Adaptive learning with Moodle

ADAPTIVE LEARNING WITH MOODLE

Mark Rollins. M.Sc, B.Sc. Cert Ed, PgDip e-learning mark@mjrlearning.co.uk

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Contents The Adaptive Cycle for Moodle .......................................................................................................... 4 Adaptive Learning and Moodle........................................................................................................... 4 The benefits of e-learning............................................................................................................... 4 VAK and VARK ................................................................................................................................. 5 Methodology................................................................................................................................... 6 Questionnaire ................................................................................................................................. 7 VARK............................................................................................................................................ 7 Using Moodle Feedback with a Knowledge Survey............................................................................ 8 Settings required to use feedback as a knowledge survey tool .................................................... 8 Creating the questions .................................................................................................................... 9 Analysis of Results and Responses ............................................................................................... 11 Showing Responses....................................................................................................................... 12 Adaptive Learning ............................................................................................................................. 13 Using Moodle ................................................................................................................................ 13 Activity Completion and Restrict Access. ..................................................................................... 13 Restricted Access .......................................................................................................................... 14 Activity Completion....................................................................................................................... 15 Example ......................................................................................................................................... 16 Example of Adaptive Course ............................................................................................................. 17 Analytics and Moodle........................................................................................................................ 18 Sources of Information ................................................................................................................. 18 Use and Impact of Learning Analytics (JISC)................................................................................. 19 Moodle Analytics Tools ..................................................................................................................... 21 Commercial versus Open Source .................................................................................................. 21 Moodle Plugins for Reports and Analytics ................................................................................... 22 Pedagogy ........................................................................................................................................... 23 Pedagogy ....................................................................................................................................... 23 Constructivism .............................................................................................................................. 23 Constructionism ............................................................................................................................ 23 Social Constructivism .................................................................................................................... 23 Blooms Taxonomy......................................................................................................................... 24 Blooms Revised Taxonomy ........................................................................................................... 26 Blooms Taxonomy Domains, verbs and products. ....................................................................... 26 Blooms Digital Taxonomy and Moodle ........................................................................................ 28 Blooms Digital Taxonomy and Moodle ........................................................................................ 29

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Example Course:- Geology and Soil Mechanics ........................................................................... 30 Guerras Scale and Moodle ................................................................................................................ 31 Guerra Scale Characteristics ......................................................................................................... 31 Application to Moodle .................................................................................................................. 32 Moodle Plugins.................................................................................................................................. 33 What are plugins? ..................................................................................................................... 33 Recommended Plugins for Schools and Education Establishments looking to establish Analytics and Adaptive Learning. ................................................................................................................. 33 Activities: Adaptive Quiz ............................................................................................................... 33 Blocks: Lesson Planning .................................................................................................................... 34 Course formats: Collapsed Topics..................................................................................................... 34 Moodle 2.6 ................................................................................................................................ 34 Activities: HotPot .............................................................................................................................. 34 HotPot module for Moodle 2.x ................................................................................................ 34 Activities: BigBlueButtonBN.............................................................................................................. 35 Activities: Certificate ......................................................................................................................... 35 Activities: Attendance ....................................................................................................................... 36 Moodle 2.7, 2.8......................................................................................................................... 36 Availability conditions: Level availability ...................................................................................... 36 Question types: Drag and drop onto image ..................................................................................... 37 Blocks: Configurable Reports ............................................................................................................ 37 Blocks: Pedagogic Achievements ...................................................................................................... 38 Activities: Realtime Quiz ................................................................................................................... 38 Blocks: Learning Plan......................................................................................................................... 39 Conclusion and Thoughts .................................................................................................................. 40 Results from studies ..................................................................................................................... 40 Benefits ......................................................................................................................................... 40 Thoughts ....................................................................................................................................... 40 References ......................................................................................................................................... 41

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The Adaptive Cycle for Moodle

Figure 1 Adaptive Learning and Moodle The benefits of e-learning There are many e-learning platforms on the market and the majority produce a linear format, rigid learning paths, links to resources links to hypertext and provide the same content to all students regardless of individual ability (Surjono, 2014) and as stated “course material is still implicitly oriented for traditional on campus audience…. consisting of homogeneous, well prepared and well-motivated students.”

However, with growing global, international aspects the online learning and learner have “different background knowledge levels and learning capabilities.” (Surjono, 2014).

This method of online delivery could not be suitable for all students therefore course material needs to be flexible; and suitable for individual learners and a specific learning path created based on:• • •

Preference Knowledge Interests.

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According to (Huitt, 2003) the learning process is complex and influenced by many factors and he refers to them as student characteristics, which can be seen to be variable and complex:• • • • • • • • • • • •

Prior knowledge Intelligence Study Habits Age Gender Motivation Learning Styles Cognitive Social Emotional level Moral Character Development

To narrow down the complexity and still have a positive contribution to adaptive learning in the use of Learning Styles.

Studies have shown and commented on by Rasmussen that when individual students learning styles are taken into account in learning, the student achievement is improved; and learning styles influence the effectiveness of training.

There are various models that refer and use Learning Styles, the two most popular being the VAK and Felder models.

Richard M. Felder and Linda K. Silverman, 1988 outlined how each learner has a preference on each of the four dimensions:•

Active –Reflective learning by doing –learning by thinking things through learning by discussing & group work –work alone • Sensing –Intuitive concrete material –abstract material more practical –more innovative and creative patient and careful/not patient and careful with details standard procedures –challenges • Visual –Verbal learning from pictures –learning from words • Sequential –Global learn in linear steps –learn in large leaps good in using partial knowledge –need “big picture“ interested in details –interested in the overview.

(Graff, 2007)

VAK and VARK The VAK learning style uses the three main sensory receivers: Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic (movement) to determine the dominant learning style.

While the research has shown a connection with modalities and learning styles (University of Pennsylvania, 2009), the research has so far been unable to prove the using one's learning style provides the best means for learning a task or subject. (Clark, 2011) Learners use all three modalities to receive and learn new information and experiences.

However, according to the VAK or modality theory, one or two of these receiving styles is normally dominant. This dominant style defines the best way for a person to learn new 5

information by filtering what is to be learned. This style may not always to be the same for some tasks. The learner may prefer one style of learning for one task, and a combination of others for a different task. (Clark, 2011) Studies indicate that population break down in terms of preference is indicated in Figure 2

VARK

Visual Audio 5% 5% Reading 8% Kinaesthetic 18%

Multi-modal 64%

Figure 2 Percentage of Learning Style Preference According to the VAK theorists, we need to present information using all three styles. This allows all learners the opportunity to become involved, no matter what their preferred style may be. (Clark, 2011) Methodology Learning styles are often measured using questionnaires to identify preferred Learning Styles, it is this that can be used to create a more adaptive/adaptable learning Path.

A typical Moodle LMS doesn’t consider individual differences and all learners are treated equally, so in order to accommodate this the Moodle needs to be customised.

This can be achieved by creating Modules, Blocks and course format and to create adaptivity within the assignments, quizzes, resources, blocks and course format, restricted access and activity completion.

Figure 3 Methodology Overview

Subject Area

Increase in pass rate

Survey or questionnaires

Follow Paths associated knowledge checks

Preferred Learning Styles

Learning Path Identified

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Questionnaire Index of Learning Styles (ILS) questionnaire (Felder and Soloman, 1997) is an example of questionnaire use. The ILS questionnaire was added to the registration form, and was designed to classify students into groups based on Learning style preference.

Graff (2007) suggests requirement for generating adaptive courses is to distinguish between the different types of learning objects.

Using a VAK/VARK questionnaire and adapting Despotović-Zrakić, et al., (2012) Cluster Groups method, a typical adaptive scenario can be created.

Adapted from (Despotović-Zrakić, Marković , & Bogdanović, 2012) Learning Group Paths (Cluster)

Kinaesthetic

Multi Sensory

Multi-media materials

Audio podcast content.

Workshops

Text Materials

Lesson

Quizzes with MM

Audio quizzes

Video and Audio content

Video Lesson Workshops

Wiki, Glossary Lessons Chat/Forum

Interactive Quizzes Projects Glossary

Cluster 3T

Audio

Cluster 3

Visual

Cluster 2

CLuster 1

Figure 4 Cluster Groups

Workshops Practical Chat/Forum

Quizzes with MM

Audio podcast content.

Audio quizzes

Read Write Glossary Notes Text

Video Lesson

Wiki, Glossary

Essays

Workshops

Lessons

Short Answer Quizzes.

Chat/Forum

Cluster 3T

Multi-media materials

Audio

Cluster 3

Visual

Cluster 2

CLuster 1

VARK

Kinaesthetic Workshops Lesson Interactive Quizzes Projects Glossary

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Using Moodle Feedback with a Knowledge Survey The Feedback module is now part of the default settings.

Settings required to use feedback as a knowledge survey tool

Figure 5 a. Give your Feedback a title. b. This text will be displayed to users before they enter the feedback. In this case the instructions associated with the survey. c. Set open and close feedback, this allows you to set a time period during which the Feedback will be available to responses. d. In the case of a Knowledge Survey you will need to know who is giving the answers so set record users name to “Users' Names Will Be Logged and Shown With Answers”. Important in terms of knowledge survey is to “Show analysis to students” is set to yes. The summary results can be shown to respondents, or shown only to teachers. e. The other options available depend on what you wish your students to do after completing the survey.

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Creating the questions

Figure 6 a. There are a number of options available but for the purpose of the “Knowledge Survey� we will use Multiple-Choice (Rated). This is similar to the multiple choice option, except that each option has a numerical value associated with it. From this it is possible to get an average grade if the multiple-choice (rated) option is used.

Numerical values are associated with each option, allowing an average for other measurements of responses.

Figure 7 b. Save the question and then continue to add the next question as before. c. Pick the type of question, type in the question and (tip) copy and paste answer criteria form previous question.

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d. Once you have a bank of questions return to update and save changes.

Figure 8 e. To check your question you will need to change role to student f. This is the screen the students will be presented with.

Figure 9

Figure 10 g. Once the student has completed the survey they will be shown this screen, however you could set up one to direct the students to an alternative page.

Figure 11

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Analysis of Results and Responses a. As a “teacher� you have additional option to analyse or review a student response, thus allowing you to gauge knowledge and in turn review your curriculum design.

Figure 12

b. Within the Analysis tab you will be able to view a list of all responses submitted for each of the questions within a Feedback activity. These results can be exported to EXCEL. Analysis gives you the ability to look at student response and gives an overview for all of your students, link this with responses and you can look at individual students. c. Analysis of Results

Figure 13

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Showing Responses a. By clicking on show responses you can see an individual’s response alone by clicking on that student their response is revealed beneath.

Figure 14

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Adaptive Learning Using Moodle Activity Completion and Restrict Access.

First make sure you have enabled all the required conditions.

Go to Site Administration and advanced features and click to enable restrict access

Goto Administration and then by clicking on Editing Settings you will see a list of options, make sue Completion Tracking is enabled

Figure 15 When you Add a resources or activity you are offered Activity Completion options, ensure you add the various options you want ie Require view, Require grade, Require status etc

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Figure 16 Restricted Access In the settings of each activity there is a Restrict Access section. To get to this, click 'Edit' alongside the activity you want to restrict and then choose 'Edit Settings', or add a new activity, which will bring you to the settings page.

Figure 17 Restriction can be based upon Activity completion, date, grade, the group or grouping the students are in or even user profile fields. The 'Restriction set' button also allows for more complex criteria requiring nested conditions.

Figure 18

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Activity Completion Why use Activity completion?

If this feature is enabled, it is a helpful way for students to be able to track their progress in a course.

It can also be linked to Conditional activities in order to allow the teacher to set criteria upon which a student is allowed to progress through a course and access materials.

It can also be linked to Course completion in order to allow both students and teachers to watch progress through a course.

As each activity is checked off as "complete", the student moves further towards final completion of the course.

For example, a Page might have the requirement to require view; a Quiz might have the requirement to require grade while a Forum might have the requirement to require posts/discussions/replies.

Figure 19

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Example

Figure 20 Set up the resources as per normal i.e. include the General settings and Content, then scroll down to the Restrict Access

Figure 21 In the restrict access windows you have several options to set restrictions. In this case, we are going to restrict access based on a Learner Profile Field (created previously) and associated filed options eg in the case Visual, Audio, Multi-modal etc

Figure 22 16

You can several restrictions including Activity Completion, this enables you to a multicriterion to restrict of guide a student before they can move on to the next part of a course or specific content.

Figure 23 Example of Adaptive Course

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Analytics and Moodle Learning analytics is the process of collecting, measuring, analysing and reporting data on the context of the learner and the learner’s engagement with learning with a view to optimising both, the use of Learning Analytics is often divided into the the following categories moving from Opterational to strategic to transformational and from small data to big data.

Passive Proactive Predicative and Machine Learning Sources of Information Based on JISC vision of data sources leading to predictive and intervention based use of analytics.

Data from sources such as the VLE, the SIS, library systems and students’ own ‘self-declared’ data feed into the learning analytics.

Visualisations of the analytics for staff are available in a series of dashboards, and a student dashboard which allows learners to view their own data.

(Sclater , Peasgood , & Mullan, 2016)

Figure 24

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Use and Impact of Learning Analytics (JISC) 1) Improving the quality of teaching Analytics have been used to improve teaching:Analytics can be used by lecturers and tutors to monitor the performance of their students while the module is taking place; they can then adapt their teaching if, for example, they identify that students are struggling with a particular topic.

Learning analytics can furnish teaching staff with better information on the quality of the educational content and activities they are providing, and on their teaching and assessment processes, to enable its continual enhancement (2) Boosting retention A better understanding of data about learners and their learning can help universities to tackle high attrition rates, which result in adverse impacts on the lives of those affected, and wasted expense for the institutions.

Analysis of data from Nottingham Trent University showed that less than a quarter of students with a low average engagement score progressed from the first to the second year, whereas over 90% of students with good or high average engagement scores did so.

(3) Enabling students to take control of their own learning Giving students better information on how they are progressing and what they need to do to meet their educational goals.

Some universities are providing analytics- based systems to help students to provide optimum pathways through their studies, by the means of: •

select future modules,

•

building on data about their career choices,

•

aptitudes and

•

grades for previous modules

4) Analytics have been perceived positively by students Learning analytics can provide students with an opportunity to take control of their own learning, give them a better idea of their current performance in real-time and help them to make informed choices about what to study.

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Table 1 Analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats identified in the literature.

Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths include large volumes of available educational data, the ability to use powerful, pre-existing algorithms, the availability of multiple visualisations for staff and students, increasingly precise models for adaptation and personalisation of learning, and growing insight into learning strategies and behaviours Weaknesses are the potential misinterpretation of the data, a lack of coherence in the sheer variety of data sources, a lack of significant results from qualitative research, overly complex systems and information overload Opportunities include using open linked data to help increase compatibility across systems, improving self-reflection, self-awareness and learning through intelligent systems, and the feeding of learning analytics results to other systems to help decision making Threats discussed are ethical and data privacy issues, “over-analysis� and the lack of generalisability of the results, possibilities for misclassification of patterns, and contradictory findings.

(Sclater , Peasgood , & Mullan, 2016)

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Moodle Analytics Tools Commercial versus Open Source Commercial plugins are more “polished”, while free, Open Source ones take more effort to implement on a Moodle site.

Some examples of Analytics tools and their key functions.

Analytics Tool

Function

SmartKlass

(Behavior and engagement tracking)

IntelliBoard

(Performance against goal)

Dropout Detective

(Specific, ―dropouts― risk propensity)

Analytics Graphs Plugin

(Graphical representation, Visual correlation)

Zoola Analytics

(Reporting)

Table 2

Figure 25

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Moodle Plugins for Reports and Analytics There are a number of reports, blocks and other plugins for Moodle that provide learning analytics.

Table 3

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Pedagogy Pedagogy (Dougiamas, 2012), states “The design and development of Moodle is guided by ”social constructionist pedagogy". This also envelops the related concepts of constructivism, constructionism and social constructivism. Based on this idea I will look at the pedagogy behind each and how other pedagogic thoughts can be linked in with the design of a more engaging VLE. Constructivism The constructivism theory is described as a mainstream cognitive approach to learning, Mayes and de Freitas (2007) states: that understanding is gained through creating hypothesis and building new forms of understanding through activity.

(Mayes & de Freitas, 2007, p. 17).

Dougiamass states it is also about building on our experiences, we construct our own learning.

Here learners construct new knowledge based in their experiences, generating rules to help to make sense of their own experiences rather than teachers’ providing the information that they think the learner needs to know.

Constructionism Constructionism is a pedagogic approach which is about the creation of artefacts or other outputs. It is based on the ideas of Seymour Papert who applied to writing programmes which made a device (a turtle) move.

Constructionism theory of learning is that when you construct something for others to experience you are more likely to integrate this into your knowledge and gain better understanding. This theory is based on cognitive learning and influenced by the works of paiget, kolb and vygotsky. It is often seen as the foundations for hands on, experiential, collaborative and project based learning.

Social Constructivism Social constructivism is the theory of constructivism extended into a social situation. Members of a group collaborate and create knowledge for one another and by “tinkering” create knowledge for themselves. They learn more by explaining what they have learned to others and by adopting a more subjective stance to the knowledge being created. (Chavan & Pavri, 2004) Dougiamass identifies social constructivism is defined by the social context in which the course sits and the interaction between the participants will govern the tools used. For example an assignment brief may lead to an automated forum discussion, within which constructivism is taking place and learners creating new ideas and building on an experience.

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Blooms Taxonomy Is a classification of learning objectives used in education.

It is derived from the work of Benjamin Bloom et al. “The Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, The Classification of Educational Goals, Handbook I: Cognitive Domain” The original books was only intended to focus on the three main domains; the Active, psychomotor and Cognitive domains.

“Within the taxonomy learning at the higher levels is dependent on having attained prerequisite knowledge and skills at lower levels” (Orlich, et al. 2004) The goal of this approach was to enable educators to create a more holistic form of education.

Affective “Skills in the affective domain describe the way people react emotionally and their ability to feel another living thing's pain or joy. Affective objectives typically target the awareness and growth in attitudes, emotion, and feelings.” This is outlined in the figure below. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Benjamin_Bloom Characterising

Organising Emotion Receiving Affective

Responding

Atitude

Valuing

Figure 26

Psychomotor This describes the ability to manipulate (by hand) a tool or instrument like a square and compass. They focus on development of behaviour and or skills.

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Cognitive This revolves around knowledge, comprehension and critical thinking, in which traditional teaching tends to emphasize these skills as seen in Figure 27.

Krathwohl, D. R, Anderson, L. W. (2001 Fig 27 Figure 27 There are six levels to this moving through the lowest order to highest Table 4

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Blooms Revised Taxonomy In the mid 1990’s Blooms Original Taxonomy was revised by a former student of Blooms. The main changes were to change the nouns to verb format and by slightly rearranging them.

The new taxonomy reflects a more accurate and active form of thinking.

Original Blooms Taxonomy

New Blooms Taxonomy

Evaluation

Creating

Synthesis

Evaluating

Analysis

Analysing

Application

Applying

Comprehension

Understanding

Knowledge

Remembering

Table 5 Examples of the domains, verbs and corresponding products are outlined in the figure this list is comprehensive but by no means complete and could easily be built on.

Blooms Taxonomy Domains, verbs and products.

Domains

Verb

Creating

Change, combine, invent, compose, create, devise, formulate, hypothesise, predict and improve.

Evaluating

Appraise, defend, dispute, judge, justify, prioritise, select, support and verify.

Analysing

Appraise, compare, contrast, differentiate, distinguish, examine, infer, outline, and sequence Classify, demonstrate, illustrate, practice, solve, use, execute, implement, edit and apply concept.

Applying

Product

Cartoon, story, book, multimedia, game, poem, theory, concept model, scientific hypothesis, improve on design (SWOT) Critique, judgement, opinion, recommendation, report, self-evaluation, evaluation product.

Chart, plan, questionnaire, spreadsheet, summary, survey.

Collection, interview, model building, presentation, role playing, scrap book, simulation.

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Understanding

Remembering

Discuss, describe, comment, categorise, infer, paraphrase annotate, explain, interpret, and classify.

Define, duplicate, list, name, recall, reproduce, underline, bookmark, locate, highlight, recognise, favour and search.

Peer teaching, show and tell, story, drawing, summary sheet, blog, wiki, discussion activity.

Definitions, facts, charts, list, recitation, worksheet

Table 6

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Blooms Digital Taxonomy and Moodle Figure 28

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Blooms Digital Taxonomy and Moodle Below is an example how a Moodle course could be created and maintained using Blooms Digital Taxonomy in this case it shows a simple format in that... • •

Moodle can be used to create, form or facilitate an activity.

Moodle can be used to assess students.

Figure 29 Example Activities and Moodle Application

Activity Lectures

Tutorials and Lessons

Discussion Questions Writing Assignments Definition Group work Contacting students

Moodle Application Word document, PDF, Powerpoint, AuthorSTREAM presentation, with audio.

Issuu flash animation notes.

Video screen capture (Screenr, JING,) Video demonstration. Moodle lesson. Handouts (Moodle resources weblink, files, ),flash animations Chat, Forum Moodle quiz, Q & A Forum Wiki(Graded) Offline or upload assignment.

Moodle glossary, wiki Forum, wiki, Google document link Forum, chat, e-mail, messaging system, News block.

Table 7

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Example Course:- Geology and Soil Mechanics Aims and objectives of the Unit Communication, group discussion forums Weblinks, flash animation introduction to the course Lesson plan including aims objective of topic Class notes as Word, PDF and flash pages Assessment, quizzes including multimedia Figure 30

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Guerras Scale and Moodle The Guerra scale outlines the range of content that can be found and used online. It is a scale of one to ten with an increase in interactivity. One being the use of common experience of simply reading notes/text on screen and ten which denotes total virtual reality.

Figure 31 http://learningworkshop.mindedge.com/2009/12/05/the-guerra-scale-reflections/

Each step up the scale “represents an increase in complexity, functionality, development time, demands for programming skill, demands for instructions design versatility, and demands for more patience and attention from subject matter experts. http://www.astd.org/LC/2004/0304_guerra.htm Guerra Scale Characteristics • • • • • •

GS1 is a simple PDF file document.

GS2 is what many folks in the industry deem a page turner.

GS3 adds what we refer to as dynamic feedback to tests.

GS4 integrates movement to the text and graphics.

GS5 adds elements of multimedia, including audio and static or moving graphics.

GS6 enables users to input information, which results in a printable workbook after completion of the module.

• GS7 provides users with a knowledge repository in a number of possible ways.

• GS8 adds realistic simulations that use a branching methodology • GS9 adds real life coaching from top performers and managers.(Role Playing) • GS10 virtual reality simulations.

Guerra and Hefferman refer to a zone between GS4 (Guerra’s Scale) and GS7 as the “MTV Culture”; studies indicate that to maintain learners level of engagement it was advisable to place activities and sub activities within this zone ie:• • • •

Motion Multimedia user input workbook and knowledge repository

(in text, powerpoint etc) (Video, static photos, audio) (printable at end) (communities: Wiki, Blog, Twitter) 31

Application to Moodle The table below indicates how a typical Moodle course could be designed to maintain student engagement based on Guerras Scale.

Activity Lectures

Tutorials and Lessons

Discussion Questions Writing Assignments Defintion Group work

Contacting students

Moodle Application Word document, PDF, Powerpoint, Author Stream presentation, with audio.

Issuu flash animation notes.

Lesson (without media) Lesson (with media) Video screen capture (Screenr, JING,) Video demonstration. Moodle lesson.

Handouts (Moodle resources weblink, files, flash animations Chat Forum Moodle quiz, Q & A Forum Wiki (Graded) Offline or upload assignment.

Moodle glossary, wiki Forum, wiki, Google document link Forum, chat, messaging system, News block.

Guerra Scale GS1 GS2 GS4 GS5 GS2 GS5 GS5 GS5 GS5 GS2 GS1 GS1 GS5 GS7 GS7 GS3 GS7 GS7 GS6 GS2 GS7 GS7 GS7 GS1 GS7 GS7 GS7 GS7

Table 8

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Moodle Plugins What are plugins?

Moodle plugins are used to add functionality or customize Moodle.

Moodle = core code + plugins Plugins may be either standard plugins (included in the Moodle download package) or add-ons.

Recommended Plugins for Schools and Education Establishments looking to establish Analytics and Adaptive Learning.

Activities: Adaptive Quiz mod_adaptivequiz The Adaptive Quiz activity enables a teacher to create tests that efficiently measure the takers' abilities.

Adaptive tests are comprised of questions selected from the question bank that are tagged with a score of their difficulty. The questions are chosen to match the estimated ability level of the current test-taker. If the test-taker succeeds on a question, a more challenging question is presented next. If the test-taker answers a question incorrectly, a lesschallenging question is presented next. This technique will develop into a sequence of questions converging on the test-taker's effective ability level. The test stops when the test-taker's ability is determined to the required accuracy.

The Adaptive Quiz activity uses the "Practical Adaptive Testing CAT Algorithm" by B.D. Wright published in Rasch Measurement Transactions, 1988, 2:2 p.24 and discussed in John Linacre's "Computer-Adaptive Testing: A Methodology Whose Time Has Come." MESA Memorandum No. 69 (2000).

This Moodle activity module was created as a collaborative effort between Middlebury College and Remote Learner. The latest code, documentation, and bug-tracker can be found at https://github.com/middlebury/moodle-mod_adaptivequiz.

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Blocks: Lesson Planning This is a block for Moodle 1.9 and Moodle 2.0.

It displays current lesson objectives in the side bar (to both teacher and students) and allows a teacher to check them off as they are completed. You can enter a timetable, linked to different groups, so that objectives can be entered as far in advance as you want and will be displayed at the appropriate time.

Other features include: •

•

Ability to display a large version of the objectives, when teaching from the front of a class room (click on the 'expand' icon) Students can view all the objectives, a week at a time, to help keep track of what they have been doing (and will be doing)

Course formats: Collapsed Topics Moodle 2.6 An interchangeable topic or week (day for 2.3.1+) based format that solves the issue of the 'Scroll of Death' when a course has many topics / weeks. All sections except zero have a toggle that displays that section.

Activities: HotPot HotPot module for Moodle 2.x The Hotpot activity module allows teachers to administer Hot Potatoes and TexToys quizzes via Moodle. These quizzes are created on the teacher's computer and then uploaded to the Moodle course.

After students have attempted the quizzes, a number of reports are available which show how individual questions were answered and some statistical trends in the scores.

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Activities: BigBlueButtonBN BigBlueButton is an open source web conferencing system for distance education. The goal of the project is to enable universities, colleges, and K12 to delivery a high-quality learning experience to remote students.

BigBlueButton supports real-time sharing of slides (including whiteboard), audio, video, chat, and desktops. It also record lectures for later playback, specifically the slides + audio + chat.

This module enables you to: • • • • • • •

Create multiple activity links to on-line sessions within a course Restrict students from joining a session until a teacher (moderator) joins the session Launch BigBlueButton in a separate window Create a custom welcome message that appears at the top of the chat window when joining the session Specify join open/close dates for the session that appears in the Moodle's calendar Record a session (requires BigBlueButton 0.8 or later) Access and manage recordings

Activities: Certificate This module allows for the dynamic generation of certificates based on predefined conditions set by the teacher.

Moodle 2.6

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Activities: Attendance Moodle 2.5 and 2.6 A plugin that allows an attendance log to be kept. - includes an optional Block for easy access to relevant functions.

The attendance module and block are designed to allow instructors of a course keep an attendance log of the students in their courses. The instructor will setup the frequency of his classes (# of days per week & length of course) and the attendance is ready for use. To take attendance, the instructor clicks on the "Update Attendance" button and is presented with a list of all the students in that course, along with 4 options: Present, Absent, Late & Excused, with a Remarks textbox. Instructors can download the attendance for their course in Excel format or text format.

Only the instructor can update the attendance data.

However, a student gets to see his attendance record.

Block: Level Up

Moodle 2.7, 2.8 This block listens to events triggered in Moodle and captures some according to pre-defined rules. It then attributes experience points based on the information contained in the event.

• • • • • • • • • • •

Automatically captures and attributes experience points to students' actions Block that displays current level and progress towards next level Report for teachers to get an overview of their students' levels Notifications to congratulate students as they level up A ladder to display the ranking of the students Ability to set the number of levels and the experience required to get to them Images can be uploaded to customise for the appearance of the levels The amount of experience points earned per event is customizable Page to display the list of levels and a description Experience points are earned per course An event is fired when a student levels up (for developers)

Availability conditions: Level availability Using the experience points and levels generated from the usage of the block Level up!, you can limit the access to some activities or resources according to the user's level.

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Question types: Drag and drop onto image This plugin is part of set Open University.

There are working examples in eAssessment with Moodle on our OpenLearn site.

The documentation is in How to create questions in Moodle on that site.

Blocks: Configurable Reports This block is a Moodle custom reports builder.

You can create custom reports without SQL knowledge.

It's a tool suitable for admins or teachers.

What type of reports can I create?

- Courses reports, with information regarding courses.

- Categories reports, with information regarding categories. A courses report can be embedded in this type of report.

- Users reports, with information regarding users and their activity in a course.

- Timeline reports, this is a special type of report that displays a timeline. A course or user report can be embedded in this timeline showing data depending on the start and end time of the current row.

- Custom SQL Reports, custom SQL queries. This block can use the same SQL queries that Tim Hunt's Custom SQL queries plugin.

Note for developers: You can create your own type of reports.

Who can view the reports?

When you create a report you can select which users can view it.

Links to reports are displayed in a block in the course or site frontpage.

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Blocks: Pedagogic Achievements This plugin automatically awards pedagogic achievements to each user as they reach milestones along their way. Example : "10th login" medal. This plugin was developed by Andil as a part of their e-learning R&D program.

Moodle 2.3

Activities: Realtime Quiz Moodle 2.x A multiple-choice quiz designed for use in a face-to-face lesson.

Each student receives each question at the same time with a time limit to answer it (default 30 seconds). In between each question the correct answer is displayed, along with the number of students giving each answer (and some statistics about the percentage class / individual correct answers). This allows each question to be discussed before moving on.

Teachers can review the answers, once the quiz is finished, to identify any areas that need to be covered again.

Recent improvements (2010) include: • • • •

Ability to add a picture to each question More attractive question display Easier question editing Reduced network traffic & improved stability (particularly on wireless networks)

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Blocks: Learning Plan Moodle 2.x This plugin can be used as a database for entering and saving details about the organization's learning inititaives, and it can also be used as a platform for making, organizing and implementing structured learning throughout the organization.

Each Learning Plan includes reports highlighting the trainings needed to complete the plan, the start and end date of the training, the learners and the status of the training. All in all, it is a great plugin to manage organizational learning.

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Conclusion and Thoughts Results from studies According to the results, students belonging to the matched group spent significantly less time in the course (on average 3.78 hours) than students from the mismatched group (on average 5.55 hours) and standard group (on average 5.56 hours). The same tendency can be seen for the number of logins (Graff, 2007) The evaluation showed that students, who were presented with a course that matches their learning styles, spent significantly less time in the course but yield on average the same grades than students who were presented with a mismatched or standard course. (Graff, 2007) In their study of Moodle and adaptive learning using a method ILS Fled and Silvermann (DespotovićZrakić, Marković , & Bogdanović, 2012) found that percentage of students who passed the exam is 11% higher in the case of the adaptive e-learning environment.

Benefits Recently, increasing attention is paid to characteristics such as learning styles, their impact on learning, and how these individual characteristics can be supported by learning systems. These investigations are motivated by educational theories, which argue that providing courses which fit the individual characteristics of students makes learning easier for them and thus, increases their learning progress. (Graff, 2007)

Thoughts Some models of adaptiv learning eg Felder method requires six routles to be created and one common route, I believe this would be too much to ask tutors, so even though a more accurate way to represent a leanring style without some automation would be prohibitive to a tutor because of increased work load. This could be reduced by following the VAK/VARK learning style which would require only three routes and one common.

The concept aims at providing adaptivity on a general basis, adapting courses with respect to the sequence and the number of specific types of learning objects in order to support the individual learning styles of students. This kind of adaptivity allows keeping the system simple and easy to use for teachers and course developers.

So this can be summarised as per Graff 2007 in which they concluded that…..

The main concern is to support students as good as possible by presenting them with courses that fit their individual learning styles…..

On the other hand, a main concern is to keep the adaptive LMS simple to use for teachers and course developers and ask them for as little as possible additional effort.

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References Brown, P. C., Roediger III , H. L., & McDaniel, M. A. (2014). Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning.

Chavan, A., & Pavri, S. (2004). Open-Source Learning Management with Moodle. Retrieved March 7, 2013, from http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7478 Clark, D. (2011). Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learning Styles (VAK). Retrieved December 7, 2016, from http://nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/styles/vakt.html Despotović-Zrakić, M., Marković , A., & Bogdanović, Z. (2012). Providing Adaptivity in Moodle LMS. Educational Technology & Society,, 15 (1), pp. 326–338.

Dougiamas, M. (2012). Moodle Pedagogy. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/Pedagogy Graff, S. (2007). Adaptivity in Learning Management Systems Focussing on Learning Styles. Vienna: Vienna University of Technology Faculty of Informatics.

Huitt, W. (2003). A transational model of teaching/ learning process. Educational Psychology Interactice.

Mayes, T., & de Freitas, S. (2007). The Role of Theory. In H. Beetham, & R. Sharpe (Eds.), Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age (p. 17). Abingdon: Routledge.

Moodle Trust Ltd. (2013, December 12). Moodle Organisaton: Open source community. Retrieved from Moodle: https://moodle.org/ Sclater , N., Peasgood , A., & Mullan, J. (2016). Learning Analytics in Higher Education: A review of UK and international practice . JISC. Retrieved March 2017, from https://www.jisc.ac.uk/sites/default/files/learning-analytics-in-he-v3.pdf Shea,, P., & Bidjerano, , T. (2010). Learning presence: Towards a theory of self-efficacy, selfregulation, and the development of a communities of inquiry in online and blended learning environments. Computers & Education, , 55, 1721–1731.

Surjono, H. D. (2014). The Evaluation of a Moodle Based Adaptive e-leanring System. International Journal of INformation and Education Technology, 4(1), 89-92.

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