So, during a conversation I had this past weekend with a fellow ESL teacher, the question was brought up as to which was better for teaching online, "Engrade or Moodle?" I told the teacher that they both are AWESOME online tools for educators, and though they may seem similar, they are very different in application. Engrade is an extremely popular and user friendly online gradebook that allows students, parents, teachers and administration to keep track of student grades, attendance, progress, and assignments. Inside Engrade you can assign wikkis, lessons, and rubrics. Thought Engrade is an online gradebook, it is not an online course management system-Moodle is.
Under Moodle, a teacher is able to do similar features to Engrade, but take it a few steps further with the ability to submit homework and tests online. Moodle is designed similar to blackboard and webct. These online platofrms are designed specificaly for online courses. Though you too can assign a test in Engrade, you are limited to simple 'choose the correct letter' quizzes. Moodle allows different testing formats such as T/F,poll and paragraph questions. There is also the assignment hand in feature, which allows students to hand in their homework/classwork into Moodle versus students sending thier work to your personal or school email. If you are familiar with taking online college courses, then you should recognize the huge differences between an online gradebook and a CMS.
In closing, I believe that Moodle is more suited for having your own online course. Engrade is very popular and similar to Moodle, however, Engrade is not suited as a course management system for individual use or promotion. .#mr.ford
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