Mira Vogel, Goldsmiths, University of London

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Using VLEs effectively Goldsmiths experience

• Mira Vogel, Goldsmiths, University of London

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25 minutes of you choose what

• VLEs from different perspectives
• Distinctive Moodle features (15-20 min)
• Overview and specific examples
• Examples of how we use the VLE at Goldsmiths
• General to specific
• Ideas for achieving most effective use of VLE
• 5 mins ideas from me, for discussion
• Discuss and present your fantasy VLE
• Listen to my presentation on Moodle features
• In groups your fantasy VLE what features would
  it include, and how would they help teaching and
  learning?
• Jot your ideas on a Wiki and present them
• Anything else?

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VLEs from different perspectives
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VLEs the student view
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? ?
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helps to make the most of the face-to-face-time
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Student concerns

• VLE mustnt threaten f2f time
• Access
• Accessibility
• Usability
• Bandwidth
• Communication
• Lack of non-verbal social cues - unnerving or
  liberating?
• Typing new communication difficulties /
  strengths?
• Longevity of a statement

• Feeling of being watched
• Inhibiting / motivating?
• Expectations low and high
• Multimedia not a priority
• Demands for flexibility
• Many different platforms
• Difficulties accessing material
• Reliability
• As advertised, when promised.
• Any others?

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Tutor concerns

• How to drive a VLE
• Configuring, uploading, different perspectives
  tc
• Web design requires new skills and knowledge
• Different platforms
• Perception eg line length, placing elements tc
• Intuitive navigation
• Orientation
• Learning design requires new skills
• When and how to use the tools

• Communication
• E-moderating is very different from f2f
  facilitation
• Providing the medium does not mean it will be
  well used
• Lack of time to prepare
• Also remember to make available
• Reservations about making stuff available online
• theft
• VLE mustnt threaten f2f time
• Any more?

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A systems administrator view of moodle

• As the user group grows, ? stability, ? features
• Eg LDAP authentication now built in
• Burden of flagging bugs is widely spread
  quickly fixed
• Light workload last month only 1½ hours
  critical jobs
• More if you take advantage of changing the source
  code
• Installing a new release takes 2-3 hours as and
  when
• ..dont need a great deal of specialised
  knowledge
• Server administration an important skill can be
  picked up
• Uh-oh whats going on?
• The forums are incredibly useful OS ethos
• Compare commercial systems which do not support
  access to developers and other users
  Contents

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Overview of Moodle
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Whats distinctive about Moodle?

• Pedagogic aspects
• Emphasis on activities and interaction
• Social constructivist model emphasises
  connectedness as a stimulus for learning
• Flexible we can change it
• Straightforward for most - ? cognitive load
• Return to global perspective of an institution
  interdisciplinary insights

• Open source aspects
• Transparency
• User-group - lively, friendly, supportive,
  sharing
• Support timely but requires initiative.
• Ownership ? self-efficacy
• Faith in the face of inadequacies
• Nimble responses to bugs, wishlists new
  approaches
• Documentation variable currency, completeness
  relevance.

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Features of Moodle

• Four roles in moodle
• Administrator, course creator, lecturer, student
• Those higher in the hierarchy can assume lower
  roles
• Three course types
• Topic view, weekly view and social view
• Integration of different file types
• Scheduling and organising
• Strong on activities in groups or individually
• Assignment, Chat, Choice, Dialogue, Forum,
  Glossary, Journals, Lesson, Wiki, Workshop
• Coming soon (among other things)
• Blog tool greater configurability of groups
  full accessibility

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Requirements for running Moodle

• At Goldsmiths we run it on
• Twin Intel Xeon 2.8 GHz Processors
• 4 GB RAM
• 292 GB Storage (RAID)
• Two Gigabits NICs
• Red Hat Linux 8.0, Apache Web server, PostgreSQL
• PHP scripting language (version 4.1.0 or later)
• Database server MySQL or PostgreSQL are
  recommended
• Staff development and support in learning design,
  rather than procedural use of Moodle
• Optional support we pay 3k per year to
  Moodles dad, Martin Dougiamas for any quick
  fixes Contents

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• Ideas for the future

At Goldsmiths
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Goldsmiths experience with Moodle

• Worst use
• Files, files and more files
• Information graveyard
• Imbalance no activities
• Fragmented course areas
• Lack of context or hierarchies of importance
• Empty forums and chat sessions
• Missed opportunities for communication
• Expectation that students can comfortably read
  from a screen

• Best use
• The vibrant PGCE forums
• Mutual support for remote students meets a real
  need
• Self assessment - EFL
• Embedded fill-in-the-blank questions with
  feedback
• Wiki as a gallery space for Art Design students
• Workshop for
• Peer-reviewing journal articles at a distance
• Reviewing online Creole language resources

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Our teaching and learning challenge

• Move on from naïve usage
• Our teaching and learning challenge
• Tutors preparing / gathering / pointing to
  content AND designing activities which promote
  the higher forms of learning
• Flexible design for diverse learners
• Trustworthiness - currency, completeness,
  accuracy, attribution, adherence to schedule,
  housekeeping
• Usability, accessibility, affective responses
• Our fellowship scheme - for buying out time,
  buying equipment tc
• Workshops 2 hours on a variety of topics

We spent a while watching our birdbox
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• Ideas for the future

Distinctive Moodle Features
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Moodle - the less intuitive activities

• Choice
• Glossary
• Journal
• Lesson
• Quizzes
• Wiki
• (Scorm)
• Workshop

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Moodle choice polling tool

• Strengths
• Promotes involvement
• Allows consultation
• Configurable - eg how respondents see results
• Drawbacks
• Once choice only cant use it for eg rating or
  matching
• Single question only not a questionnaire

• Applications
• Icebreaking
• Straw polls
• Enticing learners into a course space
• Quick consultation in advance of session
• Specific feedback
• Examples in practice
• Contact celt_at_gold.ac.uk for access to light
  pollution legislation

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Moodle glossary shared reference

• Strengths
• Can be activity or resource
• Useful for acquainting learners with basic terms
  and concepts a grounding
• Builds research and communication skills
• Drawbacks
• Needs a validation method

• Application
• Defining frequently used jargon or difficult
  concepts
• Trigger for discussion and debate
• Use in practice
• Contact celt_at_gold.ac.uk for access to Astronomy
  101

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Moodle journal reflective dialogue

• Strengths
• A self-contained record for future reference
• Can flag progress or difficulties
• Configurable can be shown to or hidden from
  other students
• Drawbacks
• Tutor initiated not a blog
• Depends on the trigger question
• Tutor must check or ? motivation, and ? cynical
  checking boxes
• Can be a drag to complete

• Application
• Personally keeping in touch with students
• Gauging and comparing attitudes
• Examples in practice
• PGCE students on placements confidential so
  unable to show.

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Moodle lessons guided learning

• Strengths
• Gated progress
• Branched navigation can be very responsive
• Feedback
• Drawbacks
• Easy to swamp student with information
• A little too programmed for some

• Application
• Good for grounding in procedures, mechanisms tc
• Good for clearing up frequent misunderstandings
• Examples in practice
• Contact celt_at_gold.ac.uk for access to Renewable
  energy

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Moodle quiz self-test and assessment

• Strengths
• Feedback
• Configurable
• Drawbacks
• A bit clunky to set up
• Some formats involve (simple) hand-coding
• Simple interface eg no drag-and-drop (SCORM a
  solution here)

• Application
• Consolidate knowledge
• Identify gaps in knowledge
• Benchmark knowledge
• Revision
• Examples in practice
• Contact celt_at_gold.ac.uk for access to Revise
  solar water heating and Astronomy quiz

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Moodle wikis web sites edited by users

• Strengths
• Quick and easy to publish and revise
• No need for expertise, client software
• Remote collaboration on shared resource
• Drawbacks
• Vulnerable to inexperienced users, or even abuse
• Needs ground rules
• Eg risk of conflict when saving lost work

• Application
• Many eg showcase, regular website
• Planning, sharing examples
• Examples in practice
• Contact celt_at_gold.ac.uk for access to Our homes

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Moodle workshop peer review

• Strengths
• Supports complexity eg criteria, weighting
• Supports scales, yes/no, numerical and free text
• Various ways to disseminate results
• Drawbacks
• Designing good ones takes time and thought
• Requires manually enabling the different stages

• Application
• Peer review
• Groups reviewing external resources
• Examples in practice
• Contact celt_at_gold.ac.uk for access to Metaphysics
  workshop
• Contents

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• Ideas for the future

Ideas for the future
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Ideas for the future

• Hypothecated fellowships for use of specific
  tools, or adoption of specific criteria?
• Eg use of a feature like peer-review (Workshop)
  or Wiki
• Eg Integration of VLE and f2f
• Stop shielding tutors from the technicalities
• Staff development
• Raising awareness
• Opportunistic piggy-backing
• Outreach work
• Ratification in the strategy

• Develop guidelines or even protocols and request
  adherence by VLE users?
• Eg Housekeeping
• Eg Balance of information and activities
• Embed e-learning into
• Staff-development courses?
• Student feedback criteria?
• More incentives for best use?
• Value it prizes with cred
• Also support for poor use
• Miras, not necessarily Goldsmiths. Contents

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• Ideas for the future

Discussion / poll
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Discuss the best thing about VLEs?

• A Virtual Learning Environment is a way to unite
  content creation and management, activities,
  communication, and organising students.
• Go to http//moodledev.gold.ac.uk (contact
  celt_at_gold.ac.uk for access if necessary) and take
  the poll there (Choice)
• Question
• Out of the choices below, what do you think is
  the most useful aspect of a Virtual Learning
  Environment?
• Added communication channels.
• Monitoring how students use a course.
• Easy creation of content for online delivery.
• Availability of material any time, any place,
  anywhere.
• Coordinating activities at a distance.
• Freeing up face-to-face time.

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References / bibliography

• Course management systems comparisonhttp//www.e
  dutools.info/course/compare/byproduct/http//www.
  cmsmatrix.org
• The story of Moodle at Dublin City
  Universityhttp//odtl.dcu.ie/wp/2004/odtl-2004-01
  .html
• Moodle forum Comparisons and Advocacyhttp//mood
  le.org/mod/forum/view.php?id2784