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Moodle The Whole Kit and
Caboodle
Evelyn Harris & Kathy WolfordVance-Granville Community College
Introduce Moodle Share our migration experiences Highlight some of our favorite features of
Moodle
Agenda
Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment
Also a verb that describes the process of lazily meandering through something, doing things as it occurs to you to do them, an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity
Anyone who uses Moodle is a Moodler
What’s in a name?
Moodle Mythbusters
Moodle might be fine for small schools, but it’s not powerful enough for an institution as large as mine.
1. BUSTED2. CONFIRMED
Is an active and evolving work in progress Started in the ‘90s, first released in 2002 Moodle.org user community Moodle.com company website Moodle Stats as of June 16, 2008:
◦ 45,271 registered sitesin 199 countries
◦ 1,985,661 Courses◦ 20,535,286 Users◦ 1,912,476 Teachers
About Moodle
Background in Information Technology Began developing Moodle while working as a
System Administrator for Web CT Web CT and Blackboard frustrated him “There
had to be a better way” Went on to complete a Masters and PhD in
education. Moodle was his thesis project. “It is crucial to me that this software be easy
to use - in fact it should be as intuitive as possible. “ Martin Dougiamas
Martin Dougiamas
Designed to support a social constructionist framework of education
Learning is more effective when constructing something for others to experience
Students learn from each other and the teacher
Moodle is not constrained by what will sell well, so the code that is developed is often at the cutting edge of educational thinking
Moodle Architecture
Once Moodle is stable, it will be put under license. If it were any good,
they’d already be charging for it.
1. BUSTED2. CONFIRMED
Moodle is provided freely as Open Source software
"I'm committed to continuing my work on Moodle and on keeping it Open and Free. I have a deeply-held belief in the importance of unrestricted education and empowered teaching, and Moodle is the main way I can contribute to the realization of these ideals." - Martin Dougiamas
Is it really free?
The software itself is free, but the company makes money from it in other ways◦ Server hosting◦ Customization
Users are guaranteed the right to copy, modify and redistribute the software
The software is supported and updated by the company
More importantly though, it’s also supported by a huge online community of enthusiasts – Moodle.org
Open Source
There’s no documentation, training or technical support available for Moodle – you’re on your own
1. BUSTED2. CONFIRMED
Currently over 452,000 registered users (June 08)
Averages over 500 new users each day All of these people have a vested interest
in finding and fixing errors and making improvements to Moodle.
Moodle.org
Due to community effort Open source software tends to be more secure, more stable and more quickly developed than equivalent closed source (proprietary) software
VGCC adopted Blackboard in Summer 1998 Currently, 200+ active Blackboard courses
with 2000+ students Summer 2007, VGCC joined the North
Carolina Moodle Users Group sponsored by the Community College System Office
Moodle to date, 0 courses with 0 students
VGCC Background Info
Students find Moodle very user friendly.
1. BUSTED2. CONFIRMED
Student feedback at other schools has been very positive
Students just “get it”
Student Feedback
Overall very positive Once they get started they love it Course conversion is not easy Moodle is a mind-set shift; some handle it
better than others Instructors that tend to use discussion
boards, chats and group projects seem to be the most enthusiastic
Faculty Feedback From Other Schools
Moodle: Layout
List of Blocks
Here are some of our favorite Moodle features!
Moodle: Participants
Can filter by time since last activity. Can sort by all column headings. Displays pictures, if added to profile. Gives quick access to student’s profile &
blogs. Can quickly send messages to selected
students from this screen.
Participants Screen
Moodle: Resources & Activities
Moodle gives you two types of items to add. Resources are things for students to look at or
read. Activities are things for students to do.
Moodle ResourcesMoodle Activities
Moodle: Grading
Moodle: Reports
WOW, WOW, WOW!!! Can see details about every
click made. Can sort, filter and view in
greater detail.
Reports screen
Moodle: Message
A hybrid between instant messaging and email
If a student is online, when you send a message an instant message box alerts them to your message immediately
If they are not online an email is sent
You can message students in bulk from the Participants screen.
A Message History log is saved of all messages you send through Moodle.
Messages are automatically sent to student whenever you post grades.
Incoming message
Moodle: Calendar
Big WOW! Displayed prominently on the main course page. All due dates are auto-linked directly into the
calendar. Mouse over highlighted date for more info. Students absolutely love this feature. Events can be set at the school, class, group &
participant level.
Moodle: Glossary
Your students can post glossary entries or you can restrict this privilege to instructors only.
If a term in the glossary appears with-in the course, it is auto linked back to its definition.
You can turn this feature on and off.
Moodle.org◦ Moodle’s user community site
VGCC’s Internal Site◦ Will soon have a collection of Moodle
documentation posted.
Web Links