Organizing Content in Blackboard and in Moodle 

  It is important for a Course Management System (CMS) to provide facilities for organizing class material. Scrolling through pages and pages of text is too discouraging for students. In earlier Course Management Systems (CMS) the class was organized by adding icons on the main page. However, this became cumbersome because it cluttered the screen and required students to click on an icon, which then may contain other icons, which in turn may have had other icons. It was just too cumbersome and students often got lost and missed information. Blackboard and Moodle have surmounted this obstacle in different ways.

Blackboard uses the sidebar, main area approach and Moodle uses a screen split in three parts with the content in the middle.

IN THE OPENING SCREEN
Typically, In Blackboard there is a side bar on the left as you face the screen.

It is customizable and the teacher can add or remove buttons. By clicking on the button students can navigate the content of the course. This saves the main screen for whatever option the teacher selects.

In most cases this is the class announcements, which can include a graphic. Announcements may contain a course link, which allows students to click and be taken directly to the material.

In contrast, Moodle does not have a side bar. It splits the screen in three columns. The main column is for the course content. The two side columns can be customized with Blocks such as calendar, messages, recent activity and people, which shows those who are in the class at the present moment.

Both systems have advantages and disadvantages. I like that I can rearrange, add and change the side bar buttons in Blackboard. I like the readily available calendar in Moodle, and being able to see who is online (the Participants block) and the recent activity. I don’t like the way that Moodle keeps all the course information in the middle of the screen with no really quick access. I don’t like that that Blackboard only allows one item in the space facing the sidebar. I would like to also have a calendar. Some faculty make the calendar the option for the opening screen in Blackboard and then have the announcements be a button on the side bar.