Introduction to Online Course Design with Moodle

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Introduction to Online Course Design with Moodle

9th JALTCALL International Conference Tokiwa
University, 4 June 2004 Don Hinkelman Sapporo
Gakuin University
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What is the future of CALL?

21st Century Schools and
e-Learning Computer-mediated Communication
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Requirements for a virtual learning
environment

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• It should be easy to create an online course
  from existing learner resources, people are busy
  today!
• Courses should organize into intuitive
  categories, with a backup and restore procedure
  that makes it simple to set up a new course with
  different learners.
• Course enrolment and user authentication must
  not be complicated, yet be secure.
• Managing online user activity should
  resemble how you currently manage learners.
• There must be an active online
  support community of educators and trainers that
  can help solve problems and spark new ideas.

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An Open Source Option -- MoodleModular
Object-Oriented Distributed Learning Environment

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• Open-source course management system software
• Guided by strong pedagogical principles
• Simple intuitive browser interface
• International focus (supports 34 languages)
• Cross-platform server and user support
• Modular design allows third-party development
• Vibrant learning community of users and
  developers
• Free, distribution under GPL

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Philosophy of Online Learning

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Activities are at the heart of a course
management system. Moodle was designed by an
educator and computer scientist, with social
constructionist principles in mind.
Constructionism asserts that learning is
particularly effective when constructing
something for others to experience. This can be
anything from a spoken sentence or an internet
posting, to more complex artifacts like a
painting, a house or a software package. The
concept of social constructivism extends the
above ideas into a social group constructing
things for one another, collaboratively creating
a small culture of shared artifacts with shared
meanings. When one is immersed within a culture
like this, one is learning all the time about how
to be a part of that culture, on many levels.
Martin Dougiamas Creator Lead Developer
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Course Management Features

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To use Moodle, you think like a teacher, not a
programmer. You see topics and activities, not
tools. A student can immediately see where to
start, and take a global view to see where it
will end. A sequential, topic based approach
unique to Moodle. Moodle has a modular
architecture that makes adding new Activities
during course creation a very simple process.
Course creators can select from three different
formats for presenting their learning syllabus
Topic, Weekly or Social format. The magic begins
when you click Turn editing on within the blank
course template.
With editing turned on, the course creator can
now Add activities from an intuitive drop-down
list of module plug-in features.
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Course Management Features ...cont.

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Assignment Module Used to assign online or
offline tasks participants can submit these
tasks in any file format (MS Office, PDF, image,
a/v etc.) Chat ModuleAllows real-time
synchronous communication by learners Choice
ModuleInstructors create a question and a
numberof choices for students results are
postedfor partipants to view. Use this module
todo quick surveys on subject matter. Dialogue
ModuleAllows for one-to-one private
asynchronousmessage exchange between instructor
andstudent, or student to student. Dialoguesare
private consultation workspaces.
Module property screens guide you through setup
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Course Management Features ...cont.

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Forums Module Threaded discussion boards for
asynchronous group exchange on shared subject
matter (see user Community Forums at
http//moodle.org/ on various topics and
disciplines) Glossary ModuleInstructors can
create dictionary's of terms used in a course,
and import or export terms for re-use in other
courses. Journal ModuleUsed to allow learners to
reflect, then write and revise ideas Label
ModuleAdd descriptions with images in any area
of the course homepage
Glossary terms appear in highlight within all
activity module resources. Moodle includes its
own site search engine.
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Course Management Features ...cont.

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Lesson ModuleAllows instructor to create and
manage a set of linked "Pages". Each page can
end with a question. The student chooses one
answer from a set of answers and either goes
forward, backward or stays in the same place in
the lesson. Learner is graded upon completion.
Quiz ModuleCreate all the familiar forms of
assessment including true-false, multiple choice,
short answer, matching question, random
questions, numerical questions, embedded answer
questions with descriptive text and graphics.
Moodle supports embedding audio into a
quiz,enhancing language arts and other course
content syllabus requirements.
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Course Management Features ...cont.

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Resource ModuleThe primary tool for bringing
content into a course may be plain text,
uploaded files, links to the web, Wiki or Rich
Text (Moodle has built-in editors) or a
bibliography type reference. Moodle users have
even linked local drive DVD courseware with
online Moodle Resource activities. Survey
ModuleThis module aids an instructor in making
online classes more effective by offering a
variety of suveys (COLLES, ATTLS), including
critical incident sampling.
A Resource activity delivers syllabus content to
the learner, while a course Assignment activity
can require the learner to upload a completed
project.
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Learner Management Features

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• Creating learning content is only part of what a
  good course management system (CMS) is designed
  to do. The CMS must also be able to manage
  learners in a variety of ways. Learner
  management includes
• Easy access to a list of participants in your
  course
• Being able to segment participants into groups
• Site, course and user calendar event scheduling
• Intuitive course administration features for
  changing course settings, manually enrolling or
  removing teachers and learners from the course,
  backing up and restoring course content, applying
  scales to different learner activities, managing
  grades, tracking user access logs and uploading
  external files for use within the course.

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Learner Management Features ... cont.

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ParticipantsOne click and you can view activity
from all participants enrolled in the course.
Learners create a personal profile that can
include a picture, helping connect students
socially in the online learning community.
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Learner Management Features ... cont.

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GroupsAssigning learners to a group is a common
practice for both educators and business
trainers. Moodle allows the course instructor to
easily create group catagories. Once assigned,
group members can only interact with other
members in their group within the course.
Creating distinct group names is easy. Learners
and teachers are assigned to a group by clicking
a single button.
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Learner Management Features ... cont.

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• CalendarKeeping a calendar of events is
  important to both the learner and course
  instructor. Events can be created for different
  categories, including
• Global events that appear in all courses (system
  admin)
• Course events set by an instructor
• Group events set by instructor relative only to
  a group
• User events set by learner (e.g. due dates,
  personal etc.)
• Calendar Upcoming Events appear on the course
  homepage, and alert the learner across all
  courses they are enrolled in of different
  category events using an intuitive color scheme.

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Learner Management Features ... cont.

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AdministrationThe Administration control panel
puts all important learner management functions a
single click away. Teachers and Students can be
manually enrolled or removed from a
course. Backup and Restore of a course is easy
and presents options that allow you to select
which information to save or import.
Restoring an existing course or Uploading a file
archive from storage is accomplished with a
single mouse click
Backup can include or exclude student files and
course data
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Learner Management Features ... cont.

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• AdministrationTeachers and trainers can define
  their own Scales to be used for grading Forums,
  Assignments and Journals. Standard scales include
  assigning a value from 1-100 for each submission
  (or no grade), and indicating whether the learner
  was demonstrating one of three characteristics in
  the activity
• Shows mostly CONNECTED knowing
• Shows mostly SEPARATE knowing
• Equally separate and connected

Custom scales allow the instructor tofine tune
their grading for specific content.Easily
create several types of scales, and connect them
with different activities you Add to the course.
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Learner Management Features ... cont.

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AdministrationThe Grades feature in Moodle
provides a quick view of all Forum, Assignment,
Journal, Quiz, Lesson and Workshop activity. The
grading scale value applied to a learners
submission is shown, along with a cumulative
total, on a single page.
Grades can be downloaded in Excel or text format
for inclusion into an existing electronic
gradebook
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Learner Management Features ... cont.

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AdministrationViewing Assignment and Journal
entry submissions, and adding Grades and
comments, are done from a single page that
displays all enrolled students
Managing student course Assignment uploads and
Journal entry submissions are done from one
central screen. This cuts down on the time it
takes to assess many students work.
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Learner Management Features ... cont.

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AdministrationKnowing when and what course
resources the learner has accessed will tell an
instructor where the student is at in their
online learning experience, and may effect
grading. Moodle's Logs provide detailed learner
information.
Easily locate specific course, student, date and
module activity access information
Logs pin-point where a student is within
coursework
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Learner Management Features ... cont.

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AdministrationInstructors can centrally locate
all resources used when creating course content,
within the Files storage area of Moodle. These
resources are available when using the HTML rich
text editor, allowing you to easily insert
content into an activity module.
Files storage area resembles your computer,
making it easy to add, move, zip and delete
resources.
Moodle's built-in HTML editor allows you to add
Files from your storage area, creating rich text
activity resources.
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Learner Management Features ... cont.

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AdministrationWhen a teacher or trainer is
logged in to their course, an extensive Moodle
Help file is a button click away. Additionally,
each course includes a special Teacher forum,
where course instructors can collaborate on ideas
and share certain tasks.
Moodle's built in Teacher Manual provides
hand-holding instructionson all aspects of
course and learner management
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Student User Experience

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Learners find it easy to navigate a Moodle course
homepage in their browser, intuitive links are
always present. Login occurs on a familiar
screen, with initial account setup being handled
by the student.
Navigation bar is always present
Moodle's has its own authentication system, but
will integrate with an external database, POP3,
IMAP, LDAP or NNTP, allowing domain wide login.
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Student User Experience ... cont.

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Instructors can require an enrollment key to
enter a course, limiting entry and class size.
After enrollment an instructor will e-mail the
enrollment key password to students that are
accepted. Courses requiring an enrollment key
are indicated in Course categories description.
Instructors can also allow Guest login.
Learners see their courses on site homepage at
Login
Course category displays descriptions of each
course listed, and whether they require an
enrollment key. Instructors can allow Guest
login. Guests can view activities only. Symbols
on description page indicate when a course
requires an enrollment key and allows Guest entry.
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Student User Experience ... cont.

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Learners can login any time, anywhere to interact
with coursework. Each user can specify the Time
Zone they are in, and the Language they wish to
use. Moodle has interface support for 34
languages. Students can be notified by E-mail
each time a Forum, which they are subscribed
to, has a new posting. Additionally, instructors
can set e-mail notification for Dialogues.
Learners can select from 34 languages at Login
Rich text e-mail is sent to each learner
subscribed to different Forums. Instructors
can set private Dialogues to e-mail notification
that comments have been added.
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Who is Using Moodle?

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• About 1000 organizations in 74 countries had
  registered Moodle sites at http//moodle.org/sites
  / by March 2004. This number is growning by about
  10 each month as educators and trainers learn of
  the value proposition that open source Moodle
  offers. Moodle is an ideal solution for
• Public and Private Schools
• Community Colleges and Universities
• Governmental Agencies
• Business and Training Organizations
• Hospitals and Libraries

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Who Will Help You Use Moodle?

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Hundreds of knowledgeable open-source users have
joined with Moodle developers in a community of
learners. Meet a few new friends!
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Why Not Try Moodle Right Now?
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If your organization is ready or needs to support
an online learning population, here is an
opportunity to take your research to the next
level. These Moodle sites are open for to
explore either as a learner or with permissions,
as a course creator. Moodle For Language
Teaching http//moodle.org/course/view.php?id31
What is Open Source Software
http//moodle.org/course/view.php?id30Using
Moodle http//moodle.org/course/view.php?id5re
mote-Learner.net for Educators
http//remote-learner.net/hsonlineremoter-Learner
.net for Trainers http//remote-learner.net/mood
le
Course Management System
Created by Bryan Williams, modified by Don
Hinkelman, 2004.6.4