Moodle Demo at NJIT

Ken Ronkowitz & Blake Haggerty Instructional Technology Tim Kellers & Bhavna Vij System Administration

Schedule

Introduction & Background

Moodle

at NJIT

other Schools

Tools & Features

Overview

Compared to CE4

System Admin

Q&A

Demo’s in Moodle

Blake

Migration from WebCT

Medibotics - Facilitating Groups

High School instance, using quiz tool

Ken

Backup & restore, gradebook...

Moodle.org demos

Q&A

Moodle at NJIT

WebCT school since fall 2000

Over 4,300 students enrolled in at least one WebCT section over the past year and 300+ courses offered each semester.

Began piloting Moodle use in 2005

have created 110 “courses”

7611 users

Moodle at NJIT

Initial plan was to move to WebCT CE6 this year

Concerns about post-merger support

Hesitant to move to CE6 just to move to next generation Blackboard product later

Concerns about NJIT supporting Moodle at the proper level

Result: Continuing use of CE4 07-08 and concurrently continuing to pilot Moodle as well as work with CE6 testing.

Moodle was designed to help foster online learning communities. It has an active development and support group (very important for open-source projects) and has users in over 150 countries. Humboldt State Moodle has 12,288 courses and 42,121 users. BRNO University of Technology has 19,223 courses and 41,305 users. The Open University (OU) in the UK has converted all their courses to MOODLE for their 250,000 students. Recent converts to Moodle include UCLA, UC-San Diego, Smith College, Lafayette, Bennington...

http://moodle.org/sites/ Registered sites:30,027 (August 2007) Courses:1,216,472 Users:12,574,968

Moodle?

verb - the process of lazily meandering through something; doing things as it occurs to you to do them; an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity.

or Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment

Either applies to both to the way Moodle was developed, and to the constructivist pedagogy that guided the original users group.

What is Social Constructivism?

People actively construct new knowledge as they interact with their environment.

Everything you read, see, hear, feel, and touch is tested against your prior knowledge

Knowledge is strengthened if you can use it successfully in your wider environment.

You are not just a memory bank passively absorbing information, nor can knowledge be "transmitted" to you just by reading something or listening to someone.

Learning is particularly effective when constructing something for others to experience

Social Constructivism extends the above ideas into a social group constructing things for one another, collaboratively creating a small culture of shared artifacts with shared meanings.

More at http://docs.moodle.org/en/Philosophy

Moodle is provided freely as Open Source software (under the GNU Public License).

Basically this means Moodle is copyrighted, but that you are allowed to copy, use and modify Moodle provided that you agree to:

provide the source to others;

not modify or remove the original license and copyrights,

and apply this same license to any derivative work.

Moodle Support Recommendations

Planning

minimally, 2 full semesters prior to launch

Transfer of current CMS courses

Moodle accepts IMS course packages with some caveats

System Admin

minimum 2X current admin for a hosted/commercial product

User Training (3 semesters)

training materials with initial course transfers

faculty training (at least 2 semesters prior launch)

http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL Moodle Project Developers

Commercial Support?

Example: moodlerooms.com

support

hosting

customization

instruction

training

NJIT participates in this consortium which offers courses using Moodle – an incentive to explore Moodle more fully.

Exploring Other Academic & Corporate Users

Customizable Themes for Branding

Basic System Admin

Moodle runs without modification on Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Netware and any other system that supports PHP 4.3.0+

Designed in a modular way - allows flexibility to add/remove functionality at many levels.

Upgrades easily - has an internal system to upgrade its own databases and repair itself over time.

Basic System Admin

Requires only one database, generally SQL, and can share it with other applications if necessary. (MySQL 4.1.16+).

Includes comprehensive database abstraction that supports many major brands of database.

Emphasis on security - forms are all checked, data validated, cookies encrypted etc.

Log In authentication using LDAP

Overview of Selected Features and Tools

The Moodle interface can be displayed in either Weekly , Topic or Social format.

The Calendar allows you to enter events in various categories (User, Course and Site). You have the option to also show upcoming events, assignments etc., and recent activity in the course. Calendar

The Chat feature in Moodle will facilitate real time conversations between users. It can be logged. Chat

SETTINGS - teacher

Editing and Student View

The EDIT view allows the teacher to add content, edit content, add activities and resources, rearrange content, and “hide” content from students.

A Forum is a posting area where students can create or contribute to a topic with their own comments (AKA bulletin board or discussion) OPTIONS include: Grade posts, set open/close date, no reply, one reply only etc.

Lessons, similar to learning objects, represent a means of delivering structured learning through Q & A sessions that are drawn from embedded content. Lessons

QUIZ tool

Quiz Information and Grades

A Workshop allows peer assessment of documents and self-assessment activities, while providing the teacher with opportunities to both manage and grade material. Workshops

The Journal feature will allow every student to have a personal journal that only they and their teacher will be able to access. Journal

The Glossary feature in Moodle acts as a definition resource - entries can be set to create highlighted hyperlinks within the course itself. Glossary

Assignments (online, offline) can be delivered to students, and they can upload files which you can grade online and give feedback. Assignments

Reports User activity on Moodle can be monitored using the Logs option. This features levels of detail from module, to student details, grouped by date and time

Additional Activities (tools)