Moodle as a virtual learning environment bccca
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This presentation introduces Moodle as a virtual learning environment. It discusses challenges facing learners, businesses and educators such as accessibility issues, content delivery limitations, and shifts toward social learning. It then provides an overview of open source software and what Moodle is as a learning management system. Some key benefits of Moodle mentioned are that it is open source with no licensing fees, flexible, customizable and supports social constructionist pedagogy. The presentation concludes with discussing steps for a successful Moodle implementation and two case studies on using Moodle.
Moodle as a virtual learning environment bccca
- 1. as an institutional virtual learning environment October 27, 2011
- 2. about this presentation this presentation about Moodle was prepared for the BC Career College Association Conference October 2011 For more information visit www.lambdasolutions.net
- 3. about Lambda Solutions • working with Moodle since 2003 • authorized Moodle Partner • authorized Mahara Partner • develop and contribute to the Moodle community • more than 150 Moodle installations hosted & supported • specializing in open-source technologies to deliver flexible and cost-effective solutions • specializing in system integration (e.g. Banner, Datatel Colleague) 3
- 4. clients
- 5. • challenges that face learners, businesses, and educators • open source software • about moodle • before getting started • steps for success • case study: ecole chocolat • case study: neil squire society
- 6. landscape challenges 1. accessibility issues 2. content delivery & management 3. limitations of the classroom 4. social shift
- 7. challenge 1: accessibility issues • persons with disabilities • those living in remote areas or with transportation issues • professional and/or personal constraints
- 8. challenge 2: content delivery & management • administration cost • material costs associated with set-up, use and cleanup • inconsistent delivery - no guarantee that the courses are presented the same across sessions
- 9. challenge 3: limitations of classroom encourages passive learning 5% Lecture passive 10% Reading 20% Audio-Visual 30% Demonstration 50% Discussion Group active 75% Practice by Doing 90% Teach others/Immediate Use *Adapted from National Training Laboratories. Bethel, Maine
- 10. challenge 3: limitations of classroom • encourages passive learning • not supportive of learning differences between students • not supportive of problem solving, critical thinking and higher order learning skills
- 11. challenge 4: social shift
- 12. challenge 4: social shift Peer2Peer Collaboration Resource Building Web Presence & Identity VLE
- 13. open-source software • practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials • free does not mean an open source program is crippled and is worth next to nothing • millions of people use open source software every day, often without even realizing it
- 16. what is moodle? • verb “The process of meandering through something…that often leads to insight and creativity.” • acronym Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment A Learning Management System (LMS) designed to support a social constructionist framework of education, wherein groups collaboratively construct knowledge moodle.org, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system
- 17. why moodle? • value • open source – no license fees • a rich set of resource and activity creation tools • ease of use any user with basic computer & Internet skills will be able to use Moodle • flexible • accessible • customizable, innovative, interoperable • appeals to all learning styles • supports social constructionist pedagogy to facilitate a wide variety of learning activities and teaching strategies • growing international community • 67,990 registered sites in 219 countries with 35 million global users • 1,115,532 registered members consisting of developers, educators, systems administrators moodle.org
- 19. moodle market share: higher-ed Source: http://www.zacker.org/sakai-project-vs-moodle
- 20. moodle as VLE for your institution Peer2Peer Collaboration Resource Building Web Presence & Identity VLE
- 21. before getting started business objectives – do you have a business plan? audience (what they want, need, will pay for) – have you done your market research? resources (time, money, skill) – there may be no license fees but understand your resource requirements You must have some idea of what these are – and the time to understand them better – if you want this to be a successful part of your business! Source: Using Moodle for Business, PennyMondani.com, Midwest Moodle Moot, July 2011
- 22. steps for success 1. Business Case & Plan is eLearning right for my business (at this time)? 2. Concept do customers want and are willing to pay for it? do I have the skill and resources to deliver? 3. Design/Test build a prototype and get feedback 4. Build Keep your business plan in mind Don’t take comments too heavily or too personally - every “criticism” is an opportunity & build on good stuff Source: Using Moodle for Business, PennyMondani.com, Midwest Moodle Moot, July 2011
- 23. steps for success 5. Sell build on your market research start selling before you’re finished build up anticipation with “Coming Soon”, news & blog posts, mailings if you’re not good at this, hire someone! 6. Maintain (Service, Upgrade) keep content updated save time and money and plan to learn at least enough Moodle to: monitor forums, run chats, edit (fix or update) existing content, post grades, add and help users Source: Using Moodle for Business, PennyMondani.com, Midwest Moodle Moot, July 2011
- 24. case study Ecole Chocolat is the only chocolate making school of its kind where students are able to study, learn and practice professional chocolate making from their own home or business—saving both time and travel costs
- 25. case study business and support challenges “ needed an easy to use system for my students who are not necessarily technical and come to us from all over the world 57% US, 15% Canada and 28% International” “the LMS needed to be stable and offer as many customization features as possible so it fit our business needs” “ I still find Moodle's constraints puzzling and frustrating but it has more features than my previous LMS”
- 26. case study how is Moodle used to support your clients in course or resource offerings? “ we are able to give our students not only the technique training through written instructions supported by images and videos but much, much more in depth content on WHY they are doing a particular technique a certain way something that can't be done in a face to face hands-on session because of time constraints” “ we support their business goals - mastering techniques are important but there is a lot more knowledge and skill involved in becoming an expert on chocolate and the chocolate business”
- 27. case study training and support innovations to support end-users “forums, polls, chat, questionnaires, etc. allows us to be interactive and offer our students the support of online tutors and instructors as well as learning from their classmates” “ using an Open Source system allows us to contribute to the Moodle community as well - with the help of Lambda Solutions we just launched our LinkChecker function it checks the accuracy of the many, many hyperlinks we have in our curriculum and notifies us when a particular has returned an error message. Our content manager can then go in to that file and update/remove the bad link. Its saved us so much time over the years that we hope it will do the same for other Moodle colleagues”
- 28. case study use technology, knowledge and passion to empower Canadians with physical disabilities video