Introduction to ArtificiaI Intelligence in Higher Education
Alt c 13 getting the most out of (y)our vle
1. Getting the most out of your VLE:
Maximising Moodle
Suzanne Wright, Andy Beggan
and Indre Petrauskaite
Learning Technologies Section
University of Nottingham
2. Moodle.Nottingham
• Start of session 2012
– Out of the box look and feel
– Few integrations at the start
– University-wide
– Performance initially the main area for improvement
4. Moodle.Nottingham
• Current situation for start of session 2013:
– Student Records for enrolments
– Echo 360
– Equella
– Kaltura
– Xerte online Toolkits
– Rogō
• Plus over 40 extensions & plugins from the
community and homegrown
Rogō
E-Assessment Management System
6. Resourcing
• Successfully bid for a Graduate Trainee from the
University’s GT programme
• Specific consultancy from a focus group expert to
shape the focus groups
• Funding gained from Leadership Foundation for HE
for some consultancy
7. What we did
• Focus Groups with students
– 20 focus groups in the UK
– 4 focus groups on the China Campus
– 4 focus groups on the Malaysia Campus
• Student survey
• Students Union
8. Main themes
• Extent of usage across schools
• Materials in one place
• Organisation of materials within modules
• Features and functionalities not known
• Navigation
• Look and Feel
11. Quotes from students
''I didn't know wikis
even existed. I think
it would be useful to
an extent.''
“If my course mates
hadn't told me that past
papers are on
Portal, maybe I would not
have found them at all.''
“Out of six teachers we have, only
one of them uses Moodle. If they just
knew how, I am sure they would use
it very well. With it being optional
they just refuse to get a go on it.
They don't realise the impact that it
has.”
“All of them have module
resources that are clearly
structured and easy to use”
“Discussion forums are really
helpful for coursework”
“Our … lecturer puts
everything up in advance. It
makes you feel calm about
the modules; you know what
to expect”
12. Staff Feedback so far
• Very small sample as yet – 1-1 conversations with UK
staff
• Staff survey has not yet gone live
• Overall, positive attitudes
• Praised for its flexibility, being intuitive to use, liked by
students
• Comments around the linear approach (scroll of death)
• Still felt to be used as a document store
• Confirmed extensive use of turnitin across the University
13. Moving on with Moodle
• Selling the benefits to academic staff
• Promoting best practice within staff and student
user communities
• More advanced training now most people have
got the basics
• More consistent approach
14. Now and the future
• Improvements to various aspects of Moodle
• Training
• Moodle Inspiration Sessions
• Moodle Magic
• Input into the new strategies that are being written at the
moment
• Working closely with the Students Union with a view to a
Students as Change Agents programme
