Moodle vs WebAssign

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Our analysts compared Moodle vs WebAssign based on data from our 400+ point analysis of LMS Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

WebAssign Software Tool

Product Basics

Moodle is a customizable, open-source training solution used by corporate organizations, K-12 schools and higher educational institutions. From interactive lessons for K-12 to complex courses at large campuses, it lets you create tailored learning experiences to suit your students’ unique needs.

You can track student progress using analytics and reports, and integrate with third-party video conferencing tools like BigBlueButton. Out-of-the-box capabilities include course creation, calendars, dashboards, text editing, SCORM compatibility, reporting, learning paths and group management.

Moodle is an excellent choice for small businesses with technical expertise or access to IT resources. Its open-source nature allows for significant customization, making it a cost-effective solution for those who can manage their hosting and support.

User reviews praise its flexibility, user-friendly interface, interactive features and cost-friendliness. However, its sharp learning curve and lack of certain capabilities, like video conferencing, could be improved.

Moodle’s starter plan with up to 50 users costs $130 per year, while more advanced plans range from $400 to $1,730 per year.t

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WebAssign is an online learning platform for STEM education, specifically designed to improve critical thinking and problem-solving abilities in students. It allows educators to customize lesson plans, building assignments and assessments tailored to students’ needs. Comprehensive analytics help assess performance. It integrates easily with many common learning and information systems already in place at educational institutions
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$130 Annually
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Tailored to your specific needs
$179 Annually
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Tailored to your specific needs
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Product Insights

  • Simplifies Data Exchange: Moodle uses open industry standards to support integration and content usage from third-party sources. It allows authentication via protocols like LDAP, direct database lookup, Shibboleth, IMAP and FirstClass. It also supports content import using SCORM, AICC and IMS Content Packaging standards.
  • Offers Key LMS Features: For those seeking an all-in-one LMS solution, Moodle is an excellent choice. Our analysis indicates that it delivers 82% of essential LMS functionalities straight out of the box, with only 5% of key features missing. Supported features include collaboration, mobile capabilities, reporting and dashboard, user management and gamification, and compliance.
  • Award-Winner: In the 2024 SelectHub Awards, our research analysts awarded Moodle best-in-class honors for assessments, collaboration, compliance, learning delivery, mobile capabilities, user management, gamification, and integrations and extensibility. it also achieved an 'excellent' rating as a user favorite.
  • Easily Accessible: Moodle offers features like text-to-speech tools and accessibility checkers to support learners with disabilities.
  • Provides Greater Customization: You can customize to fit a varied range of learning needs, no matter how specific or unique. Modify the source code or add functionality from a library of over 1,600 plugins.
  • User-Friendly: In our testing, we found that Moodle's interface is modern, intuitive and user-friendly, making navigation effortless. For organizations with learners unfamiliar with LMS platforms and limited training budgets, Moodle offers an accessible solution. The layout is designed to display all key features prominently, and all team members can effortlessly locate and access courses, resources and tools without the need for additional support.
  • Top-Performer: With an analyst rating of 85, Moodle stands out as our top LMS product, comparable to top-tier systems like D2L Brightspace and LearnUpon. It offers a comprehensive set of features, including collaboration, compliance, reporting and dashboard, and user management and gamification, all of which are fully supported.
  • Supports Collaborative Learning: Moodle supports social constructionist pedagogy, a teaching method that focuses on collaboration and active learning. It encourages students to interact with the course material and each other to create a more engaging and participative learning environment. Students can work together on projects, share ideas and engage in discussions and more.
  • Facilitates Community-Building: Attend online conferences broadcast worldwide to gain and share knowledge amongst Moodle users. MoodleMoot Global is an annual event where Moodle enthusiasts from around the world gather to share ideas, collaborate and learn from one another. This event is perfect for both newcomers and experienced Moodle users, and offers a chance to connect with like-minded individuals and contribute to the future of education and lifelong learning.
  • Provides Insights into Key Training Activities: Our testing revealed that Moodle offers extensive reporting features, allowing you to generate custom reports on nearly every aspect of your training. It offers insights into comments, backups, configuration changes, event lists, antivirus failures, logs, live logs, performance overviews, question instances, security checks, system status and theme usage.
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  • Customize Learning: Tailor courses to the needs of individual students and classes. Build upon existing templates sourced from academic, public and standardized test libraries. Control assessment parameters like number of attempts, evaluation method, penalty conditions and question value. 
  • Access Educational Resources: Access and implement a range of assignments, prebuilt exams, interactive videos and other study materials through partnership with top publishers. Modify as needed based on unique syllabi. 
  • Improve Accessibility: Accommodate visually impaired students through program compatibility with screen readers. 
  • Gain Valuable Insights: Allow students to explain their responses, providing insight into their grasp of basic concepts. Accurately monitor progress, identify areas of weakness and intervene. 
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  • Course Development: Create courses from scratch or upload existing ones to the system. The course builder tool allows you to:
    • Add name, category, start and end date, ID number, summary, number of sections, cover image, participants, tags, groups and other specific details.
    • Insert resources like checklists, files, forums, quizzes, wikis and more into sections. You can also set up virtual classroom sessions via BigBlueButton.
    • Add questions, files, competencies, course completion conditions, add-on apps and badges.
    • Generate reports to analyze competencies, log actions, live logs, training activities and course participation rates.
    • Import, back up, restore, copy and reset courses to reuse them.
    • Enable learners to request new courses and download course content.
  • Assignments: Use the assignment activity module to communicate tasks, collect tests and quizzes, and provide grades.
    • Allow students to submit any type of digital content, such as documents, spreadsheets, images or audio and video clips, or type text directly into the text editor.
    • Use assignments to remind students of offline tasks without having to make digital submissions.
    • Let students submit work individually or as a group. When reviewing, leave feedback comments and upload files like marked-up submissions, commented documents or audio feedback.
    • Grade assignments using numerical scales, custom scales or advanced methods like rubrics. Record final grades in the gradebook.
  • Forums: Use forums to encourage students to socialize, make course announcements, discuss learning content, host face-to-face sessions online and more.
  • Checklists: Allow teachers to create checklists and help students track tasks and to-do lists.
  • HTML5 Packages: Upload and add HTML5 Packages (H5P) to the platform. H5P allows you to integrate interactive content like presentations, videos, quizzes, games and more into course materials. Automatically grade questions attempted in H5P activities and record them in the gradebook.
  • Calendar: Log important events like assignment deadlines, upcoming meetings, and course start and end dates and more on the company calendar.
  • BigBlueButton Integration: Integrate with BigBlueButton and conduct live online classes, virtual office hours or group collaborations. Use features like audio, video, chat, slides, screen sharing, a multi-user whiteboard, breakout rooms, polling and emojis in real time. Record sessions for playback later.
  • Feedback: Design surveys with multiple-choice, yes/no or text-input questions to gather participant input. Keep responses anonymous if needed, and decide whether to share results with participants or restrict them to teachers only.
  • Notifications: Track updates and alert users when a new event occurs. Enable triggers for new course additions, upcoming deadlines, published grades, schedule changes and more.
  • Course Tracking: Monitor course progress and the number of activities completed by each learner. View their completed assignments, course start and end times, achievements and other details for each course.
  • Quizzes: Create assessments with various question types, such as multiple-choice, matching, short-answer and numerical questions, and include them in course exams, topic tests, practice sessions and more.
    • Configure options for multiple attempts, randomize question order from the question bank and set time limits.
    • Automatically grade each attempt, excluding essay questions and record results in the gradebook.
    • Customize when to display hints and feedback and correct answers to students.
  • Multi-Device Support: Access the site from any device via the free mobile app for Windows, iOS and Android. It's compatible with mobile layouts and can be used in any browser for a consistent experience.
  • Plugin Management: Manage all plugins from one interface for quick access. Provides plugins for different types of educational needs (e.g., universities). Connect with MS Office 365 and Google Apps.
  • Personalized Dashboards: Organize and access training information like checklists, badges, latest announcements, timelines and course overviews on a customizable dashboard.
  • User Management: Add new users, set user preferences, define user profile fields, upload user pictures and more.
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  • Question Analytics: See difficulty level, global attempt rate and average answer time. Modify as needed. 
  • Smart Assignments: Access prebuilt, modifiable assignments created by subject matter experts. 
  • Restricted Assessments: Ensure student compliance in remote classrooms through various measures. 
    •  Block access to browsers and other applications during an assignment with WebAssign LockDown Browser. 
    •  Randomize the order of questions between copies of the same assignment. 
    •  Secure assignments with passwords and time limits. 
  • Study Tools: Allow students to highlight important points, bookmark pages and add notes in eBooks. A “read it” function provides instant access to study materials. 
  • Collaboration: Share and collaborate on assessment questions and learning materials with colleagues using assignment ID. Create, review and group questions. 
  • Integration: Integrate with LMS platforms to customize content and automatically sync grades and other student information from LMS gradebooks. 
  • Error Assistance Tool: Assess students' responses for common errors and provide focused, actionable guidance instantly. 
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Product Ranking

#4

among all
LMS Software

#37

among all
LMS Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

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Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

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AI-based Capabilities Assessments Collaboration Compliance Content And Course Management ECommerce Learning Delivery Mobile Capabilities Platform Capabilities Reporting And Dashboard User Management And Gamification 21 93 100 100 92 50 80 100 100 100 100 0 25 50 75 100
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User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 4011 reviews
Good User Sentiment 29 reviews
86%
of users recommend this product

Moodle has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 86% when considering 4011 user reviews from 5 recognized software review sites.

73%
of users recommend this product

WebAssign has a 'good' User Satisfaction Rating of 73% when considering 29 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

4.8 (12)
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4.1 (398)
3.5 (24)
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4.5 (5)
4.3 (3249)
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4.5 (112)
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4.1 (240)
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Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Moodle and concluded it deserves the award for the Best Overall LMS Software available today and earns best-in-class honors for Assessments, Compliance, Mobile Capabilities, Platform Capabilities and Integrations and Extensibility.

Analysts' Pick Award
Assessments Award
Compliance Award
Mobile Capabilities Award
Platform Capabilities Award
Integrations and Extensibility Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Customizability: According to 80% of users who reviewed this, Moodle lets users add custom HTML and CSS, integrate with third-party applications, and select modules related to rubrics and outcomes.
Ease of Use: 90% of users praise its intuitive interface which is easy to navigate, especially for students. Its simple and intuitive features make it suitable for beginners.
Advanced Feature Set: 75% of reviewers highlighted Moodle’s wide range of features, such as course creation, third-party integrations, notifications and feedback, and grading rubrics.
Mobile Compatibility: According to 60% of users who discussed this aspect, Moodle's mobile app is very user-friendly and offers all necessary tools to support on-the-go learning. It lets users access course content, connect with team members, download learning materials and more.
Affordability: 80% of reviewers who discussed costs appreciated that Moodle is free to download and use and offers flexible pricing models for various needs.
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Immediate Feedback: WebAssign provides students with immediate feedback on their assignments, allowing them to identify and correct mistakes as they learn. This real-time feedback loop can enhance understanding and improve learning outcomes.
Algorithmically Generated Questions: WebAssign's ability to generate algorithmic variations of questions helps prevent cheating and encourages students to focus on understanding the underlying concepts rather than memorizing specific answers.
Integration with Learning Management Systems (LMS): WebAssign seamlessly integrates with popular LMS platforms, such as Blackboard and Canvas, streamlining the assignment workflow for both instructors and students. This integration simplifies the process of assigning, submitting, and grading assignments.
Variety of Question Types: WebAssign offers a wide range of question types, including multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and essay questions, catering to different learning styles and assessment needs. This variety keeps students engaged and allows instructors to assess understanding in multiple ways.
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Steep Learning Curve: Regarding this, 45% of users said Moodle has a steep learning curve for administrators. They feel its interface can be confusing to explore since it has a lot of features, and users need to know what they’re looking for to use the platform effectively.
Lack of Video Conferencing: 45% of users who discussed this con point out Moodle's lack of built-in video conferencing capabilities, which are increasingly important for online learning.
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Limited Free Trial: WebAssign only provides a 14-day free trial, which may not be sufficient for instructors to fully evaluate its suitability for their courses.
Subscription-Based Model: WebAssign operates on a subscription model, requiring recurring payments for continued access, which can be a barrier for budget-conscious institutions or students.
Technical Issues: Users have reported encountering technical issues such as problems with submitting assignments, accessing grades, and experiencing system downtime, which can disrupt the learning process.
Question Quality: Some users have expressed concerns about the quality of questions in WebAssign, finding them to be unclear, poorly worded, or containing errors, leading to confusion and frustration for students.
Integrations: WebAssign's integration with learning management systems (LMS) can vary, and in some cases, may require additional setup or configuration, which can be time-consuming for instructors.
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Moodle is an open-source LMS that's really popular among educational institutions like K12 schools and colleges. Its workplace version is designed to address various corporate training needs such as onboarding, compliance training and skill development.Moodle is packed with features – you can create courses, collaborate with learners, grade assignments and more. Plus, it works quickly on mobile devices so that learning can happen anywhere. We love how flexible it is, and it can be customized to your heart's content with HTML, CSS and third-party integrations.Its user-friendly interface is another highlight, and it is known for its intuitive navigation and ease of use, particularly for students. This makes Moodle a suitable choice even for those new to LMS platforms. A strong focus on social constructionist pedagogy emphasizes collaboration and active learning. And with Moodle’s large and active global community, you can get active support and contribute to its ongoing development.While its interface is great for instructors and students, we found that it may be complex for admins, and an extensive feature set can require time and effort to master. The lack of built-in video conferencing capabilities is another drawback, though the solution does integrate with virtual classroom tools like BigBlueButton.Being open-source, Moodle eliminates licensing fees, making it an attractive option for budget-conscious institutions. The availability of free plugins and themes further adds to its cost-effectiveness.Moodle is a fantastic choice if you're looking for a powerful and adaptable LMS, especially for education. Its multi-tenancy architecture supports various business structures and types, making it adaptable to different corporate environments. Its open-source nature, emphasis on collaborative learning, and scalability make it a viable option in the LMS market.

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Let's *assign* ourselves the task of dissecting WebAssign's user feedback. WebAssign garners mixed reviews, with a recurring theme of it being a powerful tool when it works as intended, but frustrating when technical issues arise. Users appreciate the extensive library of pre-built questions and assignments, saving instructors valuable time. The automatic grading feature is a major plus, especially for large classes, but several users report grading inconsistencies and errors that require manual intervention. WebAssign's integration with learning management systems (LMS) like Blackboard and Canvas is a significant advantage, streamlining workflow for educators. However, the user interface is often criticized for being clunky and outdated, leading to a steep learning curve for both instructors and students. Some users find the platform's customization options limiting, hindering their ability to tailor assignments to specific needs. Cost is another concern, with some institutions finding it to be a pricey option compared to competitors like Pearson's MyLab or WileyPLUS. WebAssign seems best suited for large STEM courses where automatic grading and a vast question bank are priorities, but instructors should be prepared to invest time in learning the platform and troubleshooting potential technical glitches. For smaller courses or those in non-STEM fields, the cost and complexity might outweigh the benefits, making alternative platforms worth exploring.

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