intro to moodle

MOODLE – The Basicsby

Bob AnthonyCFF Coach/Technology Integrator

Wyomissing Area JR/SR High [email protected]

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1.0 Definition1.1 Moodle is an open source Course Management System (CMS) that universities, community colleges, K–12 schools, businesses, and even individual instructors use to add web technology to their courses. More than 30,000 educational organizations around the world currently use Moodle to deliver online courses and to supplement traditional face-to-face courses. Moodle is available for free on the Web (http://www.moodle.org), so anyone can download and install it.

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http://www.moodle.org/

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1.0 Definition (2)1.2 The name Moodle has two meanings. First, it’s an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. Moodle is also a verb that describes 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. (Cole & Foster, 2008) Users are called Moodlers.

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2.0 Overall Design of Moodle2.1 Promotes a social constructionist pedagogy (collaboration, activities, critical reflection, etc.).2.2 Suitable for 100% online classes as well as supplementing face-to-face learning.2.3 Simple, lightweight, efficient, compatible, low-tech browser interface.2.4 Easy to install on almost any platform that supports PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor scripting language). Requires only one database (and can share it).

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2.0 Overall Design of Moodle (2)2.5 Full database abstraction supports all major brands of database (except for initial table definition).2.6 Course listing shows descriptions for every course on the server, including accessibility to guests.2.7 Courses can be categorized and searched - one Moodle site can support thousands of courses.2.8 Emphasis on strong security throughout. Forms are all checked, data validated, cookies encrypted, etc.2.9 Most text entry areas (resources, forum postings, etc.) can be edited using an embedded WYSIWYG HTML editor.

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3.0 Site Management

3.1 Site is managed by an administrator user.3.2 Site is defined during setup. Defaults can be edited during setup or globally accepted.3.3 Site can be modified by a robust site administration block.3.4 Plug-in "themes" allow the administrator to customize the site colors, fonts, layout, etc. to suit local needs.

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3.0 Site Management (2)3.5 Plug-in activity modules can be added to existing Moodle installations.3.6 Plug-in language packs allow full localization to any language. These can be edited using a built-in web-based editor. Currently there are language packs for over 70 languages.3.7 The code is clearly-written PHP under a GPL (General Public License) - easy to modify to suit your needs.

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4.0 User Management4.1 Goals are to reduce admin involvement to a minimum, while retaining high security.4.2 Supports a range of user authentication mechanisms through plug-in authentication modules, allowing easy integration with existing systems.4.3 Standard email method: students can create their own login accounts. Email addresses are verified by confirmation.4.4 LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) method: account logins can be checked against an LDAP server. Admin can specify which fields to use. For example: IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol), POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3), NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol) account logins are checked against a mail or news server. SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security) certificates are supported.

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4.0 User Management (2)4.5 Students are encouraged to build an online Edit profile including photos & description. Email addresses can be protected from display if required.4.6 Every user can specify their own time zone and every date in Moodle is translated to that time zone (e.g. posting dates, assignment due dates, etc.)4.7 Every user can choose the language used for the Moodle interface (English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, etc.)

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5.0 Enrollment5.1 After a user has been authenticated by the site or allowed in as a guest, they are enrolled in courses.5.2 Teachers can add an "enrollment key" to their courses to only allow certain students to enter. They can give out this key face-to-face or via personal email, etc.5.3 Teachers can enroll students manually if desired.5.4 Teachers can unenroll students manually if desired otherwise they are automatically unenrolled after a certain period of inactivity (set by the admin).

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5.0 Enrollment (2)5.5 There are many enrollment plug-ins including: LDAP, IMS (Instant Message System), PayPal, Moodle Network to name a few.5.6 Any external database that has at least two fields can be used as an external authentication source.5.7 Flat file or CSV (Comma Separated Values) files can automatically authenticate and enroll students in specific courses.5.8 Each person requires only one account for the Moodle site - each account can have access to different courses or resources and activities.5.9 Meta courses get their enrollment information from one or more other courses.

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6.0 Roles6.1 Roles combine specific permissions for specific types of participants. A user can be assigned a different role for each context, such as a specific course.

6.2 The administrator (admin) user account controls the creation of courses and creates teachers by assigning users to courses and giving them a role in that context.

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6.0 Roles (2)6.3 New roles can be created, copied from existing roles and edited. Some standard roles include:

a. Course Creator can create courses, teach in them, and assign others to teacher roles.

b. Teacher is a role in a specific course.c. Non-editing Teacher roles are available

for adjuncts and part-time tutors.d. Student can participate and view

activities but not create them.e. Guest is view-only user.

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7.0 Course Management7.1 Overview7.2 Assignment Module7.3 Chat Module7.4 Choice Module7.5 Forum Module7.6 Glossary Module7.7 Lesson Module7.8 Quiz Module7.9 Resource Module7.10 Survey Module7.11 Wiki Module7.12 Workshop Module

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7.1 Overview7.1.1 Typically, a teacher has full control over all settings for a course.7.1.2 This can include assigning other teachers roles with less privileges.7.1.3 Choice of Course formats settings such as by week, by topic or a discussion-focused social format.7.1.4 Individual Course settings numbers force theme and layout can be created for any course.

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7.1 Overview (2)7.1.5 Flexible array of course activities - Forums, Quizzes, Glossaries, Resources, Choices, Surveys, Assignments, Chats, Workshops.7.1.6 Groups - teacher(s) and students can be placed in one or more groups.7.1.7 Recent changes to the course since the last login can be displayed on the course home page - helps give sense of community.7.1.8 Most text entry areas (resources, forum postings, etc.) can be edited using an embedded WYSIWYG HTML editor.

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7.1 Overview (3)7.1.9 All grades for Forums, Quizzes and Assignments can be viewed on one page (and downloaded as a spreadsheet file) in a Gradebook.7.1.10 Full user logging and tracking - activity reports for each student are available with graphs and details about each module (last access, number of times read) as well as a detailed "story" of each student’s involvement including postings, etc. on one page.7.1.11 Mail integration - copies of forum posts, teacher feedback, etc. can be mailed in HTML or plain text. Users can set a preference for daily emails in their profile.

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7.1 Overview (4)7.1.12 Custom scales - teachers can define their own scales to be used for grading forums and assignments.7.1.13 Courses can be packaged as a single zip file using the Backup function. These can be restored on any Moodle server.7.1.14 Specific course activities and resources can be imported from another existing course.

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7.2 Assignment Module7.2.1 Assignments can be specified with a due date and a maximum grade.7.2.2 Students can upload their assignments (any file format) to the server - they are date-stamped.7.2.3 Late assignments are allowed, but the amount of lateness is shown clearly to the teacher.7.2.4 For each particular assignment, the whole class can be assessed (grade and comment) on one page in one form.

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7.2 Assignment Module (2)7.2.5 Teacher feedback is appended to the assignment page for each student and notification is mailed out.7.2.6 The teacher can choose to allow resubmission of assignments after grading (for regrading).7.2.7 Allowing resubmissions can allow the teacher to progress monitor student projects/assignments as they evolve.7.2.8 Advanced assignments can allow multiple files to be uploaded. This could keep together preplanning maps, outlines, research papers and presentations. (Not for beginners).

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7.3 Chat Module7.3.1 The Chat module allows smooth, synchronous text interactions. They can be limited to group members or roles, or be for anyone in the course.7.3.2 Includes profile pictures in the chat window.7.3.3 Supports URLs, smilies, embedded HTML, images, etc.7.3.4 All sessions are logged for later viewing and these can also be made available to students.

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7.4 Choice Module

7.4.1 The Choice module is like a single question poll. Can either be used to vote on something or to get feedback from every student.7.4.2 Teacher sees intuitive table view of who chose what.7.4.3 Students can optionally be allowed to see an up-to-date graph of results.

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7.5 Forum Module7.5.1 Different types of forums are available such as teacher-only, course news, open-to-all, and one-thread-per-user.7.5.2 There are several options for emailing forum posts to members of the course.7.5.3 All postings have the author’s photo attached.7.5.4 Discussions can be viewed nested, flat or threaded; oldest or newest first.7.5.5 Robust subscription methods for each forum.7.5.6 Individual forums can be subscribed to by each person.

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7.5 Forum Module (2)7.5.7 Teacher can force subscription for all members of the course either initially or permanently.7.5.8 Groups Features allow options for more entry and viewing limitations for students.7.5.9 The teacher can choose not to allow replies to their posts (announcements).7.5.10 Discussion threads can be moved between forums or split by the teacher.7.5.11 Attachments can be made to posts and shown as part of message.7.5.12 Forum ratings can be used. These can be restricted to a range of dates.

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7.6 Glossary Module7.6.1 The Glossary module is one of the modules that best illustrates the way that Moodle can fundamentally improve upon the experience of a traditional classroom.7.6.2 When students contribute to a course in a public place like the glossary, their ideas are given weight and attention and often result in a greater pride or ownership of the assignment.7.6.3 Allows participants to create and maintain a list of definitions like a dictionary.7.6.4 Student entries can be previewed by instructors before publishing.

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7.6 Glossary Module (2)7.6.5 Entries can be searched or browsed using alphabet, category, date, and author.7.6.6 A glossary of terms can be easily referenced by students.7.6.7 Almost any module of Moodle can be set to hyperlink, automatically, to any word or phrase that is stored in or added to the glossary.7.6.8 Glossary items can be grouped in categories.

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7.6 Glossary Module (3)7.6.9 Participants can comment on glossary entries.7.6.10 Entries can be rated using teacher-defined scales.7.6.11 Glossaries can be easily exported and imported via xml.7.6.12 Glossaries can be fully searched.7.6.13 Glossaries can be viewed with different display formats such as maps, outlines, research papers, and presentations. (Not for beginners)

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7.7 Lesson Module7.7.1 A lesson is a single activity where a series of pages are presented to the student.7.7.2 Pages can allow students to make choices by their answers to questions or by selecting a button with a description. A student choice is also a link to another lesson page. This allows for a simple slide show type of presentation with questions.7.7.3 It allows for a branching, adaptive presentation based upon a student's specific choice.

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7.7 Lesson Module (2)7.7.4 Navigation through the lesson can be straight forward or complex; logical or random.7.7.5 Jumps are associated with each choice that link to other lesson pages. Jumps can be to a specific page or to a random page or a page not seen by the student.7.7.6 Choices that are answers to questions can be scored and given individual feedback.

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7.7 Lesson Module (3)7.7.7 Question pages include:

a. Multiple choice.b. Multi-answer.c. True or False.d. Numeric.e. Short answer.f. Essay.

7.7.8 Lesson settings offer the teacher many options such as:

a. Different scoring and grading potentials.b. Lessons can build upon each other through

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7.7 Lesson Module (4)7.7.9 Student attempts, time limits, minimum score and retakes can be set.7.7.10 Students may see progress bars, running score, reinforcement to student questions.7.7.11 Password, start and end times, and other restrictions can be placed on students.7.7.12 Pages can be created one at a time or imported.

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7.8 Quiz Module7.8.1 Teachers can define a database of questions where they can add these questions to a course quiz or have the questions shared over the Moodle site.7.8.2 Questions can be stored in categories for easy access and these groups of questions can be "published" to make them accessible to any quiz on the site.7.8.3 Quizzes are automatically graded and can be re-graded if questions are modified.

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7.8 Quiz Module (2)7.8.4 There are many quiz settings options such as:

a. Quizzes can have a limited time window outside of which they are not available.b. At the teacher's option, quizzes can be

attempted multiple times and can show feedback and/or correct answers.c. Quiz questions and quiz answers can be shuffled (randomized) to reduce cheating.d. Multiple attempts can be cumulative, if

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7.8 Quiz Module (3)7.8.5 Questions allow HTML formatting, images and has a friendly tool bar.7.8.6 Questions can be imported or exported in many file formats.7.8.7 There are more than 10 question types, each with different scoring methods such as:a. Multiple-choice questions supporting single or multiple answers.b. Short Answer questions (words or phrases).c. True-False questions.d. Matching questions.e. Random questions.f. Numerical questions (with allowable ranges).g. Embedded-answer questions (cloze style) with answers within passages of text.h. Embedded descriptive text and graphics is possible in questions.11/18/2010

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7.9 Resource Module7.9.1 Resources can display many types of media content files by a single link on the course page such as:

a. Word.b. PowerPoint.c. Flash.d. Video formats.e. Audio formats.f. Internal web pages (HTML formatted) can be

created with HTML editor tool.g. Internal text pages (no formatting).

7.9.2 Files can be stored locally or the link can point to remote locations.

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7.9 Resource Module (2)7.9.3 Files can be uploaded and managed (zipped, unzipped, renamed, moved) in the course.7.9.4 Folders can be created and managed in the course and students given a link to the folder.7.9.5 External content on the web can be linked to or seamlessly included within the course interface.7.9.6 External web applications can be linked to with data passed to them.

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7.10 Survey Module7.10.1 Built-in surveys -

a. COLLES (Constructivist On-Line Learning Environment Survey).

b. ATTLS (Attitudes to Thinking and Learning Survey) - have been proven as instruments for analyzing online classes.7.10.2 Online survey reports are always available including many graphs. Data is downloadable as an Excel spreadsheet or CSV text file.7.10.3 Survey interface prevents partly-finished surveys.7.10.4 Feedback is provided to the student of their results compared to the class averages.

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7.11 Wiki Module7.11.1 Wiki module is a series of web pages that anyone can add to or edit.

7.11.2 It enables document pages to be authored collectively.

7.11.3 It supports groups.

7.11.4 There are many teacher-based editing tools.

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7.12 Workshop Module

7.12.1 Workshop module allows peer assessment of documents and the teacher can manage and grade the assessment.7.12.2 Supports a wide range of possible grading scales.7.12.3 Teacher can provide sample documents for students to practice grading.7.12.4 Being redone for Moodle 2.0.

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ResourcesCole, J. & Foster, H. (2008). Using moodle,

2nd edition. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, Inc.

GNU Public License. (2010, June 17). About moodle - moodledocs. Retrieved from http://docs.moodle.org/en/About_Moodle

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2010). Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

intro to moodle

Education

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moodle site

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site management3

existing moodle installations

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thousands of courses