Trainers getting out of a muddle with online Moodle

Moodle, which has been being used primarily for professional on-line training and learning in the educational sector, has been striking a chord across the piece, says Ray Lawrence, managing director of HowToMoodle, which shows users how to take advantage of the open source software. Commenting on the company’s recent showing of the software at the Chartered Institute for Personal Development expo, Lawrence says: “I was amazed at the amount of interest. HR managers and training companies were eager to know more. Many had heard something about it, but only had vague information.” Moodle is used for on-line learning on some 40,000 web sites, but UK training managers have been slow to react. “They are used to proprietary software, but this is very often costly to adopt, with heavy licence fees that can be expensive if large numbers of people are involved. Many companies are struggling to cope with the rising cost of running their businesses and are looking for savings while not compromising on quality,” says Lawrence. HowToMoodle is based at the e-innovation centre at the Telford campus of Wolverhampton University and has been trading for three years. It was the first business set up to focus exclusively on Moodle training.