Unisa hosts Moodle supremo

On 25 November Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor (VC), Professor Puleng LenkaBula, hosted the founder and CEO of open-source learning management system (LMS) Moodle, Dr Martin Dougiamas. In attendance also was Mathabo Nakene, the university’s Vice-Principal: Information and Communication Technology. The session was aimed at strengthening relations and progressive partnerships with one of the world’s largest LMSs.

Dr Martin Dougiamas, Moodle founder and CEO, and Prof Puleng LenkaBula, Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor

During the breakfast engagement, LenkaBula discussed the teaching and learning landscape of Unisa and how it gradually grew into the leading ODeL institution in Africa that draws students from all over the world by adapting to new technologies for teaching and learning. She also described the innovative ways in which the university mediates distance through the use of technology and innovatively conceptualising its curriculum and pedagogic system.

LenkaBula also said that output improvements at Unisa are the result of the reprioritisation of academic programmes and utilisation of technology to assist with decision systems.  

The VC lauded Dougiamas for his innovations, which she described as much-needed programmes that are widely used and valued by both universities and health systems all over the world.

Dougiamas thanked the VC for the brief introduction to Unisa’s history. He continued to detail how he sees Moodle not as a profiteering software project, but as a collaboration tool aimed at advancing learning in the digital space.  “I see myself more as a scientist than a businessperson,” he concluded. “We must fight the giant profit corporate attitude and rather focus on how we collaborate. That’s where open-source technology and learning come in. To me, Moodle has always been an experiment of how I can get many people to work together openly to build something.”

*By Godfrey Madibane, Acting Journalist, Department of Institutional Advancement