Southeastern Community College
Decision to Move to Moodle: Feb. 2008
First Semester using Moodle: Summer 2008
Case Studies Moodle Assessment
By: Dr. Gail Ruby

Determine how community college made decision to migrate to Moodle
o Reasons for migration: To Reduce the Cost of Hosting our Learning
Management System
o Technical Capacity : We did not have the capability of hosting on-site,
therefore, we are hosting with Classroom Revolution, a Moodle Partner,
selected via Request for Proposal (RFP) in keeping with state
procurement protocol.
We have a Dedicated Server with –
Capacities:
 10,000 user accounts (admins, teachers, and students) at any given time. Users may be created
and deleted as often as you like, as long as there are no more than 10,000 users at any given
time.
 Unlimited Moodle courses
Hardware:
 Multi-core single CPU and 2GB RAM
 2x250 GB SATA HD in RAID 1 mirrored array
 2,000 GB per month of bandwidth transfer
We are very satisfied without Moodle Hosting Provider.
o Enrollment history Online, hybrid, & course supplements:
Learning Technologies Online Courses - Number of Offerings and Duplicated
Number of Students
2004
Distance Learning Hybrid,
on-line and face to face
Distance Learning Internet
Course
Distance Learning Telecourse
Distance Learning
TeleWebcourse
Distance Learning Two-way
Video Course
Distance Learning Web
Supported
or Web-Assisted
Sum:
#
stud.
50
1552
1
11
4
22
3
80
58
1665
2005
66
1
#
stud.
2088
6
2006
62
#
stud.
2094
2007
65
#
stud.
2423
2008
# stud.
3
34
76
2919
1
1
3
22
2
34
10
182
5
54
34
1179
45
1095
50
2586
52
3517
101
3273
112
3245
125
5191
137
6525
 Curriculum
 Con Ed
o Evaluation criteria and Evaluation decision making
The choice of Learning Management System’s is the responsibility of
Learning Technologies. The decision to move to Moodle was made by the
Learning Technologies Department with the consent of the Curriculum VP
and the Deans.
o Team approach (membership) N/A
 Internal
 IT support
o Hardware
o Operating system
o Datatel compatibility
o Staff time investment
 IT security


 Academic leaders
 DL involvement
 Planning
 Business Office
 External: Classroom Revolution was contacted to provide Moodle
admin training for Learning Technologies staff and a demonstration
of Moodle for the VP and Deans
 Vendor Classroom Revolution
 Colleagues
 System Office
 UNC institutions
Assessment instruments & process: The features, capabilities, and userfriendliness of the interface were important considerations as well as an effective
process for converting courses from Blackboard to Moodle.
o Instruments
o Processes
o Faculty & support staff involvement
o Leadership
o Performance measures
o Time line
Migration strategy: All the courses which we had on Blackboard were archived
and saved on disks for future reference and use. We prioritized the course needs
and started converting courses.
o Plan, procedure, process
o Orientation, training & support
 Moodle admin
 Faculty: We contracted with Classroom Revolution to provided two
days of on-site training with Faculty and two days of online training
with adjunct faculty. Content of the training:
1. Moodle Overview
 Features of Moodle
o Structure of the Interface
o Calendar Block
o Message Block
o Online Users Block
o Adding and Creating Blocks
 Course Management
o Course Administration Block, be sure to discuss the Gradebook and Log
2. Hands-On Moodle Activities
 Activities
o Create Typical Activities i.e. Assignments and Forums
 Discuss Glossary
 Discuss Quizzes and Question Pool Transfer

Resources
o Create Typical Resources i.e. web page, link to a file, or link to a web page
3. Blackboard to Moodle Course Conversion
 Download Blackboard Export File (Save to a Convenient Location)
 Upload this file to the SFSU tool
 Transfer Items
o Discuss items NOT to transfer
 Create Moodle Zip File
 Upload it to Your course
 Restore the course
 Check course elements
4. Transfer of Question Pools
 Export Pool from Blackboard course (Save to a Convenient Location0
 Create appropriate Pool categories in your Moodle course
 Import Questions to Corresponding Category
5. Discuss Strategy for dealing with courses that will not export or upload
6. Working with your Moodle Course and Assisting Instructors with Setting up their course(s)
 Discuss best practices for teaching a Moodle course
 Creating Quizzes (Tests) form their transferred pools
 Creating new or Re-creating Activities that did not transfer properly
o Creating Activities so they will appear in the gradebook
 Adding new or editing resources
 Customizing your Moodle course
Students: None, student had very minimal problems with the transition
o Course migration:
1. Our first attempt for course conversion was the SFSU tool which was not
satisfactory because test banks did not transfer and a lot of editing was required.
Assignments and exams still need to be created in Moodle.
2. The best way to transfer a course is copy and paste materials, re-creating items
and editing. Test banks still need to be imported, many Blackboard files would
not import. Book publishers were contacted for electronic versions which were
capable of being exported as WebCT banks. The WebCT banks import the best.
If there are images in any of the materials they must be uploaded into the files
area and linked manually.
a. This is an ongoing process as we are continuing to revise and create
courses in Moodle. When there is no other workable alternative we
manually create materials such as test banks.
3. The content in archived Blackboard courses can be viewed using bFree, then
copied and pasted into a Moodle course. Assignment, exams, and test banks
must still be created through some other means.
 Individual course solution
 Departmental solution
o Time line
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

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Implementation of strategy: I would characterize the Moodle implementation as
successful. Students like the interface and require very little assistance with
course navigation. Faculty who have spent time working with Moodle are very
satisfied with it. The former Blackboard, current Moodle, administrator was
opposed to the change because of the amount of experience he had with
Blackboard. Now the Moodle administrator is a positive supporter of Moodle.
We continue to explore and incorporate more Moodle features. After
the initial implementation of Moodle for our online instruction, instructors
have incorporated Moodle Chat with god results.
o Successes
o Challenges/problems
 Anticipated
 Unanticipated
o Performance measures
o Lessons learned
o Recommendations
Total cost of ownership (TCO)
o Blackboard license + hosting costs: License $12,500.00 + >$40,000.00
annually for hosting
o IT support: None
o Reliability factors (down time impact): Minimal
Moodle hosting $9,000.00
o Datatel solution/compatibility: Queries of Datatel provide two files to batch
create and batch enroll students. These files must be run through a
database to put them into the proper format for importing into Moodle. This
process must be done manually. The process takes about 20-30 minutes
to complete and is run regularly.
o IT support: Datatel support is good.
o Reliability factors (down time impact)
Pre-migration costs
o Time: Three full-time people worked with Blackboard as a part of their
regular duties.
o Resources Hosting costs >$40,000.00 annually + travel to training events
o Other: Printed Resource materials for Faculty and students $500.00 $600.00 annually
During migration
o Time: Four Months*, 3 full-time people and 1 part-time person, were
expended in getting courses converted.



*6 weeks was spent converting courses for Summer 2008 and the remainder of
this time was spent converting courses for Fall 2008.
o Resources: $4,000.00 was spent on training
o Other
Post-migration
o Time: 3 full-time people and 2 part-time persons work with Moodle as part
of their regular duties
o Resources $9,000.00 annually for hosting
o Other: None Support and Documentation is Online
Reporting: This data is currently not available. As part of the college’s IEP, some
of this data will be collected starting 2009-2010.
o Performance results
o College documents
 Written reports
 Statistical reports
 Overview
o Interviews with CC personnel
 IT Director
 DL Director
 Academic Admin
 Business Office
 Faculty
 Students
Current status of orientation & training
o F2F & virtual resources Faculty assistance is provided F2F (usually for
new faculty) and through a Faculty Assistance Course in Moodle. Moodle
Chat is being used to provide individual training for some adjunct
instructors. Adjunct instructors can also get telephone support. Students
can get F2F and telephone support, if needed (this need has been
minimal) and through the Student Help Files Course in Moodle
o Documentation: Will be included with our IEP for 2009-2010.
o Partnerships
o Efforts to reduce costs
Appropriate college documents
DL components of strategic plan
Enrollment stats – in last two years & projections – response of community
Governance, work team structure, of DL admin & support
Isothermal
Substantial online registration increases
Leadership & support by current President, former Dean
Thorough communication & discussions by leadership & DL team
Development of Moodle Academy, created & shared by colegwent (share with Jonathon
Sweetin) and utilizes Sweetin’s faculty manual. Tiered structure (supplement, hybrid,
online, course developer) with quality standards/skill sets. They have a student manual
available at Isothermal Bookstore for $1.75 (print cost). F2F training only offered twice
annually. Online resources always available.
Total costs to Isothermal $8,900 for 2009-10 – tier three server/service via Remotelearner hosted at MCNC
GoogleApps via Moodlerooms – attractive pricing
Roll forward process - incorporate & standardize template improvements – examine
template to guarantee consistent components yet not stifle instructional creativity,
ensure first-time students are assured consistency