Integration eines Open-Source-Lernmanagementsystems an der Medizinischen Fakultät der LMU München: ein Erfahrungsbericht unter ökonomischen Gesichtspunkten / Integration of an Open-Source learning management system at a German medical school: a field report with an economical focus

• Main Authors: Hege, Inga, Pelczar, Iwona, Pfeiffer, Mona, Reincke, Martin, Tolks, Daniel, Fischer, Martin R.
• Format: Article
• Language: deu
• Published: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House 2010-01-01
• Series: GMS Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie
• Online Access: http://www.egms.de/en/journals/mibe/2010-6/mibe000110.shtml

Since 2004 a commercial learning management system (LMS) was introduced at the Medical Faculty of LMU. During the following four years the platform was hardly used by staff members and students. Therefore, in 2009 it was replaced by the Open Sorce LMS Moodle. Reasons for this step were a better adaptability of the software and the possibility for teachers to upload their material themselves. Our aim was to enhance acceptance among both students and teachers. During the implementation special emphasis was laid on the integration of Moodle into the existing IT infrastructure of the faculty. After the introduction of Moodle the number of active users increased from 500 to 5,060 (students and teachers). The number of courses raised from 14 to 90 (summer term) and 125 (winter term). Mainly static documents such as scripts and lecture slides have been uploaded, but also a few interactive activities have been provided. The calculated costs for using Moodle added up to about 20 €/user/year. In comparison the commercial system cost about 100 €/user/year because of the low number of users. The high acceptance especially among teachers showed that decision to introduce Moodle was the right step at our faculty. Evaluation results show that despite many improvements users still rate Moodle as not very user friendly. At the end of the summer term we faced technical problems due to an unexpected peak of hits. An ongoing adaption of the platform is necessary to adress these issues. The aim for the coming terms are to support teachers to provide more high quality interactive learning activities.