Pour plus de statistiques de l’utilisation des plates-formes, voyez ce billet Popularité des LMS et de Moodle en Amérique du Nord 2008.

Dans cette aventure de consolidation de type monopole, Moodle est présente dans le marché nord-américain avec 10% du marché. Mais sachant que plusieurs organisations ont quitté le navire Blackboard pour aller sur Angel, plusieurs quitteront à nouveau vers d’autres solutions moins couteuses, mais surtout plus flexibles. Moodle est très bien positionnée pour accueillir ces clients. Son seul défi, et il est de taille, c’est que les offres commerciales de service et d’accompagnement Moodle sont peu nombreuses. Il y a trois entreprises aux États-Unis (ClassroomRevolution.com, Moodlerooms, Inc. et Remote-Learner.net LLC), et une au Canada (Remote-Learner Canada) qui vient de fusionnée (anciennement Open Knowledge technology). Donc seulement 3 joueurs pour l’Amérique du Nord (États-Unis, Canada, Mexique) !

Pour plus d’information sur les répercussions possibles de cette annonce, lisez le billet de Scott Jaschik : Blackboard Buys Angel.

D’autres liens sur cette nouvelle :

Obligatory post: Blackboard and Angel

Blackboard Plans to Buy Another Rival, Angel Learning

# 1 RÉCIT FGA au Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean

Moodle FGA – Saguenay Lac-Saint-Jean

# 2 RÉCIT à la FGA dans le Bas-St-Laurent

Moodle FGA – Bas-St-Laurent

# 3 RÉCIT à la FGA dans en Montérégie

Moodle FGA – Montérégie

Il est intéressant de comparer les deux derniers rapports.
2007 Distance Education Survey Results (154/500 collèges et universités ont répondu)
2008 Distance Education Survey Results (139/500 collèges et universités ont répondu)

En 2007, voici le positionnement des différents LMS :

En 2008, le tableau suivant présente l’évolution de la situation.

Globalement, l’on remarque que les plates-formes BlackBoard/WebCT perdent beaucoup de terrain avec une chute dramatique en passant de 83% en 2006, à 77% en 2007 et à 59% en 2008. Moodle quant a elle est passée de 4% en 2006, à 10 % en 2007 et à 11% en 2008. Le plus grand transfère en 2008 à été la forte croissance de la plate-forme ANGEL Learning (8% à 22%) au détriment de Blackboard/WebCT. ANGEL Learning est une plate-forme qui est propriétaire mais qui essaie de créer un sentiment de communauté comme Moodle, une plate-forme en logiciel libre, qui le fait très bien. Je remarque aussi que les 2 seules plates-formes en logiciel libre (Moodle et Sakaï) occupent presque 15% du marché. D’ailleurs, Sakaï, malgré plusieurs millions de dollars d’investissement depuis ses débuts, n’a pas augmenté sa présence dans le marché dans les dernières années.

30 % des participants aux sondages disent qu’ils ont l’intention de changer de plate-forme, mais la plupart n’ont pas l’intention de bouger dans les 3 prochaines années. Par contre avec l’arrivée de Moodle 2.0 d’ici la fin de l’année 2009 et la crise économique mondiale, il devrait y avoir un engouement encore plus grand pour cette plate-forme.

Étant des statistiques nord-américaines, et sachant que Blackboard et ANGEL sont des entreprises américaines, il serait très intéressant d’avoir le même genre de statistiques dans d’autres pays comme en Australie et en Angleterre où Moodle est grandement utilisé. À suivre.

M.A.J. 23-04-2009

Marc Couture de l’Université de Sherbrooke, que j’ai rencontré au Groupe Moodle Québec, m’indique un excellent rapport sur un sondage sur l’usage de Moodle en éducation en Angleterre. C’est l’organisation OSS Watch qui publie le OSS Watch National Software Survey 2008 dans lequel se retrouve ce schéma (p.33) :

On remarque que Moodle occupe un espace important dans le marché des VLE par rapport à BlackBoard/WebCT et aussi à Sakaï !

Project Tomorrow, un organisme à but non lucratif qui a pour mission de donner une voix aux élèves concernant le système d’éducation américain, présente une liste des meilleures idées selon les jeunes qu’amène les technologies éducatives en 2008. Voici la liste en version originale :

1. Digital Divide is Alive and Well
   The digital divide between students and adults (including teachers and parents) continues to widen – despite all of the investments and professional development, our students are still powering down to go to school and powering up after school to re-enter the digital world.  Other digital divides exist as well between segments of the student population including gender, technology skill self-assessment and age.
2. Spectrum of Digital Native-ness
   Don’t assume all digital natives are the same.  The Speak Up data reveals that there is a spectrum of “digital native-ness” today with younger and older students exhibiting increasingly divergent tech behaviors as well as very different attitudinal views on technology within learning.  Case in point – a 5th grader is almost 5X more likely to participate regularly in a virtual world than an 11th grader.
3. Explosion of Access to Mobile Devices
   Today’s K-12 students are carrying “multiple computers in their pockets and backpacks” everyday.  Highlights from the data include:  almost 40% of K-2 students have their own cell phone, about half of students in Gr 3-5 have their own MP3 player and almost 24% of middle and high school students are carrying around a smartphone or PDA.
4. New Obstacles to Tech Use @ School
   Technology use at school is still a major frustration/disappointment factor for the overwhelming majority of students.  #1 obstacle to effective tech use (for the 5th year in a row) is school filters and firewalls – of course.  But the real surprise was this year’s #2 obstacle – teachers that limit our technology use.  The students told us in focus groups that they had better access to technology before their teachers received training on technology use!
5. Let Me Use My Own Devices!
   So, what advice do students have for their schools about improving technology access at school?  Across the board, the students say “let me use my own devices at school!”  Students want to be able to use their own laptops, cell phones, MP3 players and Smartphones for a variety of applications within instruction.  They, of course, want access to the network as well – from anywhere on campus and from home, too.
6. Online Learning – Defying Conventional Wisdom
   One-quarter of all high school students have already had experience with an online class – and that experience most likely was self-initiated by the student, not the school or the teacher. Adults say that students want to take an online class for scheduling or convenience reasons or to get college credit.  However, we find that the students have different motivating reasons.  Today’s middle school students tell us that the #1 reason they would like to take an online class is as a supplement to their traditional class, not in place of that class.  They want additional help in a subject where they are struggling.  What is that subject?  Math – the new frontier for online learning.
7. 21st Century Skills and Gaming
   Students say that the incorporation of gaming technologies within instruction will help them better develop skills in critical thinking, decision-making, teamwork and creativity.  How do they know that?  From their own “learning” experiences with all kinds of digital and online games outside of school.  Over 2/3 of all K-12 students are regularly  interacting with some kind of electronic games, averaging 8-10 hours a week in game play.  The devices vary greatly by user profile however.  Girls are most likely to enjoy computer based games; younger students thrive in a cell phone game environment.  Gaming is not just for high school boys anymore!
8. Technology and Student Social Activism
   While the majority of social network fans are using their MySpace or Facebook sites for standard communications (email, IM) 10% of students in grades 6-8 told us that they have created a special interest group on their personal website about an issue that they were interested in, 15% have participated in an online poll about world issues and 17% regularly use the Internet to research local or world problems.  Activism and technology goes hand in hand even in middle school today.
9. Wake Up Call for Our Nation’s Schools
   The greatest divide amongst students today in terms of their behaviors and attitudes about technology use, in school and out of school, is reflected in their own self-assessment of their tech skills.  The students that perceive themselves as technology advanced compared to their peers (average tech users and beginners) have dramatically different views on technology across the board.  This self-assessment divide follows through when we polled students about their own school’s ability to prepare them for the jobs and careers of the 21st century.  While less than half of the students in grades 6-12 said that their school was doing a good job preparing them for the future, only 23% of the technology advanced students held that same view.  This should be a wake up call to all educators – our most technology advanced students are giving our schools a failing grade!
10. The New Face of Personalized Learning – the Free Agent Learner
    The #1 trend we saw in 2008 from our Speak Up data analysis work and our focus group discussions with students all across the country is the emergence of the “Free Agent Learner.”  This Free Agent Learner is un-tethered to traditional school institutions, is engrossed in developing their own content for learning, regularly creates new communities for knowledge exchanges and social interaction, and is an expert in data aggregation to drive experiential learning.  The Free Agent Learner believes that he or she must be responsible for their own learning destiny since their school is not meeting their needs, and is empowered by a wide variety of emerging technologies to do so.  The Free Agent Learner is as we write and speak defining the new face of education for the next generation and still, with few exceptions, our schools do not even realize this new style of learner exists – at least not yet.   Welcome to 2009!

East Grand Rapids Public Schools
Michigan (http://www.egrps.org)
2,800 Students in 5 Schools
Main Use of Moodle: Grassroots Miscellaneous

Clarksville-Montgomery County School System
Tennessee (http://www.cmcss.net)
28,435 Students in 31 Schools
Main Use of Moodle: Professional Development

Arizona School Services through Educational Technology (ASSET)
Arizona (http://www.asset.asu.edu)
Main Use of Moodle: Professional Development

Valley Christian Schools
California (http://www.vcschools.org)
1,500 Students
Main Use of Moodle: Student e-Learning, Blended Instruction, and Professional Development

Eagles Peak Charter School
California (http://www.eaglespeak.org)
3,500 Students in 27 Academies and Learning Centers
Home School, Blended Learning