Image from Morehead State Trailblazer http://goo.gl/DhUN4
Ralf Otto of Ruhr-Universität, Bochum in Germany provided me with a wonderful resource he’s created recently. Ruhr-Universität utilizes both Moodle and Blackboard (as a growing number of colleges and higher education institutions are doing) and over the last two weeks was charged with comparing the two LMSs head to head, he said in his message.
The comparison matrix covers 103 different aspects of the LMS and whether or not each is capable (and sometimes how). How does each measure up?
According to Ralf’s comparison Blackboard Learn 9.1 (SP3) and Moodle 2.0.1 are extremely similar in their capabilities in about 95% of the features and tools. With a few extensions and additional plugins, according to Ralf, the LMSs can mirror each other in 100% of the functionalities they set out to provide. It’s a great resource for any institution considering Moodle or Blackboard.
For the full comparison that Ralf created please visit: http://moodle.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/file.php/1/Feature_Comparison_Moodle-Blackboard.pdf
I’m not so sure this is a very reliable comparison. For instance, saying that Moodle doesn’t have graded blogs is probably true, but it is quite easy to create the same functionality using Forums or the Database Module – with more options, even.
This appears to be a very superficial comparison, at best.
Being a user of BB9 and Moodle2, I actually thought that the number of metrics Ralf compared is what gives this it’s quality. It’s value is that it’s comprehensive in the functionality that’s provided. He didn’t try to bend the rules to help one or the other “fit” the mold, instead he took them at face value and provided a nice checklist of the features.
Of course there are ways to bend/hack Moodle (and Blackboard) to new functionality and feature sets, but for an out of the box study, in my opinion, this comparison is pretty solid.