This study examined the early use of Moodle by teachers in higher education in Portugal. It surveyed teachers from a private higher education institution who used Moodle in different ways in their courses in 2009-2010. The study found that teachers primarily used Moodle as a way to distribute content and facilitate communication, and that the top resources and activities used were files, forums, and assignments. The study found no significant differences in teachers' perceptions of Moodle's advantages and disadvantages based on their level of training or required use of the platform. The researchers plan to conduct further surveys to examine changes in Moodle adoption over time.

1. MoodleEarlyUse byTeachersinHigherEducation: AnExploratoryStudy Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget 1

3. Moodle earlyEarly Use byTeachersinHigherEducation: AnExploratoryStudy Introduction Bologna Process EuropeanHigherEducationArea ReformingHigherEducationin Portugal 3 Foster use ofICTinEducation Turn to e-learning; adoptionofLMSs Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

6. Explore real potentialofLMSs

7. Furtherteachertraining (technicalandpedagogical)4 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

9. PrivateHigherEducationInstitution

10. Presenceinother Portuguese SpeakingCountries

11. Campi geographicallydispersedin Portugal5 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

13. 2005: LMS use inPostGraduationStudiesinICT

14. 2007: Online Education Project

15. Trainingsessions online and F2F open to all

16. Campus support

17. Pivots andPioneers: replicationanddissemination6 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

19. 2009-10: Piaget Online EducationandTrainingUnit ( global and campus based)

20. TeacherandStudenttrainingandsupport

21. ResearchUnitin Online Education7 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

23. All Curricular Unitswith online presence

24. Live Edu integrationanduniqueacess

25. http://moodle.ipiaget.org/moodle_2011/8 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

26. Moodle earlyEarly Use byTeachersinHigherEducation: AnExploratoryStudy TheStudy – Objectives Ascertain reasons of using Moodle; Identify effects the use of Moodle had in teaching; Characterize the use of resources and activities available in Moodle; Identify teacher’s perceptions of advantages and disadvantages of using Moodle; Compare the results of the three groups. 9 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

29. Group A: 24 replies (92%)

30. Group B: 7 replies (35%)

31. Group C: 4 replies (80%)11 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

33. 14% of questions: motivations to the use Moodle (only for group A, not examined here)

34. 11% of questions: type of use of resources and activities

35. 48% of questions: teacher’s perceptions about Moodle

36. 27% of questions: characterization of participants12 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

38. Descriptive Statistics

39. Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks13 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

40. Moodle earlyEarly Use byTeachersinHigherEducation: AnExploratoryStudy Findings 14 1 Reasons for using Moodle Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

41. Moodle earlyEarly Use byTeachersinHigherEducation: AnExploratoryStudy Findings 15 2 Resourcesusage Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

42. Moodle earlyEarly Use byTeachersinHigherEducation: AnExploratoryStudy Findings 16 2 Resourcesusage Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

43. Moodle earlyEarly Use byTeachersinHigherEducation: AnExploratoryStudy Findings 17 3 Activitiesusage Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

44. Moodle earlyEarly Use byTeachersinHigherEducation: AnExploratoryStudy Findings 18 3 Activitiesusage Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

45. Moodle earlyEarly Use byTeachersinHigherEducation: AnExploratoryStudy Findings 19 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

46. Moodle earlyEarly Use byTeachersinHigherEducation: AnExploratoryStudy Discussion Similar results on Resources and Activities usage No statistically significant differences between the groups’ perceptions about Moodle Group A and B: basic training; Group C: advanced training Early stages of Moodle institutional implementation Planned: survey all teachers and check results following years 20 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget

47. Moodle earlyEarly Use byTeachersinHigherEducation: AnExploratoryStudy 21 Patrícia Fidalgo, João Paz e Fernando Luís Santos Instituto Piaget