporate Open Education Resources in our course offerings. This also aided in our migration from our previous LMS.
- Multiple hosting vendors are available to provide SaaS solutions, or an institution may choose to host Moodle themselves, depending on resources available at the institution.
- There is an incredibly wide variety of add-ons, most of which are hosted and/or indexed at the moodle.org site, which also provides rating tools, support forum areas, bug tracking, etc. In particular, Open University in the UK, using Moodle to support tens of thousands of completely online students, has contributed a number of solid enhancements to the platform.
- Moodle integrates with a variety of authentication systems, including most of those likely to be in use at a college or university. We have used both LDAP and CAS.
- Moodle HQ attention is divided amongst the needs of many different types constituents, e.g. institutions who use Moodle to support face to face or hybrid courses, rather than fully online programs like ours. While anyone can make an "add-on" for Moodle, it can be difficult to get changes in the core application approved by Moodle HQ, which can limit the kinds of add-ons that can be created.
- The number of experienced hosting providers in the U.S. is small, and one (Moodlerooms) is now owned by a commercial competitor (Blackboard).
- Because Moodle is open source software, there is no commercial entity providing technical support. There are so many configuration options that some expertise is needed to configure Moodle for the specific needs of an institution. Commercial hosting providers can help, but many institutions will find they need at least one full-time staff member to administer and configure Moodle, even beyond administering the server used to host Moodle.
- The interface of Moodle sometimes seems dated compared to newer applications, e.g. Canvas. Newer interface elements are being adopted into Moodle Core, but many are left to individual "Theme" developers, with varying degrees of support. Three columns are assumed, and the "Block" structure is confining (e.g. one cannot place a block in the central region of the course).
- Although Moodle is intended to be aligned with constructivist learning principles, it cannot "force" instructors to teach in a constructivist way (nor can any LMS).
- Reporting tools are scant. Third-party plugins are needed to provide adequate reports. We recommend Configurable Reports and the Ad-Hoc Database Queries tool. We would like to see tools like these become part of Moodle Core.
- Automation tools (e.g. import of student enrollments from a Student Information System) have been limited and not robust in the past. This is improving, both within add-on services provided by hosting services such as Remote Learner, and within Moodle Core. This situation still needs improvement.
- The Gradebook function is complex and generates many support questions.
Moodle can be used to host courses completely online, but if this is mission critical to your institution (i.e. the purpose of your institution is to provide education and you will do this primarily online), be sure you have enough internal resources to support this application. This is not a turn-key solution. Substantial configuration is required.
If you have the resources to host your own LMS and administer it, Moodle is an excellent choice. You will be able to customize it to meet your needs, for a very modest cost (as the software itself is free).
If you are a smaller institution without 24x7 IT support, you may need to consider external hosting, and this will come at a cost. You may be restricted in how much you will be able to customize Moodle, and you will still need someone within your organization who will be familiar with administering and supporting the features of Moodle.
If you need minimal LMS support for face to face courses at low cost, Moodle is an outstanding choice.
- Customization and library of add-ons. These allow you to tailor Moodle to fit your needs.
- Community. Moodle has a large community of active users and a wide range of resources for troubleshooting such as their JIRA issue tracker and forums.
- Ease of Use. Moodle is intuitive and easy to navigate. The course layout is easy to view and identify the various course resources.
- Chat Module. Moodle's built in chat module is poorly optimized and lacks common features.
- Optimization. Performance has been a longstanding issue with Moodle as the product has become more bloated.
- Architecture design. The core Moodle platform needs to be continually redefined to keep up with the competing platforms entering the marketplace.
Key Questions:
Are you looking for a hosted solution or are you looking to host your own LMS?
What is your budget?
Moodle is easy to host and with it being open source the out of pocket costs are in infrastructure, training, and system management.