When our CEO and Founder Martin Dougiamas launched Moodle in 2002, his vision was to provide educators with a way to create quality education experiences over the Internet while freeing them from administrative tasks so that they could focus on what matters the most: creating great learning experiences.
Moodle was built as an open source platform and follows the four open-source freedoms because we believe free and open access to education is fundamental to creating a more equitable world. Twenty years later, and with hundreds of millions of users worldwide, Moodle LMS remains open-source.
But why is being an open-source platform so important? Read below the benefits of open-source software solutions and why we chose to remain community-driven.
Key benefits for learning institutions
According to BetterBuys, educational institutions might have to pay up to $20,000 in licencing costs for learning management systems. Open source software tools usually don’t carry such hefty licence fees and, like Moodle are generally free to download and use. For those who need assistance, ur Certified Partners and Service Providers provide expertise in customisations, hosting, support, and training. They take a lead role in transitioning or upscaling your online learning platform to deliver a scalable, reliable, resilient Moodle site with enhanced security and data protection.
Universities, colleges, and other educational institutions using open source learning software, like Moodle LMS, can benefit from continuous development and access to the latest features and improvements. They can stay at the forefront of educational technology without the need to wait for the release cycles of proprietary software solutions.
Open-source LMS allows learning institutions to modify and extend the software to align with their teaching methodologies, curriculum, and unique workflows. This level of customisation enables them to create a tailored learning environment that best supports their educational objectives.
We believe in the open source way and in making our technology accessible to everyone to enable quality education in all parts of the world. Moodle’s open source access guarantees that Moodle LMS will always be available for use and development by the community, regardless of any changes that may impact our company. We remain driven by user needs, working to establish an inclusive and tailored learning experience for everyone.
Here are the main principles of open-source software and why Moodle LMS will always remain open-source:
Reliable and community-driven
Community-driven development and peer reviews are among the core aspects of open-source software design. Open-source software often has a large and active community of developers and contributors continuously working to improve and enhance the software. The code then undergoes extensive peer review by experts in the community. This rigorous review process helps identify and remove potential errors or weaknesses, leading to a robust and reliable architecture.
Moodle LMS is built on the same foundations. It has over 1000 developers contributing to developing the software, coordinated by the core teams at Moodle HQ. These talented people constantly monitor source code, detect bugs, and quickly fix them through well-established processes, which provides better functionality while reducing vulnerabilities.
Promotes collaboration and creativity
We know that no learning institutions have the same needs. The approaches and methodology of educators vary, but they are all active thinkers who like to share, collaborate, promote, and engage in lifelong learning. Moodle’s open source approach to LMS has been instrumental in fostering such a collaborative and passionate community, supporting their creative directions and resolutions over the decades.
Since its beginning, Moodle LMS has drastically improved its features thanks to feedback and designs from tens of thousands of educators worldwide. Their numerous contributions help us innovate and evolve our platform in a constant process of improvement to meet the needs and challenges that educators face today.
Privacy and Security
Because Moodle LMS is an open-source platform, you have complete control over your data, including how and where you store it.
Plus, we embed a security mindset right from the start in all of our development. Unlike proprietary software where the code is hidden, our source code is constantly monitored by thousands of developers for any bugs that are detected and fixed faster.
You can also select your preferred Moodle Certified Partner or Service Provider in our network to provide a scalable, reliable, and resilient Moodle site with enhanced security and data protection.
Flexible and customisable
Open-source provides the freedom to customise the solution when necessary. It inspires creativity among designers and educators, allowing them to explore their ideas and inventions while also contributing to the rest of the community.
A direct result of Moodle LMS’ publicly available code is that any organisation or developer can extend or modify it into a custom solution that perfectly adapts to their needs, from adjusting its look and feel to implementing extensive integrations or a new functionality. On top of that, Moodle has over 2000 plugins contributed by the community. Plugins are components that users can install on the Moodle platform to add a specific feature, functionality, or appearance to a Moodle site.
This flexibility empowers users to build what they need. It means that Moodle LMS is suitable for all kinds of learning organisations and situations, from international universities with thousands of students to primary and elementary schools, students learning from a refugee camp with limited internet access, or government organisations training their public servants.
Being the central component of the Moodle ecosystem, Moodle LMS has consistently been developed through a dedication to pedagogy and a global community of educators and technologists, all thanks to its open-source nature. With hundreds of millions of users worldwide, Moodle LMS is the most dependable and customisable open-source learning management system available.
Transparent and long-lasting
At the heart of Moodle development is Moodle HQ, with teams of developers, designers, and staff focusing on growing our open-source software and coordinating the Moodle community of developers and users. The open-source nature guarantees that, even in the unlikely case that Moodle HQ ever ceased to exist, Moodle LMS software could still be available and continue to be developed by the community. The ideas and functionalities established by the thousands of brilliant minds who worked on it would live on!
The governance provided by our large community base and the well-documented design and implementation details will guarantee that Moodle LMS will be understood and maintained well over time.
Conclusion
With a team of in-house developers and supported by countless contributions from our growing global community, Moodle now helps empower educators in two-thirds of academic institutions and thousands of organisations worldwide with open-source technology.
As an open-source platform, you can completely control your Moodle site’s reliability, design, customisation, and longevity. Our Moodle Certified Partners and Service Providers can help your institution ensure a reliable, customisable, and resilient Moodle site for effective learning.
