Moodle: an opensource alternative for higher education

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Moodle an open-source alternative for higher
education

• Anthony Hursh, Norma Scagnoli, Doe-Hyung Kim,
  Melissa Stephens, Pedro Willging
• CTER, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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• Moodle is a free course management system (CMS) -
  a software package designed to help educators
  create quality online courses.
• One of the main advantages of Moodle over other
  systems is a strong grounding in social
  constructionist pedagogy.(Dougiamas, M)

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Situation (technological)

• Moodle a free (beer) and Free (speech) course
  management system
• Runs on almost any computer (Windows, Linux, Mac
  OS X) or can be installed on a commercial web
  host (10.00/month cost).
• Currently supports 50 languages (new language
  packs can easily be created by end users).
• Lead developer Martin Dougiamas, University of
  Western Australia. More than 100 others on
  development team.
• Currently in use by CTER.

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Situation (Pedagogical)

• CTER started using Moodle in summer 2003. Since
  then, our server has been used for approximately
  40 course sections, online communities, and
  research groups.
• Moodles success in the CTER program has prompted
  the UIUC College of Education to set up a
  college-wide Moodle server (currently under
  development).

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Why Moodle?

• We wanted a system that would
• Allow easy integration of external learning
  technologies and resources.
• Be user-friendly for instructors and students,
• Could be customized and enhanced without having
  to deal with vendors
• Be transferable to K-12. We wanted something our
  CTER students could use in their own classrooms.

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Why Moodle?

• Technology Options
• Blackboard -gt Discontinued at UIUC. Not
  transferable to K-12 (expensive).
• WebCT-gt Did not match CTER instructional style.
  Confusing for instructors without extensive
  training. Not transferable to K-12 (expensive).
• Our own custom web templates-gt flexible and
  effective, but ongoing maintenance was an issue.
• Other open-source CMS-gt none (that we found)
  offered the feature set and support community
  that Moodle did.

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Some data

• Discussion is the heart of online courses.
  Moodle is designed with this philosophy.
• In one CTER Moodle course, students made 1391
  forum posts during a 4 week class.
• The mean number of posts in two previous
  semesters using other forum software (WebBoard)
  was 1072.
• 30 more posts with Moodle
• Research continues to see if this holds true for
  other courses.

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Transfer to students

• CTER students are encouraged to create their own
  Moodle courses on a separate server operated by
  Hursh.
• Approximately 20 of these have been created.
• Several CTER students are now using Moodle
  courses with their own (K-12) students.

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Easy to use Faculty

• In previous semesters, instructors rarely altered
  their own course materials, even in cases where
  the instructors were quite tech savvy. Instead,
  these tasks were delegated to the technical
  support staff.
• With Moodle, instructors feel comfortable taking
  control of their own courses.
• I love the system and feel that I have a grasp
  of its possibilities(L. Buki)
• It is easy to figure out how to do things, easy
  enough to get them done (L Vigdor)

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Easy to use students

• I enjoyed using Moodle it was quite easy to
  maneuver and continuously updated. It was
  wonderful.
• Moodle worked so well--everything was in one
  place--you could see your grades, your
  assignments, see responses to your
  workeverything!
• Other classes should follow this example of
  using Moodle to organize.

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Moodle in the K-12 classroom

• It is not an overstatement that this has
  re-energized my teaching like nothing else. - M.
  Sly
• The administration at my school has seen the
  Moodle course "Algebra Clicks" in action. My
  principal has proposed that I create a workshop
  for other teachers in our building to learn about
  the Moodle software. - M. Uhls

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Moodle in the classroom(2)

• A big plus is how Moodle facilitates writing. I
  can start a class by asking students to summarize
  important points from a lesson, reading, or
  assignment. I'm also using the journal feature
  for weekly entries. I am convinced that a student
  who has to write about a subject learns more
  deeply and the learning is better integrated. -
  G. Day

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More Information

• CTER Moodle
• http//moodle.ed.uiuc.edu
• Teachanything.net (Hurshs server)
• http//www.teachanything.net
• Moodle home page (download Moodle!)
• http//moodle.org