Susan Morrison Brent Lee Frank Fucile From Malaspina University-College Presented by
Introducing...... Moodle ! Moodle is an alternative to proprietary commercial online learning solutions, and is distributed free under open source licensing. An organization has complete access to the source code and can make changes if needed. Moodle’s modular design makes it easy to create new courses, adding content that will engage learners. Moodle’s intuitive interface makes it easy for instructors to create courses. Students require only basic browser skills to begin learning.
Moodle !...where did they get the funny name? M o d u l a r O b j e c t O r i e n t e d D y n a m i c L e a r n i n g E n v i r o n m e n t
Moodle Architecture Activities are at the heart of a course management system. Moodle was designed by an educator and computer scientist, with “social constructionist” principles in mind. Martin Dougiamas Creator & Lead Developer <ul><li>Former Webmaster and WebCT Adminstrator </li></ul><ul><li>Moodle came out of a PHD project in 1999 </li></ul><ul><li>Out of frustration with commercial software systems </li></ul>
Promoting Learner Involvement “ A constructivist perspective views learners as actively engaged in making meaning, and teaching with that approach looks for what students can analyze, investigate, collaborate, share, build and generate based on what they already know, rather than what facts, skills, and processes they can parrot. Some of the tenets of constructivism in pedagogical terms include:” <ul><li>Students come to class with an established world-view, formed by years of prior experience and learning. </li></ul><ul><li>Even as it evolves, a student’s world-view filters all experiences and affects their interpretations of observations. </li></ul><ul><li>For students to change their world-view requires work. </li></ul><ul><li>Students learn from each other as well as the teacher. </li></ul><ul><li>Students learn better by doing. </li></ul><ul><li>Allowing and creating opportunities for all to have a voice promotes the construction of new ideas. </li></ul>
Getting Started With editing turned on, the course creator can now Add activities from an intuitive drop-down list of module plug-in features. Moodle has a “modular” design so adding the Activities that form a course is a simple process: 1. Course creation privileges are assigned to the teacher. 2. Select from one of three course layout; Topic , Weekly or Social format. 3. Click “Turn editing on” within the blank course template. 4. Create the course!
Course Management Features - Activities Assignment Used to assign online or offline tasks; learners can submit tasks in any file format (e.g. MS Office, PDF, image, a/v etc.). Blogs Blogs allow students, teachers and administrators to have a public web log. This online journal has various settings to control who can read them . Book Book module makes it easy to create multi-page resources with a book-like format. Property screens guide instructor through setup when creating a new Assignment Assignment activity can require the learner to upload a completed project.
Course Management Features - Activities Chat Allows real-time synchronous communication by learners. Choice Instructors create a question and a number of choices for learners; results are posted for learners to view. Use this module to do quick surveys on subject matter. Feedback Allows you to create surveys.
Course Management Features - Activities Forums Threaded discussion boards for asynchronous group exchange on shared subject matter. Participation in forums can be an integral part of the learning experience, helping students define and evolve their understanding of subject matter. Students can Rate a forum post, based on Scales set up by the course creator
Course Management Features - Activities Glossary Create a glossary of terms used in a course. Has display format options including entry list, encyclopedia, FAQ, dictionary style and more. Journal Learners reflect, record and revise ideas and submit to teacher for feedback. Glossary terms appe