Rebecca Freeman (Life Sciences) & Lynne Bayley (Chemistry) Moodle: What, Why and How? Experiences from Life Sciences and Chemistry Rebecca Freeman (Life Sciences) & Lynne Bayley (Chemistry)
Drivers for Change: Life Sciences Complex assessment processes Monitor timeliness/quality of feedback Fresh look at online resources Platform for innovation Collaboration
Drivers for Change: Chemistry Respond to; NSS Other UK and international institutions Improve quality of feedback Improve quality of information accessible to students Personalise learning experience Enable more pedagogically designed learning activities
Why Moodle? Coherent – all teaching material in one place Provides a template and visual identity Easy to access and use tools Engagement with a wider Moodle community Personalisation – individual user identity Integration Single sign on Draws module info from SITS Links between Sitebuilder and Moodle Familiar theme
Learning, teaching and assessment Student information management VLE Student information management SITS (Tabula) Website, Student Handbook Sitebuilder
How? Life Sciences Chemistry Moodle for all UG modules, tutorials and labs 2012 Rapid mass culture change Roll out for MSc in 2013 Chemistry Moodle for UG labs 2012 Roll out to all UG modules in 2013
Moore’s chasm Technology adoption cycle http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Technology-Adoption-Lifecycle.png
Adoption strategies Quick wins/motivators Champions Basic training Academic, Administrative, Students Basic training Support Departmental resources ITS Wider Moodle community Sharing experiences User groups
What does Moodle provide?
Personalisation Information Roles Groups
Tools Static resources Communication Assessment and feedback Forums Messaging Assessment and feedback Assignments Quizzes Advanced tools
Communication Advantages Targeted Embedded Encourage engagement Types News forum/messages – information push FAQs Topical engagement – (discussion of current issues) Project collaboration Placement students
Diary Exercise
Assignments Integrated Electronic submission Electronic marking Associated teaching and learning resources Submission, feedback, marks Groups Electronic submission Multiple files Automated deadline tracking Electronic marking File based feedback in any format – pdf annotation, audio or Jing Easy marking
Quizzes Integrated Automated marking Manually marked Randomisation of multiple choice answers Randomisation of questions Tailored feedback Quiz behaviour can be designed to meet pedagogical goals Manually marked Structured questions On demand mark scheme and comment banks
Student feedback “I like working on Moodle and having everything do to with the lab course in the same place. Especially for first years, having the question and answer style for the lab reports is good.” “I preferred the Moodle style post lab to the full lab report as it was more structured and focused research and answers to specific concepts.”
Administration Grade management Controllable access to student data Online and downloadable Customisable set up Calculations based on weighting Viewed format (raw, percentage, 17 point scale) Controllable access to student data On demand and scheduled reports Submission dates Marking dates Student activity tracking
An early evaluation A lot of tools and resources in one place Increased the baseline knowledge of supporting learning online Encouraged innovation Improved information to and from students Improved quality of feedback Improved monitoring of information Positive impressions from academics, admin and students
Discussion Do you have any ideas for how you might use Moodle for teaching and learning activites? Do you have any ideas for how you might initiate the adoption of Moodle in your context?