21,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
The fun and friendly guide to the world's most popular online learning management system Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, also known as Moodle, is an online learning management system that creates opportunities for rich interaction between educators and their audience. However, the market has been lacking a simple, easy-to-understand guide that covers all the essentials of Moodle?until now. Using straightforward language and an entertaining tone to decipher the intricate world of Moodle, this book provides you with the resources you need to take advantage of all the eLearning and eTraining possibilities that Moodle offers. * Offers a hands-on approach to learning Moodle, the revolutionary online learning management system * Uses simple language peppered with good humor to break down the complexities of Moodle into easily digested pieces of information * Caters to the specific needs of teachers and business trainers by providing the resources they need Moodle For Dummies provides you with the tools you need to acquire a solid understanding of Moodle and start implementing it in your courses.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 510
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011
Ähnliche
Moodle For Dummies®
Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/moodle to view this book's cheat sheet.
Table of Contents
Moodle® For Dummies®
by Radana Dvorak
Moodle® For Dummies®
Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2011 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 646-8600. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley Publishing logo, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, A Reference for the Rest of Us!, The Dummies Way, Dummies Daily, The Fun and Easy Way, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.
For technical support, please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2011924907
ISBN: 978-0-470-94942-9
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Author
Radana Dvorak holds a PhD in computer science from the Queen Mary, University of London, a master’s degree in knowledge-based systems (AI) from the University of Sussex, and a BA from the University of Michigan. Radana has been involved in eLearning since 1989, when her research in human computer interaction focused on computer-based training (CBT). She has been a researcher and a university instructor who taught in the United Kingdom, Cayman Islands, and the United States. She has also spent some time in the software industry. Currently, she is an adjunct professor at Portland State University and owner of eLT Solutions LLC. Her focus is to help organizations with the development of learning courses using learning content management systems and integrating Web 2.0 technology to meet the changing needs of educators, trainers, and learners.
Dedication
To my children, James and Anna, and my parents for their ongoing encouragement and support.
Author’s Acknowledgments
I want to go back a number of years and thank three professors: Professor Mike Sharples who supervised my master’s degree at the University of Sussex and was instrumental in introducing me to the area of eLearning (dubbed CBT in 1989). His vision and dedication inspired and excited me about the possibilities in education. Mike Sharples is currently Professor of Learning Sciences and Director of the Learning Sciences Research Institute at the University of Nottingham. I want to thank Professor Peter Johnson for accepting me to the computer science PhD program at Queen Mary, University of London, and Professor Stephen Summerville, who was instrumental in my research interests and supervised my Ph.D. His vision, enthusiasm, and dedication to his students are admirable. Our discussions about AI, communicative structures transferring to online communication, the future of online books and education, all pre-Web, were vital in my research and love for the field.
I want to thank my Portland State University graduate students; it has been an absolute pleasure and privilege to teach them. They are the most dedicated and hardworking bunch of students I have ever taught. Martin Dougiamas, the original developer of Moodle, believes that in a true collaborative online teaching environment, everyone is both a teacher and a learner — this has proved to be true with my students.
That brings me to thank Martin Dougiamas for developing Moodle and the wonderful Moodle community around the world. The developers, the dedicated forum helpers, and the teachers, many of whom wear all three hats, are integral to Moodle’s success.
This book owes a great deal to the fabulous Indianapolis Dummies Tech group at Wiley Publishing. Thank you, Kyle Looper, for believing in Moodle and giving me the opportunity to write this book; Leah Cameron for initial feedback and editing instructions; and Nicole Sholly, the project editor, who spent hours ensuring this book is crafted in the For Dummies style. This group of people is professional, nice, and a sheer joy to work with.
Finally, I am grateful for my wonderful children, Anna and James, and indebted to them for putting up with my nocturnal working existence, blurry eyes, and disconnected nature while trying to meet deadlines.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
Acquisitions, Editorial, and Media Development
Project Editor: Nicole Sholly
Acquisitions Editor: Kyle Looper
Copy Editor: Virginia Sanders
Technical Editor: Bill Bateman, Humboldt State University and owner of Web2oh.com consulting
Editorial Manager: Kevin Kirschner
Media Development Project Manager: Laura Moss-Hollister
Media Development Assistant Project Manager: Jenny Swisher
Media Development Associate Producers: Josh Frank, Marilyn Hummel, Douglas Kuhn, Shawn Patrick
Editorial Assistant: Amanda Graham
Sr. Editorial Assistant: Cherie Case
Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com)
Composition Services
Project Coordinator: Katherine Crocker
Layout and Graphics: Carrie A. Cesavice, Samantha Cherolis, Lavonne Roberts, Corrie Socolovitch
Proofreader: Toni Settle
Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services
Special Help: Heidi Unger, Jennifer Riggs
Publishing and Editorial for Technology Dummies
Richard Swadley, Vice President and Executive Group Publisher
Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher
Mary Bednarek, Executive Acquisitions Director
Mary C. Corder, Editorial Director
Publishing for Consumer Dummies
Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher
Composition Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Introduction
If you’ve been thinking about putting your class online, this book takes you from thinking to doing. Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) is an open source eLearning software platform that was originally developed by Martin Dougiamas. Moodle enables educators to create online courses supporting rich interactions between educators and their learners. Moodle enables instructors to add content and combine activities into sequences that guide learners through structured learning paths.
Moodle also has also another meaning besides Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. The second meaning is more interesting: It means a slow-paced process of enjoyable tinkering, fiddling, and experimenting that can lead to insight, creativity, and innovation.
Moodle continues to evolve and improve because the developers, instructors, and learners find creative and novel ways to use it. Moodle is freely distributed under the terms of the GPL. You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation. See http://docs.moodle.org/en/License. Join the 39.5 million Moodle users; you’ll have fun.
About Moodle For Dummies
This book is useful for instructors and trainers working in educational organizations or the business world who want to put their teaching content online. I provide step-by-step processes starting with the most useful tools and activities in Moodle. I use screen shots to illustrate steps, including creative and helpful hints how various activities have been used in the eLearning environment. By the end of this book, you’ll have gained the skills and confidence to design complete interactive courses to deliver completely online or to supplement your face-to-face classes.
Here are just some of the things that you — as an instructor or trainer — can do with this book:
Find out what eLearning is all about and how to design and develop great Moodle courses.
Discover all the things Moodle allows you to do, such as linking and embedding Web pages as well as uploading your files in most industry-standard formats. (You can upload the create class notes, for instance.)
Add collaborative tools, such as wikis, forums, glossaries, RSS feeds, chat sessions, lessons, and multimedia content to create a rich learning environment.
Quickly create assignments and quizzes to evaluate learners’ progress and use the powerful Quiz module to take grading off your hands and push results to the grade book.
Discover online grading and the grade book to simplify your classroom life.
Discover the Moodle community to share ideas, tools, and expertise to help you succeed — all for free!
IT staff and troubleshooters will also find this book useful because it can
Help you set up Moodle training sessions (in plain English) for personnel.
Help you understand what teachers are up against. If you’re a system administrator, knowing what teachers need can help you better serve those needs.
Assist you with the installation and administrative tasks to get Moodle going.
Students of all education levels use Moodle, and because this book covers tools and features that students use in Moodle — such as blogs, profiles, wikis, glossaries, databases, and forums — this book is also helpful to them.
Foolish Assumptions
For starters, I assume you’ve heard how online education, or eLearning, is changing education. You’ve heard about Web academies, credit recovery, and completing college and university courses to gain diplomas, certificates, and degrees online. You may have possibly taken a class online. Right now, you may be thinking, “Yes, this must be something important, and I better get involved.” Here are some other assumptions I make:
You’re somehow involved in education and/or training but don’t have any previous experience with Moodle or other similar software.
You have an inquisitive nature and aren’t afraid of trying new technologies. You have an appetite to learn and share your knowledge.
You have a computer and an Internet connection and possess the basic skills to use them. These skills include (but are not limited to)
• Sending/receiving e-mail messages and attaching documents to and downloading them from e-mail messages
• Manipulating word processing documents, such as Word, PDF, and Open Docs files.
• Navigating your computer hard drive or USB drive to find files
• Organizing files and folders, creating new files, and saving files in correct places on your computer
You have access to Moodle or can download it. Moodle is free, but you may need a Moodle partner or Internet service provider (ISP) to host your Moodle site.
You (or your system administrator) are willing to read parts of this book to get your Moodle course up and running. Doing so doesn’t really take too long, and you don’t need much experience with learning content management systems to work with Moodle.
Conventions Used in This Book
To help you navigate this book efficiently, I use a few style conventions:
Terms or words that I want to emphasize or define are italicized.
Web site addresses, or URLs, are shown in a special monofont typeface, like this.
When I refer to a Moodle site, I mean the LCMS that contains all the courses. A site can have many courses, and a site is managed by the system administrator, or in Moodle terms, the person in the Administrator role.
When I refer to a course that means one course, or class, contained on the Moodle site.
When I refer to learners, I mean students and trainees. Although we are all students when we’re learning, often this concept is misinterpreted to refer to students in an educational organization only. Training programs in businesses prefer to use different terms. Trainee, test/exam taker, and team participant are examples of a few terms frequently used.
Moodle user accounts have a Student role, and I use this term when I explain a process or procedure involving the Student user account.
Numbered steps that you need to follow and characters you need to type are set in bold.
What You Don’t Have to Read
The rule of thumb for this book is that you don’t need to read what isn’t relevant to your task at hand. Whether you have experience with Moodle or are absolutely clueless, it doesn’t matter. Browse this book, and you’ll find just the right starting point. Isn’t that what the For Dummies books are all about? This book is structured modularly, so you don’t have to read the Technical Stuff icons. If you work for an organization that has a system administrator looking after Moodle, you don’t need to worry about the technical stuff or anything that says Administrating Moodle. If you’re an IT guru, you can avoid the sections on how to develop the eLearning course and how to structure great online courses.
How This Book Is Organized
Moodle For Dummies is split into five parts and has a companion Web site. You don’t have to read the book sequentially, and you don’t even have to read all the sections in any particular chapter. You can use the Table of Contents and the index to find the information you need and quickly get your answer. In this section, I briefly describe what you find in each part.
Part I: Getting Started with Moodle
This part is a great place to find out everything there is to know about Moodle. Here you get a bird’s-eye view that helps you understand the Moodle world and explain what’s what to get started. You find many things you can do with Moodle, understand what it takes to design a great online course, and get clued in on terms like Digital Native,Generation X, and Generation Z. This part also gets you ready to begin building your very first Moodle front page, the first step in creating your online course. When you’re through with this section, you can impress your friends and colleagues with your eLearning skills and Moodle knowledge.
The first and most important part of creating your online class is to not get carried away. Don’t let the cool modules (such as RSS, embedded videos, and links to outside resources) compromise your teaching methods by trying to impress learners and colleagues. Identify your objectives and use Moodle to enhance your teaching methods, not alter or worse, hinder them.
Part II: Creating and Managing Course Content
I know you want to start putting your content, your know-how, and your expertise online ASAP. This part shows you how. You’ll have something up in no time. You find out how to add resources, such as uploading your files to your course, creating Web pages, and linking to resources on the Internet. I also shed light on adding video and sound files to create a multimedia-rich teaching environment, and show you how to embed YouTube or TeacherTube videos in your Moodle Web pages. You also figure out how to use the grade book and assessment tools to evaluate your learners’ progress and knowledge.
Part III: Adding Activities to Your Moodle Course
Here’s where the fun begins. You read how to use forums, chats, messages, and blogs to engage your learners in communicating and expressing themselves in Moodle. Moodlers believe that in a true collaborative environment, everyone is a learner and teacher. This is where you can set up activities and let your learners create projects, share them, and learn from each other. Wikis, glossaries, and database tools are ideal for creating and sharing knowledge. I also introduce you to the powerful Quiz module, which enables instructors to create any type of quiz, worksheet, or test using multiple choice, true/false, matching, short answer, and essay questions. You can add comments, and then Moodle automatically grades the questions and adds the score to the grade book. You also find out how to create assignments that learners can upload to Moodle for you to grade and record.
This section also shows you how to set up news feeds to push Web content to your Moodle class. For example, you can bring up top stories on any topic from the BBC or CNN, or you can push any journal or e-zine publications right to your course front page, wiki, glossary, or database. Only your imagination can stop the possibilities.
Part IV: Moodle Management
This part is all about managing your content, optimizing your files for smooth running, and backing up your data. The chapters show you how to replicate your course, rename it, and use it again. Put in the work once and replicate from then on. I know how important it is to collect user reports to keep on top of your learners or show impressive statistics to your department head, so I reveal all this knowledge. This part also covers all the techie administrative aspects of Moodle and how to keep it running smoothly. Not for the faint hearted, but with fabulous hand-holding explanations and direct references to Moodle online documentation and links to wealth of information in Moodle forums, you find your way even if you don’t have a technical background.
Part V: The Part of Tens
People love For Dummies books for all the extra tips, hints, and advice the authors share. This part gives you things to think about before you jump into building your first Moodle course, and it gives you useful, creative ways to keep your learners involved in your Moodle course.
The companion Web site
Although I get very excited about the companion Web site (located at www.dummies.com/go/moodlefd), you aren’t required to visit it to be able to create a Moodle course — everything you need is contained in this lovely book. On the site, however, I include a few extras that you may find useful. So, if you’re feeling adventurous, you can browse for templates, an online course checklist, good practice and Moodle chat, forum, and blog etiquette tips, and more.
I encourage you to visit the companion site and to contact me ([email protected]) if I need to add anything else to make your life just a bit easier. Of course, if you think it is absolutely brilliant just as it is, let me know that, too. I will pass on credit where it’s due.
The Moodle For Dummies Cheat Sheet
The For Dummies Cheat Sheets live online at Dummies.com. To find this book’s Cheat Sheet, go to www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/moodle.
The Cheat Sheet takes you on a tour of the Moodle interface, explaining modules and tools along the way. You also find a list of resources (with links) that can help get you started Moodling, provide you with support and community, and deliver news to you about all things Moodle. Finally, I provide shortcut keys particular to Moodle.
Icons Used in This Book
What’s a For Dummies book without icons pointing you in the direction of really great information that’s sure to help you along your way? In this section, I briefly describe each icon I use in this book.
This icon points out helpful information that’s likely to make your job easier.
This icon marks a general interesting and useful fact — something that you may want to remember for later use.
This icon highlights lurking danger. Pay attention to this icon and proceed with caution. But don’t worry, you really can’t destroy or mess up too much.
When you see this icon, you know that there’s techie stuff nearby. If you’re not feeling very techie, you can skip this info.
Where to Go from Here
You picked up the book off the shelf or ordered it online, so don’t marvel at the attractive black and gold cover, get started! If you’ve never used Moodle, start with Chapter 1 and then read about creating successful eLearning courses followed by creating your first front page.
If you’ve used learning content management systems similar to Moodle or have experience with Moodle, browse the contents and then jump in where you feel most comfortable. If you have Moodle available in your organization, get on the phone or e-mail your system administrator and tell him you’re ready — get him to set up a Teacher account so that you can name your course and jump right in.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. There’s no such thing as a mistake when you experiment and try something new because no matter what you do, you learn from it. Moodle software is robust and backed up, so you can’t really corrupt it. Now jump in and start Moodling.
Please note that some special symbols used in this eBook may not display properly on all eReader devices. If you have trouble determining any symbol, please call Wiley Product Technical Support at 800-762-2974. Outside of the United States, please call 317-572-3993. You can also contact Wiley Product Technical Support at www.wiley.com/techsupport.
Part I
Getting Started with Moodle
In this part . . .
This part hopefully inspires and excites you so much that you won’t be able to contain yourself and will want to digest the whole book and start creating Moodle courses immediately. The part begins with an overview of Moodle and briefly explains its conventions, terminology, and tools. After that, I discuss methods of online learning, how to develop great Moodle courses, and how to use Moodle to support your teaching goals. The last two chapters of this part contain nuts and bolts information that gets you started building your course front page and creating your first Moodle course.
Chapter 1
Discovering Moodle and What You Can Do
In This Chapter
Getting to know Moodle
Finding your way around the Moodle course front page
Checking out Moodle basic structure and organization
Understanding resources, activities, and blocks
Mastering Moodle terms and conventions
Using new software applications isn’t always easy and can even be overwhelming if you focus on the ever-changing Internet and all the new software and gadgets that keep appearing. When you want to use a new software, you must think about the time (and possibly money) you need to invest initially to set it up, and then there’s the pressure of learning the new software. If the thought of using a new piece of software — such as Moodle — makes you reflexively reach for a bottle of something, take a deep breath and allow me to ease you into learning a few basics about Moodle. Before you know it, your worries will be left behind.
I begin the chapter with a brief definition of Moodle and show you some numbers of how many people and organizations use Moodle. Next I explain some useful terminology and conventions to get you started and help you navigate Moodle. Finally, I dive in to an explanation of software acronyms to alleviate any confusion about the space Moodle occupies in this eLearning (also referred to as distance learning) market.
Meeting Moodle
Moodle is a large, Web-based software package that enables instructors, trainers, and educators to create Internet-based courses. Moodle is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. Moodle provides a robust system and an organized, easy-to-use interface for learning over the Internet. One of the greatest advantages in sticking with Moodle is that developers have kept the look and feel consistent over the years, and they promise to continue to keep it consistent so that each upgrade doesn’t feel like it’s a piece of new software.
Moodle enables educators and trainers to create online courses. Moodle’s home page (Moodle also calls it the course front page) displays, in its basic form a link to a list of participants (including the teacher and students), a calendar with a course schedule and list of assignments, resources, activities, updates, and news. This book explains all of Moodle features, including online quizzes, forums, glossaries of terms, wikis, access to documents, and links to other Web resources, and more.
Moodle is referred to as a course management system (CMS), learning management system (LMS), virtual learning environment (VLE), or more recently a learning content management system (LCMS). Near the end of this chapter, I explain the differences among these terms and why I refer to Moodle as an LCMS.
So why would your organization use Moodle, or why should you learn to use Moodle? I can give you a number of reasons. Moodle is
Widely used, domestically and globally: As of January 2011, more than 39 million registered users are using Moodle. This list shows you a few other stats (the numbers are from http://moodle.org/stats):
• Registered courses: 4,303,011
• Users: 40, 590, 582,899,203
• Teachers: 1,190,743
• Enrollments: 18,794,573
• Largest site: 59,920 courses with 225,546 users
• Site with most registered users: Open University 714,310 (Moodle.org has 1,030,779)
• Countries using Moodle: 213
• Languages: 83
The largest community of users around the globe for a distance learning software: Moodle has an incredibly large and active community spanning the globe. It has been vital to the success of Moodle, and I can guarantee that if you post a question to the help forums, someone will be awake, somewhere around the globe, and you will have a reply. It’s like a 24/7 tech support group. See http://moodle.org/forums.
Based on a sound educational philosophy: Moodle is based on sound pedagogical principals and educational philosophy, making it one of the few LCMS that’s learning-centered instead of tool- and gadget-centered.
Free: There’s no initial cost to purchase the software and no license fees! Moodle is open source software, meaning it’s free and governed by GNU Public License (www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html). You may think that nothing is free. Moodle is in that you don’t have to pay for the software or the upgrades or license, installation, and training (what the marketing and sales team try to get you to commit to when you purchase large software packages).
But in some respects, you are partially correct in thinking that everything has a cost attached. If you add development time to build your course, time to learn the software, and Web-hosting costs, Moodle is not free.
Understanding Moodle Basics
If you want to explore Moodle and perhaps are excited to start developing your first Moodle course, you need to know a few details about Moodle to navigate it and speak the language. The following sections help get you started.
Creating a Moodle account and logging in to your course
You need just a couple things to get started with Moodle:
An account with a username and password: Aren’t you glad to learn that Moodle is secure? You need a Teacher, a Course Creator, or an Administrator account in order to have editing privileges and create courses.
You can contact your system administrator to set up an account for you. If you will be responsible for looking after Moodle, refer to the discussion regarding roles and registration in Chapter 3 and also the discussion regarding Moodle system administrators in Chapter 13.
A URL: The URL depends on your organization or a third-party company that will host your Moodle site.
If you have an account and a URL, open your Web browser (Moodle works best with Internet Explorer and Firefox) and go to the URL. If this is your first time accessing your Moodle site, you come to a page similar to Figure 1-1.
Next time you return to the course, either you see just the login box as shown in Figure 1-2 (or Figure 1-1) or you go straight to a list of courses on your Moodle site with a login link in the top-right corner. You have a number of options to log in, all quite straightforward and simple.
Figure 1-1: The Login page.
Figure 1-2: Returning to the Moodle Login page
The Safari, Google Chrome, and Opera browsers do not show all capabilities of the built-in HTML editor in Moodle, and there are a few issues with the Chat module using Safari. To be safe, I recommend using Firefox or Internet Explorer.
Navigating the Moodle interface
Finding your way around the Moodle course front page is not difficult when you understand some of the basic terminology and where things are located. Before I begin to help you familiarize yourself with the Moodle interface, you need to understand some terms that I continue to use throughout the book, and the explanation in this chapter will make more sense. These terms are specific to Moodle, so it’s a good idea to use them as your reference starting point.
Moodle site/Moodle site front page: Refers to the Moodle software platform that contains all of your organization’s courses and blocks with utilities for managing the site. Figure 1-3 shows an example of a Moodle site front page, which includes all the courses available on the site. There is a login link in the top-right corner, a site calendar, site news, and the Site Administration block. When a reference is made to a site, it’s available to all courses and all users in the site. Organizations usually run only one Moodle site.
A Teacher or Student account would not be able to see the Site Administration block located on the left in Figure 1-3. See Chapter 4 for more information on user roles.
Moodle course: A Moodle course is much like a real-world course, but online: It’s a collection of lessons, assignments, quizzes, documents, projects, grade book, and class discussions. An instructor constructs a syllabus, which is posted on the course front page, and students can download instructions, upload completed assignments, and collaborate through wikis, chats, and online forums.
Course front page: Refers to the course home page — it’s your work space and where your learners come when they log in to your Moodle course. On your course front page, you have more tools available to you than your learners do. These additional tools enable you to build and edit your course.
Figure 1-3: The Moodle site front page.
A number of settings offer the instructor controls and tools to add content (called resources) and modules such as Wikis, Forums, and Quizzes (called activities). The course front page is broken into course sections by week or topic (there are other settings that enable you to set up the course to meet your teaching requirements), and you can add resources and activities to each section.
Chapter 3 goes into detail about each editing tool, icon, block, and menu. Figure 1-4 shows what a teacher view of the course front page looks like without the editing features enabled. Figure 1-5 demonstrates the same page with the editing features enabled and number of activities and resources listed under the different sections (topics or units).
Figure 1-4: The Teacher view of the course front page.
The course front page includes blocks on the left and right sides with the center column reserved for the course content. Blocks are tools — kind of like containers for you and your learners. For example, you have blocks for a calendar, search box, lists of activities and resources, participants, newsfeeds, and so on. Many blocks can have links to various activities. By default, each course front page has specific blocks, such as Participants, Latest News, Upcoming Events, and Recent Activity. You can get more information on blocks later in this chapter and in Chapter 3.
When you first access your course, familiarize yourself with the course front page. Find the Turn Editing On button, located in the top-right corner, and click it. You see your course front page come to life, displaying colorful editing icons, including the Activity and Resource drop-down lists appearing in each section. A new Block drop-down list also shows up on the right side. Explore and familiarize yourself with what you have available.
Figure 1-5: The editing tools are available.
If you don’t yet have access to your own Moodle course and want to explore and try editing, go to the Moodle.org demo site at http://demo.moodle.net. You can sign in as a teacher, a student, or an administrator, and you can access courses and demos in many different languages. Don’t worry about making any changes; the server is refreshed back to the original every 20 minutes.
Understanding Moodle terms and conventions
Moodle uses a number of terms and specific conventions particular to the software. In the following list, I mention and explain some of these terms and conventions to help you ease into the book:
User: A specific participant who is allowed to enter a Moodle site. Each user account has a specific role, which carries a set of permissions.
Roles: Roles are user accounts identifying the participants in the site and course. Each role has a set of permissions with capabilities to interact with Moodle. When Moodle is installed, it automatically creates a set of default roles — Administrator, Teacher, Non-Editing Teacher, Course Creator, Student, and Guest — which I define in Chapter 4.
Capability: Capabilities are Moodle features. Each activity has specific capabilities and certain roles have the capabilities assigned to interact in different capacities with the activities. For example, a Teacher role can post discussions to the News forum, but a Student role can only read a news forum and not post to or reply to it. Capabilities are further discussed in Chapters 4 and 13.
Permission: Permissions are specific settings for capabilities. You have four options: Not Set/Inherit, Allow, Prevent, or Prohibit. See Chapter 13 for more details.
Activities: You can add separate, interactive learning activity modules to your course. They are robust, and each one can be set up to work with individual students, groups, or everyone in the course. The Add an Activity functionality is enabled when you click the Turn Editing On button. (See Figure 1-5.) The drop-down list appears in each section/week of your course. Many of the activities can be graded and push information to a course grade book. The activities available are shown in Figure 1-6.
Figure 1-6: The Add an Activity drop-down list.
Resources: Moodle resources are types of tools that enable you to include almost any kind of file, including multimedia files and links to resources on the Internet. Resources include simple text pages, Web pages including a WYSIWYG editor, IMS packages, and more. Like activities, you add resources by using a drop-down list when editing is turned on. Figure 1-7 shows the drop-down list of various resources.
Chapter 3 goes into detail about the various modules and how to use each one.
Blocks: Blocks are container-like tools that provide specific information or functionality. There are more than 16 types of blocks, many of which are flexible so that you can use them for a variety of functions. For instance, the HTML block can display a short video on the course front page. The Blocks block appears bottom of the right column when you turn on editing. (See Figure 1-8.)
Figure 1-7: The Add a Resource drop-down list.
Figure 1-8: The Blocks drop-down list.
Clarifying Moodle and CMS, LMS, VLE, and LCMS
Moodle continues to be referred to by a number of acronyms that may cause confusion. You’ve probably heard of few (if not all) of these terms and may be wondering about the differences among them. In the following list, I describe each and highlight the similarities and differences:
VLE: A virtual learning environment is a software system designed to support teaching and learning in a form distinct from a managed learning environment (MLE), which focuses on management. A VLE usually uses Internet browsers to deliver instructions and assessment tools, such as quizzes. More recent VLEs include wikis, blogs, and RSS.
LMS: A learning management system (LMS) is a software system that enables the management and delivery of online and instructor-led training content to learners. Most LMSs are Web-based to facilitate anytime, anyplace, and any pace access to learning content and administration. You will see LMS and VLE used interchangeably.
CMS: A content management system (CMS) is a repository for data, where data can be defined as any type of file, such as documents, movies, sound, pictures, and so forth. CMSs are frequently used for storing, controlling, revising, collaboratively sharing, and publishing documentation. Usually a CMS serves as a central repository. This is most likely the oldest term used to refer to software like Moodle.
LCMS: A learning content management systems (LCMS) combines the powers of CMS and LMS. An LCMS is defined as a system that creates, stores, assembles, and delivers eLearning content that can be personalized. It delivers the content in the form of learning objects. Though an LMS manages and administers all forms of learning within an organization, an LCMS concentrates on online learning content, usually in the form of learning objects.
Because of Moodle’s extensibility and its separate modules that can be used with individual learners, saved, and reused (wiki, database, blogs, and so on), I refer to Moodle as a LCMS throughout the book.
An LCMS such as Moodle gives instructors, course authors, and designers the ability to create eLearning content more efficiently. The goal of an LCMS is to create small chunks of content to meet the needs of individual students or groups of learners and to offer capabilities to update and change the content as and when needed with ease. For example, traditionally, an entire course would be developed and then adapted to multiple audiences. With a LCMS, instructional designers are able to create content chunks that are reusable.
The LCMS can also provide certification and tracking for individual learners who need specific knowledge. LCMS can deliver degree courses or training to certify for regulatory needs, professional licensure, or quality control. For instance, a construction company using a new piece of heavy equipment can use an LCMS to ensure that all workers are fully trained on the processes and health and safety. The training includes certification tests employees need to pass in order for a company to receive insurance certification. These tests, set up as separate modules, can be easily updated or changed to support employees’ needs (second language, learning disabilities, and so on) and/or changes made by the regulatory organizations. LCMSs are used in high schools, Web academies, colleges, universities, and companies.
Keeping Moodle Versions Straight
I wrote this book using version 1.9.9, and it covers Moodle versions up to version 2.0 (which was recently released). I have confidence that this book will help you set up courses and teach you all you need to know for versions 1.8 through 2.0.
The main changes in the new release are designed to give third-party developers more flexibility and scalability and to integrate Web 2.0 technology. Moodle 2.0 is still viewed as beta at the time of writing this book, which means the changes are essentially transparent to you as the end user. (Again, though, the material covered in the book is applicable to get you going if want to upgrade to Moodle 2.0.)
Moodle docs, which are referenced throughout the book, are for versions pre-2.0 with notes where upgrades have taken place. Unless you’re a developer or actively want to test the software for bugs and intend to contribute to the development of 2.0+, I strongly recommend that you use the latest version, 1.9 (which to date of publication is 1.9.10), because as the Moodle.org site reports, minor upgrades to Moodle 2.0 are found weekly, and patches will be released regularly. Hence why you see versions 2.0; a month later you see 2.1; and then 2.1.1
Moodle has been consistent with every new release, leaving the front page, navigation, and setup pages for teachers and learners the same. For most instructors and teachers, the main difference they will see is changes in how files are handled in the new versions. As with any new releases, there are bugs and minor issues, and the Moodle forums are quite hot with activities around these issues. No doubt all minor issues will be resolved over time.
Please see the Moodle 2.0 release notes at http://docs.moodle.org. Many forum discussions still say there are improvements to be made and changes in the wind. I know I will be sticking with 1.9+ versions for my teaching courses for some time yet, though I’m excited about the future possibilities, especially the potential for integrating third-party modules and mobile apps.
Determining Where to Host Moodle
If your organization doesn’t support a Moodle site and you cannot convince your System Administrator to download it for you to the organization’s server (even after you’ve tried bribery), you will have to look at other options. In a crunch, your three options are on your computer, on your server, or through third-party hosting. The following list highlights a few pros and cons to help you to decide the best option for you:
Running Moodle on your computer: Running Moodle on your home computer is not really a difficult process, setting it up doesn’t take too long, however getting your Moodle site online is more cumbersome. If you want learners to access your course, it’s a complex process involving a Web server, and you may as well use a third party to host it. However, if all you want to do is learn how to build a course and play, then it’s a good way to start. Make sure you read the system requirements before you download it.
To download Moodle on your own computer, go to http://moodle.org/downloads and scroll down to Moodle for Windows or Moodle for Macs OS X and follow the instructions.
Run on your own server: If you have your own Web server, I assume you have the skills needed to set up Moodle. Go to http://moodle.org/downloads and click the Standard Moodle Packages link.
Third-party hosting: There are few options for third-party hosting. You may find non-profit organizations that offer free hosting for educational organizations. For example, Key-to-School http://www.keytoschool.com or similar organizations such as ORVSD (Oregon Virtual School District), a free resource for online teaching learning, offers free hosting to Oregon educators. Check with your district education office for information on similar government- and grant-funded programs.
Many ISPs support open source software and enable you to download Moodle. You have to make sure you have Linux hosting and the ISP supports MySQL. This is a good option if you have few technical skills. Most ISPs will not provide technical support for third-party software.
If you need technical support with the third-party hosting option, I recommend that you contact a local Moodle.org partner. These partners will host, maintain, and provide a secure environment for your Moodle site. Moodle partners are located in many different countries. Go to http://moodle.com/hosting for a list of companies that have partnered with Moodle.org.
Chapter 2
Designing Great Moodle Courses
In This Chapter
Discovering Moodle’s origins and the teaching methods behind it
Understanding diversity of your learners
Choosing your instructional design philosophy and methodology
Becoming an online instructor
Iknow you’re itching to start building your Moodle course. However, before you dive in to the next chapter and start building your course front page, I recommend taking a few minutes to learn about how Moodle originated and the underlying pedagogical theory that brought instructors, teachers, and developers around the world to embrace it and develop Moodle to the point where it is today. With this information, you can impress your friends, family, and colleagues when they ask what Moodle and Moodling are and what exactly it all means.
If you take one thing from this chapter, it should be that no matter what technology you use to create and enhance your course, it should be based on sound instructional design principles. Don’t fall into the trap of selecting your media before you identify your course objectives. The medium and media should not compromise your teaching methods to fit the technology; instead, use the technology to enhance your teaching so you can reach and support the learning strategies your learners have developed.
The Philosophy and Evolution of Moodle
Like with anything new you undertake in your profession that may require a new way of working and/or thinking, having knowledge about that new thing can ease your anxiety. To help you understand how to use Moodle successfully, I encourage you to understand its origins and the principles on which it was built. In addition, you can benefit from becoming familiar with the new terminology, eLearning methodologies, and the role in education that Moodle occupies.
eLearning defined
Before shedding a light on the educational philosophy of Moodle, I need to briefly define eLearning in case you’re new to the concept. eLearning is a vast area in education and training that has gained much attention in the last ten years. eLearning is an umbrella term representing learning and training carried out using computers connected to the Internet, interacting with Web-based software. The basic tenet is to be able to learn anytime and anywhere. In this book, you may find I use the terms eLearning, online learning, and distance learning interchangeably. Other terms you may have heard or be familiar with include
Distance learning and distance education
eTraining, computer-based training, and technology-based training
Online learning and online education
Web-based training
Technology-enhanced learning
The birth of Moodle
The brain child behind Moodle is Martin Dougiamas. In his past, Martin had to use CMS (content management system) in education, and he found it difficult to use and not at all intuitive or supportive to meet his teaching objectives and students’ learning needs. As a result, he decided to complete his graduate degrees in Computer Science and Education and create something better — he must have had a eureka! moment somewhere along the way. Combining his degrees in education with his computer science degree, Martin developed an online learning environment that is based on pedagogical principles and is learning-centered rather than tool-centered. Martin’s interests in social constructionism, which bases learning on collaboration and social activities to create new knowledge for others to see and use, drive Moodle.
Martin and the current development teams continue to evolve Moodle by adding new technologies and enhancing older tools and modules. One of the strongholds close to all Moodle users’ hearts is that when enhancements and changes are made, the look and feel stay the same for users. The simple, familiar, and reliable user interface is transferable from older versions of Moodle, and the familiarity of standard editing tools has made Moodle a favorite LCMS (learning content management system) around the world.
Note: LCMS, LMS (learning management system), and CMS (content management system) are used interchangeably in the distance learning community. I define their differences in Chapter 1.
From Martin’s initial work on Moodle, the following principles underpin Moodle’s ongoing development:
Everyone is a potential learner as well as a teacher, and in a true collaborative environment, everyone is both.
People learn by creating, developing, and expressing something for others to use and see.
People can learn by just curiously observing the activity of their peers.
A learner-centered environment needs to be flexible and easily adaptable, capable of quickly responding to the needs of all participants within it.
From the constructionism theory mentioned earlier, if you can understand the essence of what others are trying to convey, you can teach in a more transformational way.
Choosing an eLearning method
There are a number of ways instructors use eLearning to teach, enhance, and support their course goals. You can use Moodle for any type of eLearning you may be involved in. Generally, current eLearning courses use one of the following three models:
Distance learning is simply defined as “structured learning without the physical presents of the instructor.” This definition evolved from the first Annual Conference on Distance Learning in 1989 and is still used today.1
Blended learning is learning in a traditional classroom where instructors use eLearning systems to enhance their teaching. It’s defined as “combining online delivery of educational content with the best features of classroom interaction and live instruction to personalize learning, allow thoughtful reflection, and differentiate instruction from student-to-student across a diverse group of learners.” This definition evloved from the International Association for K-12 Online Learning.2
Hybrid learning is a type of learning that’s a combination of in-class and online teaching. In-class work is not replicated online. Hybrid learning is often used when practicum, labs, or demonstrations are required. It’s almost the best of both worlds and is still one of my favorite ways of teaching.
Discovering How Moodle Can Support Instructional Design Strategies
Learning appears to be most effective when learners are involved in creating something for other learners to see or use. This is one of the strengths of Moodle. Table 2-1 lists a number of eLearning strategies and highlights how you can use Moodle to support them. There are many learning strategies, and by no means is this list exhaustive. Discussion about learning theories and pedagogy for online instruction is not for this book to tackle (unfortunately), and because you’ve picked up this book, you may have some background understanding and/or experience and expertise in this area. See the companion Web site for resources if you want more information about instructional design.
Understanding Our Learners and Generational Differences
Learners are unique: They have numerous learning styles and different ways information is viewed and assimilated. Educational theorists have identified many different types of learning styles that reflect how the information may be perceived, organized, and processed.3 Learners assimilate in different ways (visually, aurally, or kinesthetically), and some forms may work better than others for individual learners. The neat aspect of using Moodle is that you, as an instructor, can learn about your learners and present information to support them using the medium in various modalities — other than kinesthetic, of course, because you would need virtual reality for that. (Perhaps in the near future the brilliant Moodle developers will design virtual Moodle classrooms that will support a kinesthetic preference.)
If you’re new to the area of eLearning, keep in mind that your knowledge, content expertise, and experience are the valued commodities, not the software. Do not compromise your teaching methods and let the medium drive the content.
Moodle has provided instructors with tools and flexibility to enhance the teaching and learning experiences, not hinder them. For example, just because you can use newsfeeds (RSS; see Chapter 14) with Moodle, don’t feel you need to integrate newsfeeds because other instructors are using them or because students think they’re cool. Use newsfeeds only if they play part in your learning objectives. Moodle is not prescriptive — it’s extensive. You determine how you will use it with your learners. There are no limits, so put your creativity to work, and you may find new uses for it. Moodle is where it’s at today because of educators finding new needs and developers working to provide new features to meet those needs.
