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A comparison of Edmodo, Sharepoint, Moodle and Glow. You are welcome to use any of this information with appropriate credit.
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VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Edmodo Sharepoint Moodle GlowSummary Social networking style VLE SharePoint is used
internationally to create a platform where teachers, students, and parents can share information. Also, school administrators can streamline a lot of what they need to do on a regular basis. (http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/sharepoint-server-help/videos-sharepoint-in-education-HA102040592.aspx)
Programmer’s choice Scottish schools standard
Pricing Free As per Evoke contract Depends on whether hosting moodle server locally or hosted by external company (UK based: http://www.e-learndesign.co.uk/shared-hosting/ ). Approx £1000 per annum for 1000 pupil school + setup fee.
Approx. £30,000 per annum
Advantages Free system Unlimited storage space
for each user (pupil or teacher)
Direct messaging between teacher and pupil – allows for learning dialogue
User-friendly social-media style interface. Pupils are already familiar with this
No programming required to set up
Workflows Team workspaces Coordinated calendars Notifications Document organisation Blog and wiki templates Change management of files Different access levels for file
viewing / editing Microsoft Office (web)
applications embedded within Sharepoint
Highly customisable Content can be scheduled
to appear on a particular date
Local / UK hosted storage options – covers data protection requirements
Large user group Collaborative tools
embedded within VLE Access to Education
Scotland resources Very secure storage using
Shibolleth authentication
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
App Store is active in US, coming to UK in 2013/14
TrustE approved for data protection
Content can be scheduled to appear. Posts can be saved to library for repeating content next session
Large user community offering CPD resources
Keyword searching (according to Evoke)
Disadvantages Content needs to be hidden / added manually within each group as appropriate
Automatic marking of tasks is flaky and sometimes inaccurate
Cloud storage in US – data protection implications
Collaborative tools – 3rd party e.g. Google Docs
Workflows need to be created by software development company
Storage limited to internal network devices
Without proper planning, group hierarchy can become complex
Limited collaborative opportunities
Needs programming knowledge to set up
Learning curve for user interface – more complex than Edmodo
Slightly expensive Collaborative tools – 3rd
party e.g. Google Docs
Complex user interface Clunky integration with
file management (Glow’s own Sharepoint?)
Limited number of webparts available
Very limited cloud storage (5mb file limit) in some authorities
Phased out December 2013
March 2012
I’ve only been able to use Edmodo and Moodle personally and have used Glow from 2006-2011 sporadically. In my opinion the drive for VLE needs to come from the teachers as each department may use it differently. I think that providing the school with a large system with many different ways to make use of it will initially confuse and could put departments on the back foot. They will need time to learn the system and to think about how they are going to use it to improve their individual classroom and because of the lack of instant impact may take longer to take advantage of the features we’ve paid for. This is what happened when Glow was rolled out to schools in Aberdeenshire and the apathy continues in many Secondary schools although Primaries seem to
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
have adopted Glow very well. For example, parental access to Glow is rumoured to be available later this year despite Glow being available to pupils since 2006/7.
I think that if we offered Edmodo as the initial solution departments could make use of it immediately as cloud storage for their classroom resources, allowing pupils 24/7 access to the files they need. Folders can be adjusted later and made available to individual class groups or made public to all. This could take pressure off the school file server (although a backup would be required in case of loss of Internet connection).
Update April 2013
Blackboard comparison has been removed in favour of Sharepoint.
Existing Glow functionality is being phased out in December 2013 and replaced with a new system. This system will apparently be available to all schools in Scotland (state-funded and independent) for free.
Use of Edmodo within Robert Gordon’s College has increased significantly since the start of session 2012-13 with Computing, Chemistry, Physics and Business Studies teachers joining the subdomain and setting up their own class groups. There have been over 4200 individual logins (not including mobile devices where logins persist if the app is used) by teachers and students since August 2012. Staff training has been delivered on a 1:1 adhoc basis or via departmental meetings. Feedback from staff and students so far has been positive. Edmodo has been unavailable on one occasion this session for two hours. There are occasions when posts do not appear in Edmodo groups but this may be due to the fact the school uses an obsolete version of Internet Explorer.
The Sharepoint solution for RGC may offer a more structured solution for providing pupils with access to lesson resources however it lacks the ability to schedule the appearance of an individual file or groups of files offered by Edmodo. With regard to collaborative features in Sharepoint, this may be limited to having access to the same files or folders but staff and students would not be able to edit at the same time (as is possible with Google Drive / Google Documents).
I think that Sharepoint could be a great fixed entry point for students. Department and extra-curricular group pages could be easily accessible from their own home page. Files could be structured more meaningfully than is currently possible with the network drives and, if keyword searching is made available, students and staff could find related information much more quickly. Blogs and wikis could be created by users which could provide appropriate evidence for Curriculum for Excellence levels as well as enable creation of individual ePortfolios which move with the student as they progress through their education at Robert Gordon’s. However I’m concerned that Sharepoint’s form of collaborative working will restrict teachers. Edmodo does not offer a more
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
suitable alternative at present as both solutions allow group discussion, however a service like Google Drive where multiple users can edit the same document at the same time seems a much more desirable option.
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Student
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Edmodo √ √ √ √ √ * √ √Moodle √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ / √ √
Sharepoint - √ √ √ √ √ √ √ @ - √Glow - √ √ √ √ √ √ √ √ - √
* Edmodo introduced embedded Google Docs in March 2012 which can be shared and updated by multiple users. @ Sharepoint offers access to shared files and folders only.
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
The text and images below were gathered during research. Please ask I Simpson for further explanation if required.
Pricing Estimates
Edmodo – Free
Moodle - Diamond Moodle Hosting
A system for larger institutions and training organisations. Typically this will support up to around 1000 users (depending on activities in use) up to around 50 active courses.
The main features are as follows:
10GB space for your files
Yearly price: £895 + VAT
Blackboard –
http://www.emergingedtech.com/2010/11/moodle-2-versus-blackboard-brief-comparison/
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Access to homework diary and grades
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Blackboard
Guest access http://blackboard.abcol.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
http://www.pearltrees.com/#/N-play-url=https%3A%2F%2Fexperts.missouristate.edu%2Fdisplay%2Fbb9%2FCreating%2Ba%2BRandom%2BBlock%2Band%2BAdding%2Bit%2Bto%2Ba%2BTest&N-f=1_4656646&N-fa=4319571&N-p=38566035&N-play=1&N-s=1_4656646&N-u=1_526164
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013
VLE Evaluation (April 2013)
Moodle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hrLNbifiGQ – Gradebook in Moodle 2.0
Ian SimpsonRGC 2012, 2013