Teachers Perceptions of Using Moodle: an Exploratory Study

Patrícia FidalgoInstituto Piaget, Almada, Portugal

pfidalgo@almada.ipiaget.orgJoão Paz

Instituto Piaget, Almada, Portugaljpaz@almada.ipiaget.org

Fernando Luís SantosInstituto Piaget, Almada, Portugal

fsantos@almada.ipiaget.org

Abstract: This poster is a report on the findings of an exploratory study conducted in a Higher Education Institution about type of use, effects on teaching practice and perceptions of teachers about Moodle as an instructional tool in both on-line and face to face courses. Three groups of teachers using differently Moodle were surveyed with an on-line questionnaire during the academic year of 2009/2010. Descriptive statistics and Kruskal-Wallis test showed no statistically significant differences between groups, despite having different training. The context of implementation of the Learning Management System by the Institution may also help to explain some of the findings.

Introduction

The gradual integration of Information Technologies and Communication Technology (ICT) in Higher Education (HE) has proved a challenge and a research area in full growth. The progress of these technologies coupled with the great development of the Internet, have brought substantial challenges to educators. The adoption of technology is important in many aspects and "a comprehensive infrastructure for learning is necessary to move us beyond the traditional model of educators and students in classrooms to a learning model that brings together teaching teams and students in classrooms, labs, libraries, museums, workplaces, and homes – anywhere in the world where people have access devices and an adequate Internet connection. An infrastructure for learning is necessary to support a learning society in which learning is life- long and life-wide" (Atkins et al., 2010, p. 51).

The strategic importance of ICT to educational institutions (Allen & Seaman, 2008) reinforces the need for knowledge about them to increase their effectiveness and efficiency. “Instructors need to understand the different components of the LMS and how these components will work to make the course effective and efficient. The LMS should be able to create pedagogically sound course content and learning objects easily and efficiently. It should have all the necessary e-learning tools for assessment, communication, collaboration, and community building, as well as for the creation and management of online learning courses.” (Lewis et al., 2005, p. 26)

The LMSs have been adopted by HE institutions both as support to face-to-face and as distance learning. In Portugal, LMS are increasingly used by universities, driven by the use of ICT, among other reasons, and some of the assumptions of the Bologna Process and the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) (European Union, 2010). “The integration of ICT in the Portuguese education system has been constant since the 80's culminating in 2007 with the approval of the Technological Plan for Education which gave to students computers and internet access in a relatively generalized way, creating challenges and opportunities for Higher Education” (Santos, Paz & Fidalgo, in press). In this sense, Lencastre and Monteiro (2009), held in Portugal, a study involving teachers of a HE institution in which they planned, among other objectives, to assess new concepts, attitudes and approaches to the learning process by using the LMS Moodle. The same study emphasizes the importance of research on teaching and learning platforms.

Recent studies about Moodle usage in Portugal in secondary schools (Lisbôa et al., 2007) and HE Institutions (Magano, Castro & Carvalho, 2008 e Lencastre, Vieira & Ribeiro, 2006) stressed that Moodle is

mainly used as a content distributing platform and the importance of further teachers training to change practice and to encourage higher quality use.

In the course of our research we expect to contribute with useful information for users and educational institutions in the process of using and implementing this kind of platforms.

The Study

Piaget Institute has made an effort to modernize its technological infrastructure to implement a training model able to answer XXI century learning challenges, where the presence of Moodle is a constant, as support to face-to-face teaching, or in blended courses where the teaching has a strong online presence. To this effect teachers must be trained on how to use the technological tools and use them in a pedagogically effective way. In December 2007 Piaget Institute started the Online Education Project. In terms of pedagogical implementation pivots of the project were appointed on each campus (the option for a pivot on each campus served two dimensions: first, to have a local reference point for potential users, and second to take into account the local realities of the various campi) and selected teachers called pioneers or precursors, responsible for promoting and replicating the instruction processes with their colleagues and the academic community (Lencastre & Monteiro, 2008).

The pivots and pioneers received internal training, on technical and pedagogical use of the Moodle. These pioneers sought through a viral network to extend the use of the technological tools available to other teachers (Lencastre & Monteiro, 2008, 2009). In 2009, it is renamed Piaget Online Project, and in 2010 the Piaget Online Education and Training Unit is made formally responsible for assuring access and availability to Moodle LMS and the training of students and teachers in each Campus. This study was conducted by the Almada Team.

Participants

The participants completed an anonymous self-administrated on-line survey (using Google forms) with 37 questions. Of those 7 questions were of multiple choice, 11 of direct response, 5 open questions and 14 of an attitude scale. The questions were distributed as follows: 14% about motivations to the use Moodle (only for group A, not examined in this poster), 11% about the type of use of resources and activities, 48% about perceptions of use and 27% about the characterization of participants.

Procedures

Presently, there are three kinds of Moodle usage by teachers in Piaget Institute. A first group of teachers uses Moodle as an active complement of face-to-face courses (its use is optional), a second group uses Moodle on-line in a blended learning regime in 20% of their classes (mandatory use by institutional regulations in some Post-Graduation and Master Degree Courses) and a third group uses the LMS on-line also in a blended learning regime in about 80% of their classes (mandatory use by institutional regulations in core curriculum units of the Piaget Institute). From now on we will designate the three groups as A, B and C.

Among the teachers 51 were surveyed relating to the academic year of 2009/2010, 26 from group A with 24 replies (92%), 20 from group B with 7 replies (35%) and 5 from group C with 4 replies (80%).

Data were collected with the following purposes: 1. Ascertain reasons of using Moodle;2. Identify effects the use of Moodle had in teaching;3. Characterize the use of resources and activities available in Moodle;4. Identify perceptions of advantages and disadvantages of using Moodle;5. Compare the results of the three groups.

We analyzed the results of the survey applied in order to answer the questions of the study. A database was created and codified using R statistical software where we proceeded to the analysis. The procedures were

mainly of two types: descriptive statistics and exploratory data analysis using Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance by ranks, a non-parametric method because we were not dealing with a normal population.

Findings

The results and their discussion focused on three essential moments. At first, we gathered the global results, tracing the moodle user teacher profile. Then we gathered the results of each group and compared them.

Global results

We analyzed the perceptions of teachers about changes in their teaching due to the use of Moodle and found a small difference between yes (48%) and no (46%) despite the existence of 6% indicating not knowing if they had changed their teaching practice.

A profile of the teacher-type was drawn from the global data indicating that a teacher between 31 and 40 years (48%), male (59%), with a Master's degree (55%), a full-time labour contract with the institution (66%) and has taught in HE for less than 15 years (76%). He had already experience of using Moodle as a teacher (36%) it was not the first year of use (53%), rates himself as good (44%) in the use of Moodle and obtained his skills from internal training (40%) and have altered their practice by the use of the platform (48%).

Results

All figures are presented as percentage of stacked allowing the comparison of the proportional contributions of all groups.

As shown in fig. 1 the three groups presented the same kind of reasons for using Moodle with no significant differences between them.

Figure 1: Reasons for using Moodle

There were no significant differences between the three groups regarding the effects of Moodle in teaching practices as shown in fig. 2 although it was group B that, surprisingly, changed more his practice.

Figure 2: Effects of the use of Moodle in teaching

As a repository of content

For evaluat ion of students …

T o communicate with students …

T o receive students' work

T o keep the resources of my course organized …

T o (support) act ivit ies outside school hours

T o (support ) act ivit ies in the classroom

A – face-to-faceB – b-learning (20%)C – b-learning (80%)

Yes

No

Don't knowA – face-to-faceB – b-learning (20%)C – b-learning (80%)

The use of resources and activities also showed no significant differences between the groups as shown in fig. 3 and fig. 4.

Figure 3: Resources usage in Moodle

Fig. 4 shows some differences between group C and the others (although non-significant, as referred) in particular in the non-use of some activities such as Choice, FLV Player and Journal. Another factor to note is the non-use by any group of SCORM / AICC.

Figure 4: Activities usage in Moodle

Book

Insert a label

Compose a text page

Compose a web page

Link to a file or website

Display a directory

Add an IMS content package

A – face-to-faceB – b-learning (20%)C – b-learning (80%)

Chat

Journal

Forum

FLV player

Glossary

Survey

Lesson

Quest ionnaire

Choice

SCORM/AICC

Database

Quiz

Assignments

Wiki

A – face-to-faceB – b-learning (20%)C – b-learning (80%)

Teachers’ perceptions about the advantages and disadvantages of Moodle are shown comparing the 14 attitude scale questions. The questions F, H, J, N and O (originally in a negative form in the questionnaire for methodological reasons) were recoded and appear in the affirmative form in tab. 1.

Question(Range 1 to 5)

Group AN=24

Median rank

Group BN=7

Median rank

Group CN=4

Median rankX² p

A. Contact with students is facilitated through the use of synchronous and asynchronous tools

4 4 4.5 .8 .7

B. It is an excellent repository of various types of content 5 4 4.5 1.4 .5

C. Work on Moodle from any location is a plus 5 5 5 .3 .9

D. Work on Moodle at any time that is convenient to me is a plus 5 5 5 .8 .7

E. It's very useful for organizing my classes 2 2 2.5 .7 .7

F. Moodle is very useful to receive assignments from students 4 4 4.5 2.8 .2

G. Help me to save time in the organization of classes 3 3 3 .7 .7

H. Moodle has resources and/or activities to meet the objectives that I propose in my classes

2 2 2 1.6 .4

I. Does not make the relationship between teacher and student impersonal 2 3 2.5 3.0 .2

J. It is flexible in terms of structure 3 3 3 .9 .7

K. It is flexible in terms of content there may arise 2 2 1.5 4.1 .1

L. Working with Moodle is not difficult and/or complicated and doesn’t require specific technical skills

2 2 2.5 1.2 .5

M. The appearance is attractive 2 3 3.5 3.3 .2

N. Moodle has educational use 2 2 1.5 .1 .9

NS

Table 1: Perception of teachers on the use of Moodle.

Kruskal-Wallis test indicated no statistically significant differences between groups. The correlation of Pearson product-moment was calculated showing medium and strong correlations that ranged from 0,7 to 1 for all the 14 questions. A Cronbach's alpha of 0, 9 showed the reliability of the data.

Tab. 1 shows us the prevalence of positive perceptions of teachers regarding Moodle in teaching and learning process stressing its use as a communication tool, content repository, ability to be used anytime and anywhere and to receive assignments.

Discussion

In the current study, we examined reasons for teachers to use Moodle in their practice, the use of resources and activities, their perceptions by comparing three different groups of teachers in Piaget Institute.

Regarding the type of use teachers enhanced the support of activities outside school hours, to receive student’s assignments and as a repository of content. As weaker points in the use of Moodle teachers enhanced the need to have technical skills to work with it.

Our results also show that although different, all groups use similar resources and activities and the perceptions of teachers are mostly positive, again cutting across all groups and considering factors such as communication, repository and educational use.

Future research should consider replicating the current research with respect to teachers in other domains and learning environments.

References

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