Moodle @ Purchase

Moodle @ Purchase Keith Landa Purchase College http://www.slideshare.net/keith.landa

Why Moodle @ Purchase? Focus on teaching & learning - Robust set of activities & resources - Add-on modules from the community - Moodle development pathway Costs - No licensing costs - Similar support costs Risk management - Risks of open source - Commercial products have different risks Integration - Other systems - Web 2.0 world Flexible open architecture

Background – Purchase – 2008 Liberal Arts and Sciences plus Arts Conservatories ~4200 FTE Web enhancement of F2F courses ERes electronic reserves

LMS review @ Purchase Fall 2008 : faculty task force established; faculty survey; discussion of selection criteria (functionality, technical requirements, costs) Spring 2009 : Moodle production system established; pilot Moodle courses (~20); student survey (key driver); ongoing communication; development of general sense among faculty that ‘we’re going with Moodle’…. Context : faculty dissatisfaction with Blackboard; superficial use of LMS; escalating costs Summer 2009 : summer faculty workshop series (new); course conversion and course prep; consolidation of electronic reserves into Moodle courses Fall 2009/Spring 2010 : transition year; immediate termination of ERes; one more year of Blackboard; faculty assisted to move courses to Moodle; ongoing Moodle workshops; termination of Blackboard at end of year

Faculty Blackboard uses
Distribute materials
Library services
Integration with SIS
Course communications
Links to external web sites
One stop shopping for students
Discussion forum
Gradebook
New media (blogs, wikis, podcasts)
Drop boxes
Student collaboration tools
Course reports
Self-directed lessons
Online quizzing
Real-time tools (chat, etc)
Clickers
LMS desired features No “killer app” tying us to Blackboard

Student Survey Responses

Implementation – course migration
Blackboard - ~1000 courses; ERes – substantially more
ERes – document download, upload to Moodle
Blackboard – Moodle can import Blackboard course archives (zip files), but…. (problems with the Bb archives)
Temp services staff - ~300 hours from May to Aug 2009, primarily ERes migration
Bb course migration on request during 2009/2010 year

Implementation – faculty development
Spring 2009 workshops: hour long sessions, various topics; early adopters; 28 faculty
2009 Summer Faculty Workshop Series: new programming, not just Moodle; half- and full-day workshops; stipends; 36 faculty at Moodle sessions
Fall 2009: Moodle Kickoff workshops; Getting Started, Gradebook, Learning Activity; 98 faculty

Implementation – server config
Virtual servers for production and for test/dev
More control over test environment
Windows Server 2008 x64
4 CPUs
4 GB RAM
30 GB C: drive; 100 GB E: drive
MS SQL and PHP

Cost comparisons Switch to Moodle saves us over $50K each year (Blackboard and ERes licensing costs) Risk management: self-host vs vendor host http://goo.gl/tQ5uX Blackboard Moodle Licensing $40K $0K Server VM VM Staff Fraction FTE server admin 1 FTE instructional tech Fraction FTE server admin 1 FTE instructional tech Course migration NA $3K onetime (ERes, mostly) Faculty development ?? $3.6K summer 2009

Community contributed modules Community Modules and Plugins page http:// moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?id =6009 Map activity Lightbox Gallery resource

Bringing the cloud into the course

Student Information System Library Information Systems Academic Analytics Campus Repository Enrollment automation Open advantages
Library integration
Reserve requests
Electronic resources
Senior projects

Focus on teaching & learning - Robust set of activities & resources - Add-on modules from the community - Moodle development pathway Costs - No licensing costs - Similar support costs Integration - Other systems - Web 2.0 world Flexible open architecture Why @ Purchase? Risk management - Risks of open source - Commercial products have different risks

Campus lessons - Moodle
LMS focus should be learning
Faculty AND student perspectives
Change is hard, and exhilarating
Choose the risk you’re comfortable with
Importance of community critical mass for open source apps
Clear roadmap for product development

Student Information System Library Information Systems Academic Analytics Campus Repository The View from 30,000 Feet

Community of Inquiry model
Student engagement
with content
with instructor
with each other
http://communitiesofinquiry.com/

7 Principles of Good Practice
Encourages contact between students and faculty
Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students.
Encourages active learning.
Gives prompt feedback.
Emphasizes time on task.
Communicates high expectations.
Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

LMS orientations
Example Blackboard course
Example Moodle course
Main page sections
Blocks
Moodle navigation
Course page mirrors class, integrated resources and learning activities
“Scroll of death”

Setting up a learning module
Defining the module
Using the section summary
Module learning objectives
Add a resource -> Compose a web page
Name and Full text fields
Window options
Creating organization: use of Labels

Student engagement w/ content
Context & student engagement w/ the content
Files: your private staging area
Linking to specific files
Displaying a directory (folder) / image gallery
File links in Moodle text
Media filters
Linking to web sites
Integrating with Web 2.0 resources
Repositories in Moodle 2.0
YouTube, Vimeo, VoiceThread, Google Docs

Discussion forums
Student engagement with peers & instructor
Student-faculty contact; feedback; active learning
4 forum types in Moodle (now 5 in 2.0)
Ex: single topic format; YouTube discussion
Q&A forum; reading reflection example
Rating discussion forums

Student collaboration
Reciprocity and active learning
Wiki activity
Configuration and use
Pedagogical considerations: combined use of group forum and wiki project
Database activity
Structured contributions; activity configuration
Commenting and rating
Glossary activity

Communication tools
Course announcements (News Forum)
Tie to Latest News block
Forum archive and email to class members
Moodle messaging
IM functionality within Moodle
Email notices
Permanent archive
Chat activity (eg, office hours)
Calendar and Upcoming Events

Assignments in Moodle
Feedback; student/faculty engagement/contact
Assignment types; configuration
Student and faculty views
Grading and providing feedback

Quizzes / Assessments
Question bank
Question types
Organizing questions
Question import
Configuring quizzes
Formative vs summative
Question selection
Feedback options

Course reports
Course logs
Participation reports
Activity reports
Student activity reports
Connection between reports and messaging

Questions? Keith Landa Purchase College SUNY 914-251-6450 [email_address]

Moodle @ Purchase

by Keith Landa

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