Like many universities, the University of Victoria uses Moodle as its course management system. Moodle is actually an acronym; the letters represent Modular, Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. It is an open-source software product, originally developed by Martin Dougiamas in 1999.
Part of the work I carried out for this course was to develop an online version of the University of Victoria course EDCI 531: Critical Discourses in Curriculum Studies. To prepare the online version of the course, I first needed to familiarize myself with the various features available to use as course building blocks in Moodle 1.9, the development platform I’d be using. These features are summarized below.
1. Resources – static items that are posted by the owner of the course. The learner is only able to read, save, and print any resources available to them.
a. Book – write or upload an entire book, organized into chapters if desired
b. Label – image or text that helps organize the layout of any course page
c. Text page – plain text page
d. Web page – page provided in HTML format (simple HTML editor provided)
e. Hyperlink – link to a file or website
f. Directory – display a folder in which several files are located (e.g. course readings in PDF format)
g. IMS content package – specially formatted learning content package
2. Activities – interactive items that are posted by the owner of the course. The learner must do something as part of the activity, and then send a product they’ve created to the owner of the course.
a. Chat – real-time, synchronous discussion, in text form
b. Choice – instructor poses question, to which learners respond by selecting one of the given choices
c. Database – participants enter data into a form developed by instructor
d. Drop Box (formerly Assignment) – instructor specifies a task; learners prepare digital content and upload it when finished. Instructor can mark assignment electronically using track changes, and email marked file back to learner.
e. Feedback – instructor creates a survey to which learners may respond
f. Forum – asynchronous discussion board or threaded discussion
g. Glossary – dictionary of terms; could also be used to group resources alphabetically
h. Hot Potatoes quiz – instructor can create a quiz using the freeware program “Hot Potatoes”
i. Journal – allows learners to reflect on a particular topic, and refine their reflection over a specified time period
j. Lesson – similar to a guided tutorial: information written by the instructor is presented, followed by a question. The learner’s answer to the question determines their next step (review, advance along current learning pathway, or move to an alternate learning pathway).
k. Media Player – instructor can embed a media object for the learner to use
l. Offline Activity – instructor provides information on an assignment to be completed outside of Moodle (e.g., in class or at home)
m. Online Text Submission – learner directly uploads text response online, without having to upload a file. Instructor can comment within the text, if desired.
n. Open University (OU) Blog – all members of a course can work together to create a blog
o. Open University (OU) Wiki – after the instructor creates the starting page for a Wiki, all learners can contribute content
p. Podcast – instructor can post an audio/video series
q. Quiz – instructor can design or import quizzes that use multiple choice, short answer, or true-false questions. Quizzes can be self-grading and provide feedback to the learner. Quizzes also feature the ability to randomly sort both questions and distractors.
r. Turnitin – tool that compares submitted papers to available databases to help detect plagiarism
References:
Collman, C. (2011, November 23). About moodle. Retrieved from http://docs.moodle.org/22/en/About_Moodle
Dougiamas, M. (n.d.) Martin Dougiamas (using moodle). http://moodle.org/user/view.php?id=1&course=5
Holt, D. (2011, November 13). Moodle site – basic structure. Retrieved from http://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Moodle_site_-_basic_structure
Cooch, M. (2011, November 9). Resources. Retrieved from http://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Resources
Cooch, M. (2011, December 14). Activities. Retrieved from http://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Activities
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