Moodle for Your Noodle

What in the world is Moodle? An open source Content Management System (or Course Management System) built around a sound educational philosophy. Developed by Martin Dougiamas, who was a WebCT admin at a University in Perth, Australia. Moodle = acronym for Modular Object Oriented Developmental Learning Environment

Why Use Moodle? Is open source = FREE!!! Has huge community that supports it at Dougiamas based Moodle on core theory of social constructionism. Dougiamas and his core team are responsible for what features are added next to Moodle. Is an alternative to other online educational course management systems.

What can I do with Moodle? Can be used as a tool for a simple classroom web page Is designed to handle the online environments for a university.

What else can Moodle do? upload and sharing of documents creation of online HTML content online discussions grade discussions and participation online chatting peer review online quizzes & surveys student workgroups student journals

Moodle Interface Logical site layout Shows courses in middle of screen Courses can be categorized into any grouping desired. Courses can be categorized into any grouping desired. Can show Calendar, users currently online, activities, latest news, etc.

Moodle User Levels Administrator has full rights to entire system. Teacher or Class Creator account has control of their class. Student is enrolled in respective classes. Also allows guest access

Courses – Teacher Management Must Click “Turn Editing On” button. Control over layout (by week, topic, or social) Can also control such items as the class name, the dates for the course, the category for the course, and if you want an enrollment key.

Compose a Text Page Compose a web page within moodle Link to a file or web site Display a directory Course Resources

Course Activities Forums Discussion threads Discussion threadsQuizzes Types of questions (multiple choice, short answer, numerical, matching, random, & calculated) Types of questions (multiple choice, short answer, numerical, matching, random, & calculated) Can allow students to retake and moodle can score it for you. Can allow students to retake and moodle can score it for you.

Workshops Student’s work can be submitted and offered for peer review. Student’s work can be submitted and offered for peer review. Uses a rubric for grading. Uses a rubric for grading. Assignments and Exercises Easy way for students to upload digital content for grading. Easy way for students to upload digital content for grading. Exercise requires student assess themselves before submission. Exercise requires student assess themselves before submission. Course Activities continued

Journals Like a personal diary. Like a personal diary. Students reflect on a topic. Students reflect on a topic.Glossaries A powerful word list that can be organized to be specific to a given course. A powerful word list that can be organized to be specific to a given course.Lessons Is similar to a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. The resulting page is dependent on the answer a student gives to a question. Is similar to a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book. The resulting page is dependent on the answer a student gives to a question. Course Activities continued

Wikis (come from Hawaiian term “wiki wiki”, meaning “very fast”) A collection of collaboratively authored web documents. A collection of collaboratively authored web documents. The class wiki community edits and develops its own content. The class wiki community edits and develops its own content. Grades & Scales Currently not real fancy in moodle. You can download your scores to a spreadsheet or other tool for analysis. Currently not real fancy in moodle. You can download your scores to a spreadsheet or other tool for analysis. Course Activities continued

Coursework

Using Moodle with October Sky Class discussed issues raised by the book in more depth than our typical classroom discussion Community of learners was evident: Students and I posted questions…we all responded to each other’s questions

October Sky - Discussion Topics

October Sky – A Good Book?

Poetry American Academy of Poets sponsored a contest during April, 2006 Students were required to respond to many different kinds of poetry Used both the forum and the log for this unit

Poetry Forum

Sharing Interpretations of Poetry

Analyzing Poetry in the Log Students did not need to share their thoughts with other students for this assignment The log is a private communication between myself and each individual student Useful for more formal, graded assignments

Poetry Log

Benefits of using Moodle Especially useful with large classes in creating a community of learners Eliminates the stress of “public speaking” Students provide each other with feedback (a skill that needs to be taught) Immediate form of publishing Conversations more on task Think time increases Greatly reduces paperwork

Difficulties of using Moodle Class management and etiquette Not all students had home access Some problems with logging in

Issues Dependable server Robustness of server and the system Learning curve Cookies Screen size To auto log in or not to auto login?

What does it need to work? PHP, MySQL, Apache Can install using a tool from called “Easy PHP”.