Discovery Learning
Using Moodle & Web 2.0
Travel Guide
Nanette Stillwell
Pitt Community College
Greenville, N C MAEd., Instructional Technology - ECU
Certificate in Distance Learning – University of Wisconsin – Madison
Curriculum Coordinator/Instructor – Web Technologies
nstillwell@email.pittcc.edu

Treasure Map

Our Journey
• Brief Overview of Moodle
• Web 2.0 “built-ins” in Moodle
• Moodle Web 2.0 Demonstration
• Best Practices
• Resources

The Treasure We Seek
• Tools to foster the construction of
knowledge by students
• Methods to engage students with
course content
• Methods to encourage interaction
among students
• Ways to teach using technology
the students use

Moodle
• Why Moodle
– Open Source
– Student Centered
– Collaboration Tools
– Promotes Constructivist Teaching and Learning
Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software
package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators
create effective online learning communities.
from: www.moodle.org

Moodle In Action
Posting on Moodle Buzz
http://duckygator.com/2008/10/impressive-use-of-social-tools-in-school/
Let’s Look at the WEB 110 Course
http://pitt.ncmug.net/

Web 2.0 Audience Survey
• Blog • Skype
• Wiki • Twitter
• Facebook • Jott
• MySpace • IM
• RSS • Chat
• Podcast • Orkut
• Vodcast • Hi5
• Ning

Web 2.0 Student Survey
• 76 students, 1 course (WEB 110), 3
sections, ages 16-52 [96% 18-25]
• 93% have a computer at home with Internet
access
• 92% Social Networking –
Facebook/MySpace
• 36% Posted to a blog
• 0% Used a Wiki
• 5% Used RSS

Moodle’s Web 2.0
• Blog
• Wiki
• RSS
• Student Profile
• Other Applications available
– Sloodle
– WiZiQ
– iTunes University
– The List –LOTS
http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d=13

Moodle Bl0g
Blog Defined
• Personal Diaries
• Editorials on specific topics
• Community of authors
• Ongoing discussion
• Any topic
• Accessible anyplace with an Internet connection
Blog entries may include text, hyperlinks, video, and images!

Moodle Bl0g
Blogs for Learning
• Knowledge sharing
• Reflection of learning
• Debate
• Visit established blogs and comment
• Student created knowledge
• Creates community locally or globally
One of THE BEST education blogs: David Warlick
http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/

Moodle Bl0g
Blog Activities
• Reflection of learning
– May be individual or group posting
– Assign topic (such as literature themes, programming scripts, etc.)
– Have students post the information as described by the instructor
– Instructors should monitor the blog: correct mistakes, facilitate
more thorough reflection, prompt discussion if warranted
– Encourage or REQUIRE RSS feeds for the topic
Have students visit blogs at PBS, CNN, and MSNBC;
Then report on what they learned from the blog

Moodle Bl0g
Blog Activities
• Knowledge Sharing
– Divide students into teams or small groups
– Assign roles (or topics)
– Have students post the information as described by the instructor
– Students will learn their “topic” in depth, other students will learn
from the posting
?How does this differ from students learning independently?
– Instructors should monitor the blo: correct mistakes, facilitate
more thorough reflection, prompt discussion if warranted
– Encourage or REQUIRE RSS feeds for the topic
For examples of awarding winning educational blogs visit
http://edublogs.org/2007/11/26/edubloggers-and-the-edublog-awards-2007/

Moodle Bl0g
Blog Activities
• Debate
– Divide students into teams or small groups
– Assign roles (or topics); usually a PRO and CON team/group for
each topic
– 1 group of students may be assigned the role of “commenters” to
facilitate fact checking and rate the debate
– Instructions for posting must be very specific
– Allow comments
?How does this foster community among the students?
– Instructors should monitor the blog
– REQUIRE RSS feeds for the topic
– Instructors should close the debate with a summary
Model the debate blog after a lively news debate blog

Moodle Bl0g
Blog Activities
• Personal Project Journal
– Project assessment
• Provide strict due dates
• Provide outline or checklist of expected entries
• Tell students how much of the final project grade will be determined
by the blog
– Internship journal
– Service learning journal
A Project Grading Rubric is a good idea when the project begins.

Moodle Wiki
Wiki Defined
• A wiki is a web page
• Wikis may be viewed and edited by anyone with access
to the wiki
• Anyone may edit another person’s posting
• Wikis accept hyperlinks, multimedia, and images
• Unlike a blog where the users are authors or
commenters; Wikis allow users to be both editors and
authors
• A wiki is a live, evolving Web 2.0 tool
A Project Grading Rubric is a good idea when the project begins.

Moodle Wiki
Wikis for Learning
• Impressive collaboration tool
• Collection of information
• E-portfolio
• Student composition and editing using group
collaboration
• Progress meter
• Student engagement outside of the classroom
• Presentation tool
• Data collection
Check out Wikibooks.org for lots of useful information!

Moodle Wiki
Wiki Activities or Wiki-tivities
• Study Guides
– Assign individuals, teams, or groups specific content to post on
the wiki for a study guide. Other students may edit content to
make it more clear or correct mistakes.
– The instructor should monitor and grade the wiki
– An example: http://brianyearling.pbwiki.com/Of-Mice-and-Men%253A-Chapter-2-Summary
• Student Collaboration
– Assign a writing project to a small group. The group will then
collaborate by using the wiki to complete the project. Require a
bibliography and/or webliography with the project.
– An example: http://carbonfighters.pbwiki.com/AllPages
Study the History of Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Wikipedia

Moodle Wiki
Wiki Activities or Wiki-tivities
• Presentation Tool
– Research
An example:
https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Open+Source+Culture+Spring+07+-
+Student+Work
– Project journal
– Multimedia (Powerpoint, GoogleDocs Presentation, SlideShare)
– Bibliography/Webliography
– Assessment
• E-portfolio
– Professional
http://cis.apsc.ubc.ca/wiki/index.php/Jim_Sibley_Portfolio
– Student
http://www.danielgeisler.com/index.php?title=User:Daniel:Resume
Mahara http://www.mahara.org/
An open source e-portfolio application – FREE & Moodle Friendly!!
Should be hosted on a Linux server.
/

Moodle Wiki
Wiki Activities or Wiki-tivities
• Peer Tutoring and Mentoring
• Project Management
• Peer Review
• Course Icebreaker
• Pre-test for content
• Mind Mapping

Moodle RSS
Subscription Options
• Instructor may FORCE students to subscribe to a
forum, blog, or wiki
• Students may make the subscription choices
themselves
• Instructor may choose NO subscription for anyone
RSS Primer from W3Schools
http://www.w3schools.com/rss/rss_intro.asp

A Closer Look at
Moodle & Web 2.0
http://pitt.ncmug.net/
More on

Best Practices
Using Web 2.0 in Moodle
• Initiate students to the technology
– Tutorials
– Practice exercises
• Task-driven
– Within context of course
– Within context of students’ experience
• Assessment Rubric
– Provide before students begin assignment
– Allow student to assist with developing the rubric (in a
wiki)

Best Practices
continued
• Guidelines must be explicit
– Provide an example
– Step-by-Step for a big project
– Chunk the tasks into smaller assignments
• Establish Rules
– Rules for comments as well as authorship in blogs
– Rules for editing in Wikis
• Coach students to be specific and include media
elements
– Don’t judge the authors, rather guide the authors to better
writing through questioning
More on
– Media might include web sites, images, videos, etc.

Best Practices
continued
• Create a community experience
– Encourage participation
– Allow discussion to flow from multiple directions
• Discuss topics/tasks in f2f meetings as well as
using Web 2.0 tools
• Remind students of due dates often
– Moodle Calendar
– Emails
– Chat
– Moodle News
More on

No Moodle Yet?
Other Options - FREE
• Wikis
– PBWiki www.pbwiki.com
– Wikispaces www.wikispaces.com
– Wetpaint (a little different) www.wetpaint.com
• Blogs
– Blogger www.blogger.com
[a Google application, requires a Google account to login]
– Edublogs www.edublogs.org
More on

More Moodle 2.0
• Choice
– Poll
• Chat
– Moodle block show students onine
• Workshop
– Peer assessment tool
• Glossary
– Instructor and students may add terms to a glossary
– Searchable
– Instructors may link to glossary terms within the course

More Moodle 2.0
• Moodle Add-ins
– Sloodle
– Moogle (Google block for Moodle)
– Visoconference
– All Moodle plug-ins/add-ins
http://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?d
=13&advanced=0&paging=&page=2
• Searchable by type, version, name,
and more…

What We’ve Discovered
About Moodle Web 2.0 + Collaboration
• Supports Web 2.0 • Blogs
technologies – Knowledge Construction
– Blogs – Knowldege Sharing
– Wikis – Debate
– RSS – Reflection of Learning
– Conferencing Tools – Personal Project Journal
– Virtual Environment • Wikis
Tools – Student Constructed
– Multimedia Tools Study Guides
• Podcasts – Presentation Tool
• Video – Group Collaboration
– e-Portfolio

What We’ve Discovered
Web 2.0 To You LOTS of Web 2.0 Plug-ins
• RSS • Visit www.moodle.org for
– Subscribes students to complete list
blogs, wikis, forum • Know whom you need to
activities
contact at your institution
– Subscribes instructors to
to have plug-ins installed
blogs, wikis, forum
activities on your Moodle server
• Test plug-in before
instructional use

What We’ve Discovered
• Best Practices Using Web 2.0 + Moodle
– INITIATE students to the technology (without a grade)
– Activities should be TASK-DRIVEN
– Provide the ASSESSMENT RUBRIC early in the activity
– Provide explicit GUIDELINES for the activity
– Establish RULES for the activity
– COACH student throughout the activity
– Create a COMMUNITY experience
– Offer FACE TO FACE contact if possible
– REMIND students of due dates often

Useful Resources
Web 2.0 Resources
• ePortfolios
http://filamentlaunchpad.pbwiki.com/ePortfolios
• Wikinomics
http://www.socialtext.net/wikinomics/index.cgi?beyond_the_classro
om
• Educause
http://www.educause.edu
• ISTE Web 2.0 Resources
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/EducatorResources/Y
ourLearningJourney/Web20/Web_2_0_Resource_Links.htm

Useful Resources
• Edublogs.org
Nanette’s Soapbox – visit and comment!!
http://nstillwell.edublogs.org/
• The CIT Presentation – freely available –
Slideshare.net
http://www.slideshare.net/nstillwell/citweb20moodl
e-presentation
• Nanette’s Wiki on PBWiki – use it to experiment
http://nanswiki.pbwiki.com/