Moodling along or How I learned to stop worrying and love the VLE

Nigel Gibson (R13)

Anna Peachey (R03) – She’s the taller one

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Objectives• To look at what we mean by “Virtual Learning

Environment” (VLE)• To look at some of the components of the OU VLE• To consider how these and other online tools might be

used in our practice

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Introduction• We’re here as ALs. • We really can’t answer questions on “why” or “when” or

even much about “how” the university will implement Moodle across all courses or what changes it might make to specific courses – we simply don’t know

• We’ve managed to keep this down to 73 slides

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Note• The bits in red are copied directly from a presentation

prepared by someone else – we’re not trying to distance ourselves from those sections but simply explain any change in “voice” and any increase in vagueness quotient

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VLE?• “Virtual learning environments” are not new• They are generally used in the provision of distance

learning although most universities and colleges have a VLE now

• The term “VLE” is generally used to cover a range of different tools including content management systems (CMS) and learner management systems (LMS)

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So what we got?• At the moment the OU has a basket of different systems• FirstClass, eDesktops, Course web sites, etc.• Moodle offers a way in which we can bring all these

things together

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Moodle• Open Source software• Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning

Environment • The largest single site has reported over 6,000 courses

and over 45,000 students• Available free of charge from http://moodle.org

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Where is it from?• Moodle was created by Martin Dougiamas, a WebCT

administrator at Curtin University Australia• His PhD examined "The use of Open Source software to

support a social constructionist epistemology of teaching and learning within Internet-based communities of reflective inquiry".

• This research has strongly influenced the design of Moodle, providing pedagogical aspects missing from many other e-learning platforms. (Source: Wikipedia – part of the entry was edited by Martin Dougiamas)

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Can we have a look yet?

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NewsNewsNewsNewsCourse Course

calendarcalendar

Course Course calendarcalendar

Links and Links and resourcesresources

Links and Links and resourcesresources

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The calendar The calendar can support can support

links to links to materials materials

The calendar The calendar can support can support

links to links to materials materials

Checkboxes Checkboxes to allow to allow

students to students to keep track of keep track of

progressprogress

Checkboxes Checkboxes to allow to allow

students to students to keep track of keep track of

progressprogress

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Students taking Students taking more than one more than one

course can display course can display multiple calendarsmultiple calendars

Students taking Students taking more than one more than one

course can display course can display multiple calendarsmultiple calendars

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What else?• Wikis• Forums• Quizzes• ePortfolio (MyStuff)

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Wikis• Collaborative• Egalitarian (in theory)• Constructivist approach• Allow roll-back and an audit trail• “Closed” to the outside world• Freely available on the web - PBWiki• Wikipedia!• http://learn.open.ac.uk/site/etma-faqs

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Forums• Moodle forums

are a great deal simpler than FirstClass

• The OU hasn’t decided which way to jump

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Quizzes• Formative

assessment • Summative

assessment (CMAs)

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OpenMark

www.open.ac.uk/openmarkexampleswww.open.ac.uk/openmarkexamples

• Questions answered sequentially with immediate feedback on correct answers - can’t do this in any paper-based mode

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MyStuff• Somewhere to store your digital resources• Possibly an ePortfolio but…..• http://learn.open.ac.uk/mod/portfolio/ • Store images, video, documents, URLs, etc. • Share stored items• Tag items (Folksonomy)

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Coming soonThe tools are planned to be available next year include:• Audio recording tool • Voting module• Podcasting tool• Blog• Replacement for Lyceum (with added functionality)

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Wider non-course use of tools• Some tools – such as the quiz – will be used only within

courses• Other tools – such as wiki and blog – are planned to be

made more generally available for use by students and ALs – outside course use

• Guidelines for the use of tools outside courses have been developed – if students use tools beyond what is specified as part of their course then you won’t be expected to look at this work

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Some ideas from MfB• “Wikis would be great for distant collaborative work.

Quizzes and other exercises are good for checking what has been learnt”

• “I can see the use of a blog for student research diaries and a wiki for collaborative work/discussion”

• “I would use a wiki approach to encourage students to add material they find about course theories e.g. papers”

• “I would use the forums and wiki for collaborative learning, for example setting a tutorial task which would involve students discussing the task and producing joint output using the wiki”

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Wikis elsewhere• Howard Rheingold runs a course at Stanford and uses a

wiki to manage it - http://rheingold2.jot.com/WikiHome/Syllabus

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….• A project based wiki -

http://conclave.open.ac.uk/SLN-Wiki/index.php/Main_Page

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Bloggers too• Martin Weller’s blog - http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/

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Other VLE strandsIn all there are 10 project areas in the VLE. Others

include:• Federated search – the capacity to search across a

range of databases• Mobile learning – including developing a version of

Moodle which can be run off line (Prisons?)• Mathematical and scientific notation

More information about these is available on the VLE intranet site at http://intranet.open.ac.uk/ouvle

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What else is going on?• Strange happenings in virtual worlds• Second Life – the current virtual world of choice

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Second Life for learners• Anonymity (inc voice)• Physical appearance• Physical proximity• Less established group roles (tutor/student)• Absence of social cues• Lack of RL expectations (eg doodling because

bored)

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In summary• Moodle is the OU’s VLE of choice• It offers a wide range of new tools which can – when

used properly – greatly extend learning and teaching opportunities

• Like all things we’ll probably all make mistakes as we learn how to use it properly

• If you’re interested, the opportunities to engage with students are getting ever more diverse

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Any questions?• Thanks for listening (if you have)• We recommend reflecting on the morning with a nice

cup of tea – it makes it all seem so much even better.