how we built a community around open-source software€¦ · martin dougiamas lead moodler...

Martin DougiamasLead Moodler

Executive Director, Moodle Pty Ltd

How we built a community around

open-source software


What is Moodle?

Initial directions

Other discoveries

Discussion

Growing a community


LMS / VLE / CMS


Open Source Software

Free to downloadFree to useFree to explore, modify and extendFree to distribute (under GPL)

Free to help with development Free to choose your service supplier Free to run a business using it Free to use something else!

And you are also...

Basic rights for everyone


Learning Platform

Moodle Core

Mods Modules

Course design

User contributions

Course Management SystemOther Systems

(Open Source or Proprietary)

SIS

AuthenticationPortfolios

Repositories

Payment Conferencing

Reports Plagiarism

Open Source


Statistics

54,000 registered verified sites in 215 countries

Registered sites contain 37 million users,3.7 million courses and 1.3 million teachers

At least 1000 sites have more than 10,000 users

Interface translated into 85 languages

54 specialised Moodle Partners


9378

4530

3397 3282

23541870 1845

1360 1283 1213

USA Spain Brazil UK Germany Mexico Portugal Australia Columbia Italy

Locations


33% 28% 13% 9% 4% 14%University Secondary School Company Independent Primary school Other

Environments


Software

Moodle Economics

Institutions, companies and individuals needing commercial services

moodle.comFunded by Royalties

Discussion, Free Support etc

Development,Documentation etc

Active UserCommunity(50,000+)

Moodle.org

DeveloperCommunity

(250)

54 Support Companies Worldwide


Moots


Initial directions

•A reason for existence•Open source license (eg GPL)•Development goals informed by philosophy•Benevolent dictator (clear, gentle, leadership)•A commitment to improving quality•A commitment to listening•Clear branding (SEO, networking)•Maximise users (easy to install etc)•Modularity / Customisability•View as a complex system


Other discoveries

•Support: Answer questions quickly•Get to know the people•Value all contributions - personal thank you!•Give public credit wherever it is due•Aim for consensus, avoid options•Encourage team play•Collect and publish community statistics•Document, document, document•Create an economic model•Create a governance model for development

decisions (eg think about source flowchart)


Your thoughts?

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An exploration of the use of an Open Source software called Moodle to support a social

constructionist epistemology of teaching and learning within

Internet-based communities of reflective inquiry

My PhD thesis


The main question that this research seeks to answer is: “How can the Open Source model be used to successfully

support social constructionist epistemologies of teaching and

learning?”

A secondary question is “How best can Open Source software come to reflect the epistemologies of the community

using it?”

My aborted thesis


Basic concept

People Software Tools

Community

+

ImprovingTeaching

Ideally with skilled facilitators


Pedagogy

1. Publishing content (Resource, SCORM)2. Provide a passive Forum3. Use interactive Quizzes and Assignments4. Wikis, Glossaries, Databases (collaboration)5. Facilitate discussions in the Forum. Questions!6. Combine the activities into sequences 7. Introduce external activities and games8. Use Survey tools and logs to study / reflect9. Give students more power (structure/grades)

10. Active research, communities of practice!


Our Community

moodle.org

Bugreports Ideas

Votes andDiscussion

QualityOpen Source Code InformationPriorities


History

1999 0.0 First prototype versions

11 / 2001 0.9 First pre-release version on the web

8 / 2002 1.0 Forum, Survey, Journal, Resources, Quiz...

8 / 2003 1.1 Backups, Workshop, Chat, Scales...

3 / 2004 1.2 Filters, Groups, Glossary, Lesson ...

5 / 2004 1.3 Calendar, Blocks, RSS, Media plugins ...

8 / 2004 1.4 Installer, Resources, Enrolments, Wiki...

6 / 2005 1.5 XHTML, Themes, Blocks, Gradebook ...

6 / 2006 1.6 Unicode, Database, Docs, Blogs, Reports ..

11 / 2006 1.7 Roles, Admin, Oracle and MSSQL, AJAX ..

3 / 2007 1.8 Accessibility, MNet, Forms, Multi-auth...

3 / 2008 1.9 Gradebook, Outcomes, Performance, Tags, Notes..

7 / 2010 2.0 Security, Media, Performance, Usability, Integrations ...


Main Benefits in 2.0

•Security•Performance •Media management•Integrations•Usability•New Features


Development processes

Core Developers

Ideas

Developer

ModulesRepository

Patch for core

Bugs

Documentation,Support, API

Review

Users

Module MoodleCore

Review

Test

Submit

Patches and Modules

how we built a community around open-source software€¦ · martin dougiamas lead moodler...

Documents