Thread on a new model for collaboration

[Martin Langhoff]

On Thu, Oct 23, 2008 at 6:12 PM, Greg Smith <gregsmitholpc at gmail.com> wrote:
> The main idea is that there is another "asynchronous" concept of
> collaboration which we may be able to implement with less complexity
> than what we now call collaboration (e.g.
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/9.1.0_Collaboration_Requirements).

I think I have this area covered with Moodle -- if you look in the
wiki, I've described moodle as the base for the asynchronous
educational tools. Amadis seems to be a comparatively young project
trying to make a stab at the exact spot where Moodle has already
succeeded in.

It would be interesting to hear if anyone has in-depth experience with
Moodle *and* with Amadis, but from what I see, Amadis trails moodle
significnatly in

 - functionality - it is strictly a subset of what moodle offers
 - interop with many other tools - moodle's success means many other
tools are compatible with it
 - widespread community of educators - thanks to network effects...
 - widespread community of developers (core devs and contributed modules devs)
 - long term viability
 - moodle has an clear and strong leadership that is rarely matched

there are a least a few dozen LMS/CMSs of note -- but moodle is the
yardstick at the moment, and has growing momentum, so it's a hard one
to overtake.

Lately we've been having recurring conversations about the XS where it
is clear to me that you haven't seen or used Moodle. It's frustrating
for both of us as you argue for features that I know are there, but
you can't quite see "where". So I've signed you up for a compulsory
Moodle course with me as soon as I visit 1CC :-)

One on one. Mano a mano. You'll either understand why I'm so crazy
about moodle, or commit me to a mental hospital.

I am also planning to talk about this with the education team -- David
and his co-conspirators -- and I am very interested in their feedback.
>From prior experience with educators, I think they'll like it :-).
I'd like you to join those sessions too, not so much to hear me talk
but to hear them.

cheers,




m
-- 
 martin.langhoff at gmail.com
 martin at laptop.org -- School Server Architect
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 - don't get distracted with shiny stuff  - working code first
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