This document compares two learning management systems (LMS), Moodle and Google Classroom. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each system. Moodle provides more comprehensive tools and flexibility, while Google Classroom is easier to set up and use, especially for schools already using Google Apps. Both systems allow teachers to communicate with students, distribute assignments, provide feedback, and track student progress online. The best choice depends on a teacher's needs and technical skills.

1. Comparing Learning Management Systems:
Google Classroom vs. Moodle
By
David L. Brooks
Associate Professor, English Department
Kitasato University, Sagamihara, Japan
d.brooks@yahoo.com
Abstract: A learning management system (LMS), such as either Moodle or Google Classroom, can
make ausefuland flexiblechoice for teachers who want to communicatewith their students in an active,
collaborative on-line environment, and for collecting and grading student work. This presentation will
compare the advantages and disadvantages of using both Moodle and Google Classroom as learning
management systems. First of all, a learning management system (LMS) is network software that helps
teachers manage students, teaching activities, homework, quizzes, grades, discussions, and resources
across the Internet to any computer with a browser. Whereas a course authoring system is more like a
putting a textbook on-line, learning management systems such as Moodle, and to a lesser extent Google
Classroom, are integrated instructional environments where students and teachers share materials and
engage in thoughtful dialogue.
A Learning Management System (LSM) as an Instructional Tool
A learning management system (LMS), such as either Moodle or Google Classroom, can
make a useful and flexible choice for teachers who want to communicate with their students in an active,
collaborative on-line environment, and for collecting and grading schoolwork. A learning management
system is network software that helps teachers manage students, teaching activities, homework, quizzes,
grades, discussions, and resources across the Internet to any computer with a browser. Whereas a course
authoring system like the ones described below are more like a putting a textbook on-line – similar to an
electronic workbook which can automatically grade the student’s work; a learning management system
such as Moodle, and to a less extent Google Classroom, rather, is an integrated environment where
students and teachers share materials and engage in thoughtful dialogue. While several different learning
management systems exist that offer the capacity for authoring and collecting student responses to
quizzes or surveys, their real value comes in coordinating the basic exchanges of gradable materials
between the instructor and students or between the students themselves for group projects and for aiding
in the efficient communication between the teacher and students (Canale,1983). Instead of having to
tediously open and collect e-mail messages and save files fromdozens or even hundreds of students, both
Moodle and Google Classroomallow the instructor to access these completed student items of class work
and homework in one networked application which organizes them for ease of evaluating and responding
to larger groups of students. In addition, the instructor can distribute and later collect assigned work, send
messages to all students, and get group feedback about class activities through polls and surveys.
Typically, the LMS allows for keeping and easily managing attendance and grades for assigned work and
tests.
Traditional classrooms are bound by time: neither the teacher nor the students have much time
to consider before responding to each other (Anderson, 1993). Furthermore, when the foreign instructor
comes from a culture that is very different from the majority of his students, the typical traditional
classroomcan be fraught with many opportunities for cross-cultural communication gaps (Jin & Cortazzi,
1998). The use of a learning management systemcan assist is ameliorating some of the intercultural gaps
that exist is such a situation (Kramsch,1993; Samovar & Porter, 2001; Kohls, 1993). With an LMS,
teachers construct activities for students to explore at any time of day. Students and teachers enjoy the
time and space to provide thoughtful, detailed, and uncompromised feedback to each other. With an LMS,
teachers can get closer to students by having better access to their work. Students, moreover, appreciate
having their previous work always available in the LMS, along with the feedback of their teachers and
peers (Cortazzi, 1990). A number of LMS activities open collaborative doors that are nearly impossible in
traditional classrooms (Brinton, Snow & Wesche,1989).

2. What are some of the advantages of a networked learning management system (LMS)? The
learning activities and tasks can be tailored more closely to the specific needs of different types of
learning styles present in every classroom (O’Malley & Chamot, 1990). In addition, in a multi-cultural
environment where there are students in the same classroom from different cultural and linguistic
backgrounds, use of a learning management system can help the teacher create a more culturally
accepting learning environment that meets the needs of diverse individuals (Meyers, 1993). Furthermore,
classroomdiscussions do not need to finish at the end of the period. Students and teachers can extend the
classroom beyond the constraints of time and the walls of the classroom. Students from one class can
discuss issues with their classmates in another class enlarging the pool of communication, as it is easy to
invite students from another school or another country to participate. Additionally, students who may be
reluctant to discuss issues in class have the time and place to compose their thoughts and enrich the class
discussion. Students and teachers save work submitted electronically along with the teacher feedback for
quick access so that no information is lost. Uploaded documents, links to websites, Power Point
presentations, and media files are always available to students. Student activity on the course site can be
monitored since not all instructional activities should have to be testing or the marking of student
responses in an authoring system.
The online learning management system (LMS) which this author initially used, was Moodle,
which was chosen for its many features that were designed for and by teachers. Moodle is a server-side
software application designed to help educators manage quality online courses. One of the main
advantages of Moodle over other systems is a strong grounding in social constructionist pedagogy that
encourages collaboration, shared activities, and critical reflection. Further, Moodle is Open Source
software, which means its costs nothing for the software except for hosting it. It runs without
modification on UNIX, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Netware and any other system that supports PHP,
including most web host providers. Data is stored in a single database: MySQL and PostgreSQL are best
supported, but it can also be used with Oracle, Access, Interbase, ODBC and others. Finally, Moodle is
available in more than 35 languages,so it is excellent for language teaching.
Moodle allows for a choice of course formats such as by week, by topic or a
discussion-focused format. There is a flexible array of course activities that can be selected and assigned
by the instructor: forums, journals, quizzes, resources, choices, surveys, assignments, chats, and
workshops (Cole & Foster, 2007). Most text entry areas (resources, forum postings, journal entries etc)
can be edited using an embedded WYSIWYG HTML editor. All grades for forums, journals, quizzes and
assignments can be viewed on one page and downloaded as a spreadsheet file. Full user logging and
tracking is provided so that activity reports for each student are available with graphs and details about
each module (last access, number of times read) as well as a detailed "story" of each student’s
involvement including postings and journal entries on one page. Copies of forum posts, teacher feedback
etc can be emailed in HTML or plain text to students directly. There are custom scales so teachers can
define their own method to be used for grading the forums, assignments and journals.
Built-in surveys have been useful as instruments for analyzing online classes. Survey data is
downloadable as an Excel spreadsheet or CSV text file. Moodle also allows peer assessment of
documents, and the teacher can manage and grade the peer assessment process. This is particularly useful
int this author’s required English course in Speech Communication where students frequently perform
role plays, speeches, discussions for the other students or are asked to peer edit each other’s written work.
Moodle supports display of any electronic content, Word, Power Point, Flash, video, audio files, graphs,
etc, can be uploaded and managed on the server, or created on the fly using web forms (text or HTML)
(Cole & Foster, 2007). External content on the web can be linked to or seamlessly included within the
course interface. External web applications can be linked in with data passed to them (Halvorsen &
Gettings, 1996). Students can upload their assignments in any file format to the server and they are
date-stamped. For each particular assignment, the whole class can be assessed (grade and comment) on
one page in one form. Teacher feedback is appended to the assignment page for each student, and
notification is mailed out. Built-in surveys have been useful as instruments for analyzing online classes .
Survey data is downloadable as an Excel spreadsheet or CSV text file. Moodle also allows peer
assessment ofdocuments, and the teacher can manage and grade the peer assessment process.
The Advantages Of Moodle As A Comprehensive Assessment Tool
While several Web-based assessment tools are introduced, the workshop focuses primarily on the
assessment features of Moodle, a learning management system (LMS) which is particularly well-suited
for foreign language teaching. Moodle is an increasingly popular LMS for schools and colleges, which

3. rivals Blackboard and WebCT in features and suitability for Japanese language instruction. Not only is it
free Open Source software, but it is based on a social constructivist theory of instruction. There is a
simple to use test-making module within it for creating powerful online tests that include use of media
files, multiple question formats, and both simple and sophisticated grading functions (Cole & Foster,
2007). In addition, Hot Potatoes quizzes and exercises can be incorporated directly into Moodle. Further,
it has some in-built modules making it superior for self and peer assessments of student work or
performances. It allows for flexible incorporation of teacher evaluation, self-assessment, and peer
assessment in determining grades. The Workshop module of Moodle provides a tool for student
submission of written work or recorded performances (audio or video files), but scores can also be
assigned for many online tasks, such participation in an online discussion (Brooks, 1999). The teacher can
also design the type of assessment and the evaluation criteria. One disadvantage is that Moodle is only a
server side application. Fortunately, however, it is becoming widely popular and is relatively easy to
install and maintain and is also being offered by third-party web hosting services at a very reasonable cost
(Hadley, 1993).
The Ubiquitousness and Ease of Use are the Main Advantages of Google
Classroom
Many school and universities already make use of Google Apps for email, and as an
alternative or substitute for desktop applications, equivalent to Word, Excel and Power Point, as well as
for other powerful online tools that integrate with teacher’s classroom requirements. Therefore, Google
Classroom makes an excellent choice for both those who are novices to learning management systems
and for those computer savvy teachers who have various levels of experience with using e-learning in
their teaching. Google Classroom is a free web-based learning management platform that integrates the
Google Apps for Education account with all the Google Apps services, including Google Docs, Gmail,
and Google Calendar. Google Classroom can provide a platform of learning management that can be
tailored to various types of courses, including language classes, content-area courses, and
process-oriented training classes (Stryker & Leaver, 1997; Widdowson, 1978).
Like Moodle, Google Classroom saves time and paper, and makes it easy to create classes,
distribute assignments, communicate, and stay organized. Classroomdoes lack an important functionality
that Moodle has: the ability to create quizzes and tests that provide online assessment tools for assessing
student learning quickly and using various types of online questions. However, the capacity to create
student quizzes and tests can be created for use in Google Classroom through Google Docs. You can see
an example of how this can be done at: http://www.olejarz.com/handouts/formquiz.pdf
In addition, Google classroom teachers can quickly see who has or hasn't completed the
course assignments, and provide direct, real-time feedback and grades within each Google
Classroom. Teachers can reuse posts fromprevious classes that they taught or co-taught since there can be
multiple teachers for each Google Classroom (EdTech Team, 2015). In Google Classroom, teachers can
create short answer questions to start class discussions. Classroom is only available for students and
teachers with a school-provided Google Apps for Education account. Users with mobile phones can
employ the Android App or the Iphone App to use Google Classroom on the go (Scheffer, 2014).
There are several benefits of using Google Classroom (Zhang, 2015) :１）Classroom is easy to
set up: Teachers can add students directly or share a code with their class to join. It takes just minutes to
set up. 2) Classroom saves time: The simple, paperless assignment workflow allows teachers to create,
review, and grade assignments quickly, and keep them all in one place. 3) Classroom improves
organization and management of student work: Students can see all of their assignments on an
assignments page, and all class materials are automatically filed into folders in Google Drive. 4)
Classroom enhances communication: Classroom allows teachers to send announcements and start class
discussions instantly. Students can share resources with each other or provide answers to questions on the
course stream. 5) Google Classroom is affordable and secure: Like the rest of our Google Apps for
Education services, Classroom contains no ads, never uses your content or student data for advertising
purposes,and is free for schools.
Which LMS is the best choice for you?
Choosing the right learning management system is an important choice because it takes time,
resources, and there is a learning curve involved (Williams & Burden, 1997). For teachers who are just
starting out with e-learning and particularly if their institutions are currently users of the Google Apps for
Education services, then Google Classroom is the obvious choice. Despite its many excellent components,
there are several things that Google Classroom cannot do (at least for now, or not without a degree of

4. effort to create a workaround). For those teachers, who need a more comprehensive set of classroomtools,
especially for those teachers who are not currently Google Apps users, then Moodle provides a more
comprehensive set of LMS tools that are both flexible and powerful.
Conclusions About The Role Of The Teacher In E-Learning
A. Interactivity is a two-edged sword. While there are several benefits for student learners, there are
also increased demands of teacher time and effort needed to implement e-learning.
B. Increasing learner efficacy demands an increase in teacher effort and vice-versa.
C. Establishing a new classroomculture (common sets of values, attitudes and habits) is a necessary
requisite and a by-product of e-learning.
D. Understanding and sharing solutions to deal with the positive and negative repercussions of
e-learning is invaluable.
E. While students need and actually want structure, they tend to resist being controlled through
manipulation or coercion.
F. Don’t expect all students to enjoy the closer scrutiny and increased proximity to teacher
interaction that e-learning sometimes brings.
G. Not all of your colleagues will understand or appreciate your enthusiastic proselytizing about
e-learning and online assessment.
Pitfalls And Provisos For Implementing Online Assessment
There are some pitfalls to consider in adding increasingly sophisticated procedures and
activities to your online repertoire.
1. It is very likely that you’ll be working long hours at some point, but it will be worth it.
2. The volume of work expands disproportionately to the amount of time you spend in making work
for others.
3. Balance the content mastery testing with process assessment in online and blending teaching. Use
self, group and peer assessment to help cut down workload volume and increase learner development
and commitment.
4. Online communication can be absorbing and alter your levels of intolerance for perceived
ineffective quality of communication e-competence or may lead to a loss of respect for those still
developing styles of effective communication (online or not).
5. What can go wrong sometimes – if not often – does. So you will likely feel a whole lot less
anxious by being prepared for both the worst of times and for the best of results. Plan for a back-up
systemin case things go awry.
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