5th Asia OSS Symposium

1
5th Asia OSS Symposium 2-4 March 2005 Beijing,
China
Mohamed Noor Hasan Centre for Teaching and
Learning Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
2
Agenda

• E-learning in UTM
• Moodle
• Implementation of Moodle in UTM
• Sample courses, statistics, and issues
• Future Plans

3
E-learning in UTM

• A system whereby course syllabus, lecture notes,
  quizzes, assignments, and discussion forums can
  be accessed through the university network
• Each registered student is provided with the
  facilities to access the course materials at any
  time from anywhere
• Adopt a hybrid approach online materials to
  support traditional teaching methods
• Started 1997 as part of the university Knowledge
  Management System

4
Driving Factors

• Universities today have to compete globally the
  need for innovation, effective learning, and cost
  saving
• Education for all students nowadays come from
  various backgrounds and therefore have various
  learning styles
• Rapid development in technology and information
  explosion through the internet

5
Early Implementation

• Early implementation using Course Websites
  created by individual lecturer or through faculty
  initiatives
• Mid 2001 purchased a Learning Management System
  (LMS) and e-learning became a centralized project
• Two servers, one located at the main campus, one
  at the branch campus (city campus)

6
Problems

• Version of LMS is no longer supported
• Cost of upgrade US 50K (1st year) per server
• Proprietary nature of the LMS makes it difficult
  to modify the tools to suit our requirements
• Solution
• A search committee to evaluate and test other
  systems including open source solutions

7
Moodle

• A Course Management System (CMS) or Learning
  Management System (LMS) or Virtual Learning
  Environment (VLE)
• An open source software - FREE to download, use,
  modify and distribute (GNU General Public
  License)
• Moodle is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented
  Dynamic Learning Environment
• Originally developed by Martin Dougiamas, Curtin
  University, Australia, from his PhD thesis

"The use of Open Source software to support a
social constructionist epistemology of teaching
and learning within Internet-based communities of
reflective inquiry"
8
The Philosophy
Constructing Collaborating
Creating Sharing
9
Moodle Advantage

• Based on strong educational philosophy
• Supported by a large team of community developers
• Available in 50 languages
• Comparable in features with the major commercial
  products
• Free and Open Source

10
Requirements

• Server
• Apache Web server, but other servers are fine
• Support PHP
• Database server MySQL or PostgreSQL
• User requirement
• Any web browser

11
Moodle overview

• Modular design modules can be added or removed
  to suit user requirement
• Four types of user
• Administrator
• Course Creator
• Teacher
• Student
• Three types of layout
• Topic view
• Weekly view
• Social view

http//moodle.org
12
Modules in Moodle

• Assignment
• Chat
• Choice
• Forum
• Glossary
• Journal

13
Implementation Committee

• E-learning Steering Committee
• Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic)
• Deans of Schools/Faculties
• Formulate policy and direction
• E-learning Technical Committee
• Centre for teaching and Learning (CTL)
• Centre for ICT
• Champions from faculties
• Support, training, manuals, guidelines
• Technical Support
• CTL
• CICT
• Server admin, user management, development

14
Current Implementation

• Two servers one located at the main campus,
  another located at the branch campus
• Server specs
• Dual proc Xeon, 1.6 GB RAM, lots of HD space
• About 900 courses
• 28,000 total registered students
• 1,700 lecturers/professors
• Up since November 2004

15
Support Services

• Training
• e-learning courses conducted by champions
• Learning objects development
• Content development
• Learning modules
• Recording of lecture/classes
• Helpdesk
• e-mail
• phone
• online tutorial

16
Content Development
17
Main Page
18
Sample Courses
19
Sample Courses
20
Usage Statistics
21
Usage Statistics (cont.)
22
Comments and Feedback

• Students ease of use, flexibility, lots of
  facilities for communications via forum, chat
• Lecturers easier to upload materials and to link
  with external resources, generate quizzes,
  discussion forums
• Support staff easier to maintain, backup and
  provide services
• Administrator strong support for the open source
  concept

23
Issues

• Migration from the old system
• Retraining of academic staff
• Slow access during peak hours
• Slight problems with IE users
• Support for multi-sections classes

24
The Future
Mobileservices
e-mails
e-portfolios
LMS
LOR
Digital Library
Community portals