Moodle @ Purchase

Keith LandaPurchase College

http://www.slideshare.net/keith.landa

Why Moodle @ Purchase?

Focus on teaching & learning- Robust set of activities & resources- Add-on modules from the community- Moodle development pathway

Costs- No licensing costs- Similar support costs

Risk management- Risks of open source- Commercial products have different risks

Integration- Other systems- Web 2.0 world

Flexible open architecture

Background – Purchase – 2008

ERes electronic reserves

Liberal Arts and Sciences plus Arts Conservatories

~4200 FTE

Web enhancement of F2F courses

LMS review @ Purchase

Fall 2008: faculty task force established; faculty survey; discussion of selection criteria (functionality, technical requirements, costs)

Spring 2009: Moodle production system established; pilot Moodle courses (~20); student survey (key driver); ongoing communication; development of general sense among faculty that ‘we’re going with Moodle’….

Context: faculty dissatisfaction with Blackboard; superficial use of LMS; escalating costs

Summer 2009: summer faculty workshop series (new); course conversion and course prep; consolidation of electronic reserves into Moodle courses

Fall 2009/Spring 2010: transition year; immediate termination of ERes; one more year of Blackboard; faculty assisted to move courses to Moodle; ongoing Moodle workshops; termination of Blackboard at end of year

Faculty Blackboard uses

1. Distribute materials2. Library services3. Integration with SIS4. Course communications5. Links to external web sites6. One stop shopping for students7. Discussion forum8. Gradebook9. New media (blogs, wikis, podcasts)10. Drop boxes11. Student collaboration tools12. Course reports13. Self-directed lessons14. Online quizzing15. Real-time tools (chat, etc)16. Clickers

LMS desired features

No “killer app” tying us to Blackboard

Stu

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Implementation – course migration

• Blackboard - ~1000 courses; ERes – substantially more

• ERes – document download, upload to Moodle• Blackboard – Moodle can import Blackboard course

archives (zip files), but…. (problems with the Bb archives)

• Temp services staff - ~300 hours from May to Aug 2009, primarily ERes migration

• Bb course migration on request during 2009/2010 year

Implementation – faculty development

• Spring 2009 workshops: hour long sessions, various topics; early adopters; 28 faculty

• 2009 Summer Faculty Workshop Series: new programming, not just Moodle; half- and full-day workshops; stipends; 36 faculty at Moodle sessions

• Fall 2009: Moodle Kickoff workshops; Getting Started, Gradebook, Learning Activity; 98 faculty

Implementation – server config

• Virtual servers for production and for test/dev– More control over test environment

• Windows Server 2008 x64• 4 CPUs• 4 GB RAM• 30 GB C: drive; 100 GB E: drive• MS SQL and PHP

Switch to Moodle saves us over $50K each year(Blackboard and ERes licensing costs)

Cost comparisonsBlackboard Moodle

Licensing $40K $0K

Server VM VM

Staff Fraction FTE server admin1 FTE instructional tech

Fraction FTE server admin1 FTE instructional tech

Course migration NA $3K onetime (ERes, mostly)

Faculty development ?? $3.6K summer 2009

Risk management: self-host vs vendor hosthttp://goo.gl/tQ5uX

Community contributed modules

Community Modules and Plugins pagehttp://moodle.org/mod/data/view.php?id=6009

Map activity

Lightbox Gallery resource

Bringing the cloud into the course

StudentInformation

System

LibraryInformation

Systems

AcademicAnalytics

CampusRepository

Enrollment automation

Open advantages

Library integration-Reserve requests-Electronic resources

Senior projects

Focus on teaching & learning- Robust set of activities & resources- Add-on modules from the community- Moodle development pathway

Costs- No licensing costs- Similar support costs

Integration- Other systems- Web 2.0 world

Flexible open architecture

Why @ Purchase?

Risk management- Risks of open source- Commercial products have different risks

Campus lessons - Moodle

• LMS focus should be learning– Faculty AND student perspectives

• Change is hard, and exhilarating• Choose the risk you’re comfortable with• Importance of community critical mass for

open source apps• Clear roadmap for product development

StudentInformation

System

LibraryInformation

Systems

AcademicAnalytics

CampusRepository

The View from 30,000 Feet

Community of Inquiry model

Student engagement

• with content• with instructor• with each other

http://communitiesofinquiry.com/

7 Principles of Good Practice

1. Encourages contact between students and faculty

2. Develops reciprocity and cooperation among students.

3. Encourages active learning.4. Gives prompt feedback.5. Emphasizes time on task.6. Communicates high expectations.7. Respects diverse talents and ways of learning.

LMS orientations

• Example Blackboard course• Example Moodle course

– Main page sections– Blocks– Moodle navigation– Course page mirrors class, integrated resources

and learning activities– “Scroll of death”

Setting up a learning module

• Defining the module– Using the section summary

• Module learning objectives– Add a resource -> Compose a web page– Name and Full text fields– Window options

• Creating organization: use of Labels

Student engagement w/ content

• Context & student engagement w/ the content• Files: your private staging area

– Linking to specific files– Displaying a directory (folder) / image gallery– File links in Moodle text– Media filters

• Linking to web sites• Integrating with Web 2.0 resources

– Repositories in Moodle 2.0– YouTube, Vimeo, VoiceThread, Google Docs

Discussion forums

• Student engagement with peers & instructor• Student-faculty contact; feedback; active

learning• 4 forum types in Moodle (now 5 in 2.0)

– Ex: single topic format; YouTube discussion– Q&A forum; reading reflection example

• Rating discussion forums

Student collaboration

• Reciprocity and active learning• Wiki activity

– Configuration and use– Pedagogical considerations: combined use of

group forum and wiki project

• Database activity– Structured contributions; activity configuration– Commenting and rating– Glossary activity

Communication tools

• Course announcements (News Forum)– Tie to Latest News block– Forum archive and email to class members

• Moodle messaging– IM functionality within Moodle– Email notices– Permanent archive

• Chat activity (eg, office hours)• Calendar and Upcoming Events

Assignments in Moodle

• Feedback; student/faculty engagement/contact

• Assignment types; configuration• Student and faculty views• Grading and providing feedback

Quizzes / Assessments

• Question bank– Question types– Organizing questions– Question import

• Configuring quizzes– Formative vs summative– Question selection– Feedback options

Course reports

• Course logs• Participation reports• Activity reports• Student activity reports• Connection between reports and messaging

Questions?

Keith LandaPurchase College SUNY914-251-6450keith.landa@purchase.edu