As you have probably heard,
starting April 30, 2008 Capilano will
be supporting only one learning
management system — Moodle.

Moodle is software designed to help
faculty create effective online
learning communities. Around for
just a few years, Moodle’s adoption
has been staggering: it is now
being used at 34,000 sites
worldwide (175 countries and 75
languages) by more than two
million instructors.

Not only is Moodle better and
cheaper than WebCT, but WebCT’s
future is uncertain at best. WebCT
was recently bought out by their
chief competitor, Blackboard, and

the company will not support our
current version of WebCT.
Furthermore, the version of WebCT
that we would have to upgrade to
is only a stopgap measure as it,
too, will soon be replaced with a
new and different product. With
Moodle, we can choose to upgrade
if, and when, we want.

Moodle’s popularity is due in part
to the fact that it is free and open
source software. Here, free is used
in the sense of liberty —think free
speech —as well as in the sense of
cost—think free beer. This means

Record attendance

The Capilano Blues women’s soccer
team upset the number one ranked
Langara Falcons October 28 to win
the 2007 British Columbia Colleges’

WOMEN'S
SOCCER

2OQOT - 2OGR

Athletic Association provincial
championships. This earned the
team the right to represent B.C.
at the Canadian Colleges’ Athletic

eft to right, Al Hovden, Susan Mangan
and Chris Gratham.

that we don’t pay any licensing
fees and are free to run, adapt, and
redistribute the software for any
purpose.

Moodle is based on the pedagogical
principles of social constructionism
—the idea that we build knowledge
and meaning most successfully

out of collaborative community
experiences and build things together
for others to view and use —and
includes a number of tools to
facilitate those types of activities.
You can use Moodle simply as a
Tepository for course resources, but
it really shines when used with the
interactive group activities.

The Educational Technology
Resource Centre is here to help you
convert to, or get started with,
Moodle. For general questions,
contact Chris at local 1780, or
Susan Mangan or Alan Hovden at
the Ed Tech help line at local 7960.

Many members of Capilano’s
community have helped us prepare
for these changes. In particular, we
would like to acknowledge the
invaluable contributions of Gerry
MacKinnon, Jason Madar, and
Tamara Dakic.

Association national soccer
championships in Halifax, Nova
Scotia. This is the eighth BCCAA
title in 13 years for the Blues with
Doug Abercrombie as head coach.

The men’s team was upset and came

away with the BCCAA silver medal,
losing to the Thompson Rivers Wolf
Pack. Blues women’s player, Sarah
Bolton, was named the MVP and
Tournament Best Forward. Corey
Birza from the men’s team was
named BCCAA Player of the Year,
CCAA Player of the Year and
All-Canadian.

bachelor’s degree applicants

contracts. Capi
_in_a wide range of international

by Dr. Robert Campbell

At its November meeting,
Education Council welcomed
new and re-elected members:
Laurie Jensen (faculty, regional
campuses), Dr. Tony Cusanelli
(faculty, Pure and Applied
Sciences), Lindsay Kasting and
Noah Fine (students).

Council also approved 66

(35 in Business Administration,
seven in Jazz Studies, five in
Music Therapy and 19 in Tourism
Management). Congratulations
to all. Incidentally, Convocation
is on November 27 at 6 p.m.
and 8 p.m. in the Performing
Arts Theatre.

Catherine Vertesi gave a
detailed report on international .
0 is involved

activities — from student and
faculty exchanges to tourism
development—in countries that
include China, Vietnam, Paraguay,
Japan, and Saudi Arabia. __

We also examined a proposal
from the Registrar to re-allocate |
the 10 faculty seats on Council.
Members will take the proposal
back to their constituencies for
continued discussion. Finally,

requesting that Capilano look

at the possibility of developing |
credit program ng in ae .

informer