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Beginning in 1999, Martin Dougiamas, a webmaster at Curtin University of Technology in Australia, grew frustrated by the existing course management system software and sought to combine his pedagogical and technical skills by creating a better alternative that would be freely available. Dougiamas produced Moodle 1.0 largely on his own. Dougiamas, who has a PhD? in Education and an extensive Computer Science background, is “influenced by the epistemology of social constructivism – which not only treats learning as a social activity, but focuses attention on the learning that occurs while actively constructing artifacts (such as texts) for others to see or use.” Dougiamas commits to creating software that is easy to use, recognizing that many users will be students and university professors unversed in technology. Upon its release in 2002, word spread and developers began contributing ideas and code. Originally envisioned as a course management solution for universities, Moodle was widely embraced by secondary schools. In 2003, the for-profit Moodle.com was formed to help sustain the non-profit Moodle.org. The Moodle software remained freely available.
Moodle is an open source learning management system. It is difficult to compile a complete timeline of Moodle’s development or description of its governance structure or sustainability model, as there is little formal documentation of Moodle’s inner workings. Much of this difficulty can be attributed to the fact that in many ways Moodle is highly decentralized, with community conversations, coding, and improvements happening simultaneously. There is no expressed process for implementation. In other ways, Moodle is a highly centralized organization, with Moodle founder Martin Dougiamas appearing to be the primary locus of activity. Dougiamas often initiates threads, announces developments, and writes code. There are seven “key Moodle roles” (including one titled a “knight in shining armor”), but these are all technical rather than organizational. There are around 20 “main developers” who “get what developing Moodle is all about and without whom Moodle would be a far lesser thing,” but the requirements for ascending from just a “contributor” to a main developer is unclear. There are around 40 contributors who are said to aid by engaging in “constructive discussions, support, testing and various chunks of code and documentation.” Nearly two hundred people assist in translation, which seems to be a position obtained through an expression of interest. Unlike other open source projects, there is no formal Board or voting system in place. It seems that users and contributors discuss features they would like to have implemented and the developers work on producing them. (A good example is the decision to create a calendar within Moodle.) It is a decentralized approach. Even conferences are generally planned by users who are enthusiastic about Moodle and take place without official endorsement by Moodle.
Before 2003, Moodle was completely volunteer-run, though it did accept donations to pay for basic operating costs. In 2003 Moodle developed its first strategic business model with the creation of Moodle.com, a for-profit company that licenses commercial service providers to support Moodle, sharing a percentage of their revenues. Upon meeting specific requirements, commercial entities would be listed as official providers of Moodle support, hosting, consulting, etc. In exchange, these commercial groups would share a percentage of their Moodle-related income with Moodle. This arrangement seems to preserve the open source aspect of the development of the Moodle product while allowing for further innovation as money can be poured back into the product and a core of staff developing it. The money earned through Moodle.com, donations, and merchandise sales, support the salaries of the six employees of Moodle as well as general operating expenses for the website. The overwhelming popularity of Moodle ensures that Moodle will survive, but its growth may make the establishment of a more formal governance structure important in the future.
Moodle is an open source learning management system. It is difficult to compile a complete timeline of Moodle’s development or description of its governance structure or sustainability model, as there is little formal documentation of Moodle’s inner workings. Much of this difficulty can be attributed to the fact that in many ways Moodle is highly decentralized, with community conversations, coding, and improvements happening simultaneously. There is no expressed process for implementation. In other ways, Moodle is a highly centralized organization, with Moodle founder Martin Dougiamas appearing to be the primary locus of activity. Dougiamas often initiates threads, announces developments, and writes code. There are seven “key Moodle roles” (including one titled a “knight in shining armor”), but these are all technical rather than organizational. There are around 20 “main developers” who “get what developing Moodle is all about and without whom Moodle would be a far lesser thing,” but the requirements for ascending from just a “contributor” to a main developer is unclear. There are around 40 contributors who are said to aid by engaging in “constructive discussions, support, testing and various chunks of code and documentation.” Nearly two hundred people assist in translation, which seems to be a position obtained through an expression of interest. Unlike other open source projects, there is no formal Board or voting system in place. It seems that users and contributors discuss features they would like to have implemented and the developers work on producing them. (A good example is the decision to create a calendar within Moodle.) It is a decentralized approach. Even conferences are generally planned by users who are enthusiastic about Moodle and take place without official endorsement by Moodle.
Before 2003, Moodle was completely volunteer-run, though it did accept donations to pay for basic operating costs. In 2003 Moodle developed its first strategic business model with the creation of Moodle.com, a for-profit company that licenses commercial service providers to support Moodle, sharing a percentage of their revenues. Upon meeting specific requirements, commercial entities would be listed as official providers of Moodle support, hosting, consulting, etc. In exchange, these commercial groups would share a percentage of their Moodle-related income with Moodle. This arrangement seems to preserve the open source aspect of the development of the Moodle product while allowing for further innovation as money can be poured back into the product and a core of staff developing it. The money earned through Moodle.com, donations, and merchandise sales, support the salaries of the six employees of Moodle as well as general operating expenses for the website. The overwhelming popularity of Moodle ensures that Moodle will survive, but its growth may make the establishment of a more formal governance structure important in the future.
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