Learning on the go will one day be commonplace at Northwestern State University.
Northwestern is switching to new course management software that will allow faculty and students to use their own creativity to make their classes better. NSU will switch from Blackboard to Moodle next July. Moodle is open source (free) software that allows users to make changes to meet their own needs.
"We wanted a course management system that was more flexible and could be customized to meet our needs," said Northwestern Vice President for Technology, Research and Economic Development Dr. Darlene Williams. "We will be able to use ideas from faculty and students on how to make the software better by working with our own developers and others. This software will belong to us."
Williams said one major advantage of Moodle is its compatibility with mobile devices. The interface has a different look and feel, but it is very user friendly.
"With Moodle, just about any mobile device can act as a desktop," she said. "Students will be able to walk around campus and access
hot spots to listen to podcasts of lectures, check assignments and take part in class discussions. Students don't want to be tied to a location to take classes. The flexibility of online classes eliminates time and place as a consideration and Moodle helps eliminate place as a limiting factor."
Students are glad to see the University adding to their convenience.
"I look forward to being able to use this technology when I enroll at Northwestern next year," said Ashton Gabrielle Granger of Washington, a senior at Academy of the Sacred Heart in Grand Coteau who plans to enroll at NSU in the Fall 2011 semester. "It is exciting in many ways. I think it is great to be able to access lectures and notes wherever I may be."
The University has been preparing for an initial launch this fall. Moodle has been piloted in classes for the past year. Faculty have been undergoing training to learn about the software¹s features. Moodle and Blackboard will run simultaneously while courses are transitioned to Moodle over the next 12 months.
Using Moodle will eliminate some software licensing fees Northwestern pays.
"Money is not the reason we made the change," said Williams. "There will be a tradeoff initially because we may not pay a licensing fee, but we will invest in other tools. This will also allow us to move further into a virtually hosted environment that will allow us to achieve energy and space savings."
Northwestern is equipping eight customized virtual classrooms with specialized audio and video technology capability allowing faculty to produce podcasts. Faculty will be able to record all or part of lectures and make them available for students to download and view.
"This will be a great benefit to students who might have missed something or want to see and/or hear a concept explained again," said
Williams. "The software will generate and is compatible with multiple formats, making it very easy for faculty to produce a podcast and for students to access the podcast."
