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Moodling with RwandanResearchers Ravi Murugesan

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• INASP – “International Network for Availability of Scientific Publications” – Charity based in Oxford – Promotes scholarly information for development• AuthorAID – One of INASP’s projects – Supports developing country researchers in publishing their work

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Training at AuthorAID• Workshops on publishing research for university researchers in partner countries – Ethiopia, Rwanda, Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Nepal, Cuba…• Over 25 workshops facilitated by AuthorAID staff since 2007 – Many “cascaded” workshops as well

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E-learning• Initially supposed to be a set of e-learning modules put up on the website• Then a Moodle enthusiast was hired

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Pilot e-learning course• “Writing a Research Paper for Publication”• Set up on Moodle 2.1• 6-week, fully online course – October to November 2011• One instructor (me) and 28 learners – Academic staff at the National University of Rwanda

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Activities in the course• Forum• Lesson (most of the course)• Feedback• Glossary• Database

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Facing the challenges

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• E-learning adoption: slow in Africa• English: Second language in Rwanda• Mostly first-time e-learners in the pilot course

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Encouraging enrolment• Clear course description – Circulated by email well in advance• Preparatory course before the actual course• Light weekly workload (2 to 3 hours)• Self-registration and self-enrolment

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Accessible, interesting content• Moodle’s default theme used for low- bandwidth connections• Short sentences and simple words in the content• Questions interspersed (lesson module) – Of 118 pages in the course, 74 had questions• Not more than 200 words per page in lessons

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Question page in a lesson

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Encouraging study and completion• Preparatory course and learning guidelines• Regular announcements (news forum)• Prompt responses to questions• Monitoring learners’ progress every week• Checking with learners who fell behind• End-of-course assignment• Two-week extension

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Assignment with database module

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Glossary with questions and answers

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Outcomes

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• 25 of 28 learners (89%) completed the course• Good feedback

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Screenshots from analysis page of feedback module

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Next steps

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Moodle for AuthorAID; maybe for INASP too! AuthorAID community INASP community

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Thank you Write to me (rmurugesan@inasp.info) to see the course and give me feedback