Martin Dougiamas - Early Years

Early Years

Martin Dougiamas' primary school education was accomplished through an early form of what is now known as “distance learning." As a boy, he lived in the desert of Western Australia. As the only non-aboriginal child in a small settlement, he was enrolled in the Kalgoorlie School of the Air, which was located approximately a thousand kilometers from his home. He communicated via shortwave radio and every few weeks an airplane would drop off the necessary paperwork. The only time he saw his classmates was when they would all gather for an annual carnival. Reflecting on this experience, Dougiamas said “You learn to ‘widen the bandwidth’ that’s available to communicate through a narrow channel.”

Dougiamas started work in 1986 on early Internet and web applications at Curtin University, Australia. While helping faculty and staff use the Internet, he observed the many struggles that non-technicians had in utilizing online technology for teaching and learning. He also developed his own online course and improved its functionality over the years. When his university installed an early learning management system, called WebCT, he was frustrated that the software’s intellectual property restrictions prevented him from enhancing the system. This experience convinced him of the need for an open-source solution. Throughout the process of study and research for a master’s degree and Ph.D., Dougiamas began developing the set of online tools that would become Moodle.