Table of Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix 1.
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 What Is a Course Management System? What Makes Moodle Special?
2.
Moodle Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Getting Started Creating an Account A First Look at a Course Adding Content to a Course Summary
3.
29 40 43 48
Managing Your Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Understanding and Using Roles Student Groups Backups Restoring and Copying Courses Reports
5.
7 9 14 26 27
Creating and Managing Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Adding Content to Moodle Managing and Updating Your Content Effective Content Practices Summary
4.
1 4
49 57 61 62 64
Forums, Chats, and Messaging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Forums Chats Messaging Summary
69 84 89 93 v
6.
Quizzes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 How to Create a Quiz Managing Quizzes Quiz Capabilities Effective Quiz Practices
7.
Assignments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 Assignment Types Creating Assignments Assignment Capabilities Managing Assignment Submissions Effective Assignment Practices Summary
8.
123 124 126 126 128 130
Glossaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Creating Glossaries Using Glossaries Glossary Capabilities Effective Glossary Practices Summary
9.
95 115 116 118
131 134 139 140 142
Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 Creating a Lesson Managing Lessons Lesson Capabilities Effective Lesson Practices
144 151 151 151
10. Wikis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 Creating Wikis Managing Wikis Wiki Capabilities Effective Wiki Practices
157 159 164 164
11. Blogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Using Blogs Blog Capabilities Effective Blog Practices
167 171 172
12. Databases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Creating Databases Managing Databases Database Capabilities
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175 185 188
Effective Database Practices
190
13. Grades and Scales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Using Grades Creating Scales Effective Grade and Scale Practices
193 198 200
14. Surveys and Choices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Surveys Choices Using Surveys and Choices
203 206 209
15. Putting It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 What Is a Learning Environment? Course Design Patterns
211 212
16. Moodle Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 Notifications Users Courses Location Language Modules Security Appearance Front Page Server Networking Reports Miscellaneous Moodle Support
221 222 229 233 233 235 240 242 246 247 252 252 253 253
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
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Preface
What Is Moodle? Moodle is an open source Course Management System (CMS) that universities, community colleges, K–12 schools, businesses, and even individual instructors use to add web technology to their courses. More than 30,000 educational organizations around the world currently use Moodle to deliver online courses and to supplement traditional face-to-face courses. Moodle is available for free on the Web (http://www.moodle.org), so anyone can download and install it. More on that later in this preface. The name Moodle has two meanings. First, it’s an acronym (what isn’t these days?) for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. Moodle is also a verb that describes the process of lazily meandering through something, doing things as it occurs to you to do them, an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity. Moodle was created by Martin Dougiamas, a computer scientist and educator who spent time supporting a CMS at a university in Perth, Australia. He grew frustrated with the system and learned that engineers, not educators, had built it. Martin realized that a system built by someone who started with the educational process, rather than an engineering process, would be infinitely better than what he had to work with. He put his postgraduate degrees in Education and Computer Science to work and started developing Moodle as an alternative. Martin now works on Moodle full-time. A community of dedicated open source developers from around the world works with him in a collaborative effort to make Moodle the best CMS available. Martin lives in Australia with his wife, daughter, and son.
Who Is This Book For? This book is for people who want to teach a course using Moodle. You can use Moodle to teach a fully online course or to supplement a face-to-face course in a traditional setting. It doesn’t matter if you teach at a primary school, a secondary school, in higher education, or in a corporate setting; you can use the tools and features available in Moodle to create an effective class. ix
The first edition of this book was written for Moodle 1.4. This second edition has been updated to cover all the features in Moodle 1.8, such as the new roles and permissions system, blogs, messaging, and the database module. Also included in this second edition are references to the Moodle Teacher Certificate (MTC) skills. The Moodle Teacher Certificate is a way for people to demonstrate their skills in using Moodle as a teacher through a course project, a narrative document, and an online exam. The content of the certification is designed by the Moodle community, and the certification process is administered worldwide by Moodle Partners. Further details of the MTC can be found in the MTC area on Moodle.org: http://moodle.org/ course/view.php?id=48.
Prerequisites—What Do You Need Before You Start? To use this book, you will need the following: • Moodle installed and configured on a server. You can download Moodle via http:// download.moodle.org/ and can find installation instructions in the Moodle documentation at http://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_Moodle. • A computer with Internet access. • A web browser such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Safari, or Opera. • Teacher access to a course on Moodle, or administrator access to the Moodle site.
About Us Jason: Since we’re going to be spending some time together, I’d better introduce myself. I’ve been working in the field of educational technology for 10 years. I’ve been a school district technology administrator, developed commercial web-based training, and written supplemental CDs for inclusion with textbooks. I have been involved in San Francisco State University and the Open University UK’s moves to Moodle. I currently have my own instructional design and e-learning consultancy, The eLearning Hub. I’ve spent a lot of time working with teachers to incorporate technology into their classes. I’ve seen what works, what doesn’t, and some of the pitfalls to avoid. I’m an education geek at heart. I love living at the intersection of technology and learning theory. There are so many new and exciting opportunities in this area that I can see myself doing this for at least another 10 years. Helen: Ten years ago I was teaching mathematics in Botswana, in a village school with hardly any educational technology! I discovered Moodle in December 2004, when researching virtual learning environments for Alton College in the UK. I gained a great deal from the forums on Moodle.org, learning from other Moodle users’ experiences, and increasing my under-
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standing by explaining things for others. I went on to implement Moodle at Alton College and also supported local schools’ use of Moodle. I’m now Moodle documentation steward and facilitator for the Using Moodle course on Moodle.org. It’s great being a member of the worldwide Moodle community and being able to contribute to the development of such powerful educational technology.
How to Use This Book This book is written for instructors learning how to use Moodle. It’s not just a how-to manual, however. Every chapter includes suggestions, case studies, and best practices for using Moodle effectively. Using Moodle won’t make your course better by itself. Only by applying effective educational practices can you truly leverage the power of Moodle. The Moodle interface can be customized a great deal. The descriptions and screenshots in this book illustrate the default interface without any customization. If you have changed the order of the blocks in your course or if the system administrator has changed the look and feel of the main interface, your system will look different from the screenshots here. Chapter 1 discusses what Course Management Systems have to offer and what makes Moodle special. Chapter 2 gets us started using Moodle. We’ll sign up for an account, review the basic interface, get used to some of the conventions, and start a course. Chapter 3 covers how to add content to your course. Chapter 4 delves into course management, including understanding and using roles, arranging students into groups, and how to obtain reports of student activity. Chapters 5 to 14 cover individual tools in the basic Moodle package. We’ll discuss how and when to use forums, hold chat sessions, send messages, give quizzes, set assignments, develop shared glossaries and databases, create pathed lessons, collaboratively develop web pages, create blogs, set up surveys and polls, and record student grades. Each chapter covers how to add the tool to your course, discusses the options available, and gives you some creative ideas for effectively using the tool in your class. Chapter 15 pools all the disparate tools into a comprehensive whole and shows some of the creative ways teachers have used Moodle. Chapter 16 covers how to administer an entire Moodle site. A system administrator usually handles these functions, but if you’re on your own, there’s a lot of power behind the curtain. You can use this book in a couple of different ways. First, you can read it cover to cover. Hopefully, you’ll find it so compelling that you won’t be able to put it down until you’ve finished it. Or you can use it like a reference manual. The beginning of each tool chapter Preface | xi
covers the how-tos and the options. If you get lost, flip to the appropriate chapter and take it from the beginning. If you’re looking for inspiration, Chapters 3 and 15 and the end of each tool chapter should fuel the creative fire. Happy Moodling!
Conventions Used in This Book The following typographical conventions are used in this book: Italic Indicates new terms, URLs, email addresses, filenames, and file extensions. Constant width
Used for program listings, as well as within paragraphs to refer to program elements such as variable or function names, databases, data types, environment variables, statements, and keywords. This icon signifies a tip, suggestion, or general note.
This icon indicates a warning or caution.
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Acknowledgments Jason: I am indebted to several people in the writing of this book: first, my wife Jeanne for her constant love and support—this book would not be possible without her; Bryan Williams and Michelle Moore at Remote Learner for promoting the first edition in their Moodle workshops; Jon Allen and Jim Farmer at Instructional Media and Magic have been instrumental in promoting the book to a wide audience; Martin Dougiamas for
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creating Moodle and becoming a good friend and support; Kevin Kelly for doing yeoman’s work at SFSU while I gallivanted around the world. Helen: I would like to thank the following people: Martin Dougiamas and Moodle’s “Knight in Shining Armor,” Eloy Lafuente, for their friendship and support; members of the worldwide Moodle user community for their discussion and documentation contributions, many of which have been included in this book; colleagues and students at Alton College, in particular Andrew Walker, from whom I learnt a great deal; and a special thanks to my partner, Koen, for being wonderful.
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