Library and Technology Services is considering switching the standard course-management system from WebCT to an open-source program.Perry Hanson, vice president of LTS, and Chief University Librarian Susan Wawrzaszek said they would like the University to adopt Moodle instead of WebCT Vista 3.0, which has been used since fall of 2005.

Brandeis first started using WebCT's CampusEdition in 1997, Hanson said and switched to Vista to accommodate the increased use of the program by faculty.

But Vista 3.0 has not been able to keep up with the demand, Hanson said. "We had very high expectations for Vista 3.0," he said. But the system's database grew by an unexpected 500 gigabyte this semester after all courses were first put on it last fall.

"It's growing at one or two gigabyte a day: That's huge," Hanson said.

"Because of the inherent structure of the database, it's big and unmanageable, so we can't back it up," Hanson said. This fact, both Hanson and Wawrzaszek warned, could make it hard or nearly impossible to recover courses should the system fail in the middle of the semester.

Both also reported that Blackboard Inc. acquired WebCT last year and provides "horrible, horrible" customer service, which Hanson also termed "nonexistent." Hanson, in comparison, praised Moodle, which he said is used by "tens of thousands of schools all around the world," for its "wonderful community of users" which provides online support.

Joanne Cannon Carlson, assistant director for Educational Technology Services at Smith College, which switched from Blackboard to Moodle last fall, described the changeover there as having gone "very, very well."

Hanson said LTS had brought the proposal before the Student Union Library & Technology Services Advisory Committee as well as the Committee on the Support of Teaching and intends to present the plan to faculty chairs April 12, according to Wawrzaszek.

While Moodle has the same functionalities as WebCT, "[it's user interface] is much friendlier," Wawrzaszek said. In addition, the standard Moodle package incorporates blogs, user-edited resources and support for RSS feeds, which frequently bring updated content to users, Wawrzaszek and Hanson said.

Prof. Andreas Teuber (PHIL) said he "was not a big fan of WebCT," calling its icons "too cartoonist" and "a bit dumb." Teuber, who said he was not familiar with Moodle, expressed interest in a more creative program with new features.

"Recently, a number of us on the faculty have gotten very interested in wikis and blogs," he said. "[WebCT] inclines you to do fairly straightforward, not very creative things.