WHITHER MOODLE? That’s the question raised by e-Literate blogger Phil Hill in his latest analysis of the market for learning management systems. According to his data, the number of new Moodle installations in higher-ed institutions across the U.S. and Canada has steeply declined. In 2010 it captured 41% of new implementations; “yet by 2016 the number was down to just 2%. And for the first quarter of 2017, 0%.”
Still, Moodle remains the second most-widely used LMS in North America, and continues its dominance in other regions. Yet how long will that last? “Instructure has signaled very strongly to investors that it plans to target the installed Moodle base, ” Hill writes. Earlier this month the University of Minnesota switched from Moodle to Instructure Canvas. “Ask Blackboard what happens when you take [Instructure] too lightly,” he adds.
Earlier this year, Moodle’s founder and CEO, Martin Dougiamas chatted with EdSurge about the nonprofit’s journey and future. “It was fun being the upstart,” he said. “Now I’d say that Moodle is fairly mainstream and that puts us in a very different position because we focus a lot more stability, on providing compatibility.
