While I’ve read a few things here and there about Moodle which describe the software (and other VLEs like it) as “traditional” (i.e. approaching defunct), I’d have to argue in favour of a wee bit of Moodle. Some of the things it can do are incredibly helpful for creating resources, and the software is very read/write - moreso than people might presume. I thought I’d give just three examples, to encourage people to think about trying a VLE (as well as trying blogs etc - another tool in the box, if you will…). After all, my reading of the specification for Glow isn’t far off the Moodle feature list…

1. Student editing to create effectively structured resources

Technology should do one thing - encourage learning. Pupils are empowered by blogs, but when collaborating, pupils can find more effective formats. Think of it this way: Wikipedia is just a set of user contributions, like YouTube or flickr. The difference is the structure. Conversely see the effect that a lack of structure has on this list of image generators.. Moodle lets pupils add terms to an online glossary. Why not get the kids to build up a course multimedia glossary that is automatically cross-linked, searchable, and orderable?

2. Kids vs Kids = Happy Kids

Your kids might have mastered making online quizzes with tools like Hot Potatoes, and they almost always have chaotic fun trying each other’s quizzes. What if you could put them up on the internet, for everyone to try, and record the scores? What if kids can then comment on the work, right there and then? What if these quizzes were easy to find, and easy to reorder?
Moodle lets kids upload quizzes, and you can let them view the grades others get for the quizzes. Instant competitive anarchy, er, learning, and peer assessment.

3. Providing collaborative and social tools under one roof

Pupils can get confused by the multitude of resources available to them. It’s great for them to see different web sites and ways of doing things, but you can give them a safe and easy to control test-bed. Is there a way to keep blog posting, forum posting, wiki writing, chat rooms and instant messaging related?

Moodle courses can group the above features, and provide cross-linked terms throughout. Not a giant change, but might help some projects to develop faster.

That all said, Moodle is a bit of a beast to set up, and if you get someone else to do it, it costs you megabucks. If you can find a free host, though, you’re jamming. I’m thinking of setting a free Moodle host up once I’ve played with it more. This would be a good place to register your interest