2008 Woodie Awards
Moodle: the story behind the name
Catherine Housholder
Issue date: 9/21/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Excuse me, did you just say the new Blackboard is called Moodle? What's a Moodle?
Controversy among students and faculty swirls over the name of this year's new course management system, Moodle.
"It's the dumbest-sounding thing I've ever heard of," said Megg Byrnes '08. "People are like: 'Are you serious?'"
Byrnes had no problems adjusting to Moodle but is disgusted by the name. For Byrnes, the title of the program is commercially important and the name "Moodle" just doesn't sit well with her.
"The name lacks so much integrity that I don't want to use it," she said. An equally efficient and user-friendly-titled program would sell much better to elite colleges and universities.
Many faculty agree and several Smith professors are joking about it in their classes.
Professor Jay Garfield of the philosophy department said the name Moodle is "embarrassing."
"I think it sounds stupid," he said. "It sounds like a noodle. It's a stupid name for a serious piece of software."
Professor Jim Henle, who team-teaches Logic 100 with Garfield, loves the name Moodle. He said that in the past his students studied "modal logic."
"Well, this year, there may be some Moodle logic!" he joked.
Professor John Brady said he would have chosen a different name. One student asked him if it was related to Google, the famous Internet search engine. He concluded that the name has no importance, especially since Moodle works across the college and saves time. Garfield agrees and said the Moodle name controversy is "pretty small potatoes."
According to Assistant ETS Director Joanne Cannon, "Moodle" is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. As a verb, "moodle" means "to meander lazily through something or to do things as it occurs to you to do them." "Moodle" is also a noun: "an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity." Those who use Moodle, including Smith students and professors, are called "moodlers."
Controversy among students and faculty swirls over the name of this year's new course management system, Moodle.
"It's the dumbest-sounding thing I've ever heard of," said Megg Byrnes '08. "People are like: 'Are you serious?'"
Byrnes had no problems adjusting to Moodle but is disgusted by the name. For Byrnes, the title of the program is commercially important and the name "Moodle" just doesn't sit well with her.
"The name lacks so much integrity that I don't want to use it," she said. An equally efficient and user-friendly-titled program would sell much better to elite colleges and universities.
Many faculty agree and several Smith professors are joking about it in their classes.
Professor Jay Garfield of the philosophy department said the name Moodle is "embarrassing."
"I think it sounds stupid," he said. "It sounds like a noodle. It's a stupid name for a serious piece of software."
Professor Jim Henle, who team-teaches Logic 100 with Garfield, loves the name Moodle. He said that in the past his students studied "modal logic."
"Well, this year, there may be some Moodle logic!" he joked.
Professor John Brady said he would have chosen a different name. One student asked him if it was related to Google, the famous Internet search engine. He concluded that the name has no importance, especially since Moodle works across the college and saves time. Garfield agrees and said the Moodle name controversy is "pretty small potatoes."
According to Assistant ETS Director Joanne Cannon, "Moodle" is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. As a verb, "moodle" means "to meander lazily through something or to do things as it occurs to you to do them." "Moodle" is also a noun: "an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity." Those who use Moodle, including Smith students and professors, are called "moodlers."
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