The open source learning management system (LMS), Moodle, has been adopted by many people and organisations around the world because it offers a tightly integrated set of tools said to be designed from a social constructivist perspective. However, what advantages does Moodle really offer over other commercially available LMSs such as Blackboard, from the perspective of the lecturer or the student? In this study, Moodle was used in five teacher education classes in Hong Kong in a variety of ways. The experience of these classes was evaluated by institutional evaluations of teaching and a questionnaire specific to the use of Moodle. The results indicated only a partial preference for Moodle over Blackboard. Implications for pre-service teachers are discussed.
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