Moodle
Valtika Rhodes
ITEC 7445
Summer 2015
What is Moodle?
 Moodle is a learning platform designed to provide
educators, administrators and learners with a single
robust, secure and integrated system to create
personalized learning environments.
How can Moodle be used in the
classroom?
Fulton County’s Vision for Technology and
Personalized Learning
 Fulton County Schools provides the opportunity for students to
explore and engage in experiences within and beyond the
confines of the classroom. While providing differentiated and
individualized learning to all students, FCS:
 Continually refines a learning model that is student‐centric
 Provides flexible pacing and project‐driven learning that considers
the interests of the students
 Ensures that content and assessments are integrated in a manner
that facilitates mastery of FCS curriculum standards and career
and college readiness standards, and
 Efficiently leverages the Fulton Charter System in fostering
school autonomy to provide school communities with tools and
support to address the needs of their individual student
populations
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http://www.fultonschools.org/en/divisions/acd/Documents/FCS%20Personalized%20Learning%20Roadmap%20Final%20v03
102014.pdf
How does Moodle support the Technology
and Personalized Learning Plan?
 The heart of Moodle is courses that contain activities and
resources. There are about 20 different types of activities available
(forums, glossaries, wikis, assignments, quizzes, choices (polls),
SCORM players, databases etc) and each can be customized quite a
lot.
 The main power of this activity-based model comes in combining
the activities into sequences and groups, which can help you guide
participants through learning paths. Thus, each activity can build
on the outcomes of previous ones.
 There are a number of other tools that make it easier to build
communities of learners, including blogs, messaging, participant
lists etc, as well as useful tools like grading, reports, integration
with other systems and so on.
Objectives
 To enhance the learning and delivery of the education
 To centralize resources
 To have one standard point of communication across
the board
Benefits of using Moodle
 Moodle benefits the students with a learning
environment which is fun, innovative and creative,
and filled with purpose, to enhance their knowledge
and help them in taking-up as well as completing
assignments on-the-go.
 User Friendly Environment
 Accessible
Target Population
Fulton County Schools has a
population of over 94,000
students.
Target Population continued
 Helps foster the Personalized Learning model that the
district is implementing
 Classrooms/Schools that have adopted BYOT work
 Accessible by all teachers
 Students in grades 3 and up will benefit most from
this program.
Equipment and Software
 Moodle is a Web-based application and
requires a Web browser to interface with it.
 The only equipment needed is a computer,
smart phone, or iPod with Web browser.
 To download and install Moodle as an
administrator, you would go to Moodle.org
Technical support
 Fulton County Schools On-site Tech Support
Personnel would be able to provide support
with any hardware issues that arise.
 www.moodle.org provides a list of tutorial
videos and discussion boards to show how to
navigate and use the site, and also to answer
common questions.
Limitations
 Internet access at school and at
home.
 Equitable access to devices to
utilize the program.
On-going Teacher training .
Cost of the technology
 Moodle is a free online learning management system,
providing educators around the world with an open
source solution for e-learning that is scalable,
customizable and secure with the largest selection of
activities available.
 Moodle is supported by an active network of certified
Moodle Partners to assist with support and an active
community of developers, users and supporters.
Potential funding sources
Classroom Revolutions
Moodle Rooms
WebAnywhere
How can teachers use this
technology?
How can teachers use this
technology?
 http://www.cats-pyjamas.net/wpcontent/uploads/2010/05/MoodleToolGuideforTeacher
s_May2010_JS.pdf
How can Moodle be used to Promote Higher
Order Think Skills and Differentiation
 Moodle allows the integration of a wide range of resources,
from chats and forums to online booklets, a variety of
questions, collections of problems and exercises, lecture
notes; including any kind of text-based or Html formatted
documents, multimedia resources such as graphics, video or
audio (e.g., MP3 files), PowerPoint, or Flash-based
applications and Java applets (Goodwin-Jones, 2003).
 Moodle focuses on giving educators the best tools to
manage and promote learning and allows teachers to
organize, manage and deliver course materials.
How can Moodle be used to Promote Higher
Order Think Skills and Differentiation (cont.)
 The use of multimedia tools to create attractive activities
makes the learning process friendlier for students.
 These activities increase the interest of the students in their
studies. Teachers can provide students with a large amount
of resources that they cannot usually show in the classroom
due to time constraints.
 Lesson tasks within Moodle can be linked to any resources
that are uploaded to one's server or that are available on
the Internet.
Communication/ Collaboration
Moodle offers the following activities to
promote Communication and collaboration:
 Forums: This is one of the most commonly used activities. Forums enable students and
instructors to discuss topics, reply to each other, and even rate responses. The forum
activity is a great way to add collaboration between students and instructors –
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Chat: This allows participants to have a synchronous discussion. You can use it to conduct Q
&A sessions before a test, hold virtual office hours, or establish an informal meeting place
for group projects so students can communication with their group members.
Wiki: This is a fast way to build user-generated content, and it is a powerful tool for
collaborative work.
Workshop: This is my personal favorite, even though it is one of the most complex to learn.
Workshop allows students to create their own projects, assess the work produced by their
peers, and complete a self-assessment.
Research
 Moodle in the Classroom
 Can Learning to Use Moodle Alter Teachers’
Approaches to Teaching?
 A Simple Time-Management Tool for Students’ Online
Learning Activities
 Innovation in Flexible and Collaborative Learning
Professional Development
 Repository of Resources
 Webinars – live or archived
 Links to websites, articles
 Multimedia files – PowerPoint, video, audio •
Interactive/participatory Activities
 Discussion forums
 Guided lessons
 Collaborative http://www.macul.org/downloads/2012_speaker_handouts/crocketthandout_2012
Wikis
0227_170957_1.pdf
Professional Development
 Posting professional development
opportunities in Moodle provides 24/7
access to staff, helps promote highly
recommended resources and guides
districts in planning ahead for subs, if
needed, and other expenses.
http://www.macul.org/downloads/2012_speaker_handouts/crocketthandout_2012
0227_170957_1.pdf
Reflection
After researching Moodle, I can see how this tool could
be very effective in the classroom, school, and school
district. Since my school district is shifting towards a
“Personalized Learning” model, this would be the
perfect tool to use to shift our students to 21st Century
Learners. I learned that there are various uses for the
software and that the possibilities for classroom use
are endless.
References
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https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1wiMZz5P03Xtb51p_NAugqSog8w_1nmZW2u3ntVVSV1g/edit?copied
FromTrash#slide=id.i149
http://www.macul.org/downloads/2012_speaker_handouts/crocketthandout_20120227_170957_1.pdf
www.Moodle.org
http://moodle.oakland.k12.mi.us/os/course/view.php?id=1361
http://badinertech.blogspot.com/2013/05/moodle-in-elementary-classroom.html
https://sites.google.com/site/moodlemayhem/why-moodle
https://docs.moodle.org/22/en/Teaching_with_Moodle