Moodle and joule: Beyond the Classroom

Moodle and joule: Beyond the Classroom

By: Tara Thompson, Instructional Designer and Trainer

Moode is based on the social constructivist pedagogy, founded on the ideal that a learning environment needs to be flexible and adaptable, and that if we can come to understand others, we can teach in a transformational way. Using the idea that we are all potential teachers, that we learn from creation and expression to others, and by observing the activity of our peers, this article will explore ways Moodle can add systemic benefit beyond the classroom.

1. Student Support Services 

Today’s students often juggle course work, class attendance, work, families, and extra-curricular responsibilities. Student Support programs provide personal and academic services designed to motivate and support students on their journey toward success. Using Moodle to support these programs can increase contact with today’s busy students, invite participation from those unable or unwilling to attended onsite services, and extend access to additional resources and support opportunities. Below are two examples on how Moodle can support student services:

Online Writing Labs: Enrolling tutors and staff as teachers, institutions can use Moodle to deliver these, whether completely online or technology supported onsite services, using features such as:

• Assignments to provide feedback to students on writing assignments,
• URL to link to web sites such as MLA and APA style guides, common grammar mistakes, etc.,
• Glossaries for collaborative work in which students can place questions and answers to each other, and
• Calendar for organizational purposes.

Advising/Retention: Creating a course for Advising and Retention services, organizations can use:

• Groups and Groupings to control access, visibility and availability, assigning staff to monitor appropriate groups,
• News forum to deliver importance announcements forwarded directly to students email inboxes,
• Calendar to house important dates such as drop/add, registration, withdrawl, etc.,
• File to upload frequently used forms,
• Journal to support at risk students, and
• Databases support the creation of internships/jobs classifieds.

2. Student Organizations

Student organizations connect students with a sense of community, provide opportunities for the development of leadership skills, and serve as an outlet for self and group expression. Consider creating Moodle courses for these organizations, enrolling student officers and staff mentors as teachers in the course with all other members enrolled as students. The following example highlights a Moodle environment designed to support a student organization:

Student Council: Student Council could use Moodle activities such as:

• Forums to discuss different topics, either amongst themselves or with the entire student body,
• Book to publish committee and meeting notes, creating a chapter for each meeting,
• Feedback to get a sense of where the whole student body stands on an issue,
• Calendar to keep themselves organized,
• Lesson to educate the student body on issues, and
• Choice to hold elections.

3. Technology Integration

Consider creating a Moodle site as a one-stop shop for technology support. Below are two practical scenarios using Moodle to support technology integration:

Tech Support: Empower users with resources designed to engage them in the support process using Moodle for a Tech Support Course using:

• Groups to differentiate student resources from staff resources,
• Forums to publicly record tech issues and resolutions moving resolved posts to topic specific forums building an FAQ resource,
• Lessons to create troubleshooting guides,
• Feedback as a technology and media checkout system, and
• URLs to link users to our Product Manuals and Clickables tutorials,

Communities of Practice: Consider creating separate courses for initiative specific community of practice sites such as differentiated instructions, Moodle adoption, PLCs, etc., designed to support members on their exploration by housing training and support materials as well as on topic discussion and resource sharing, using features such as:

• Glossary to house participate shared resources,
• Forums for focused and open discussion,
• Lesson for guided exploration,
• Calendar to publish meeting times and locations as well as related events, and
• PLD to encourage participation.

4. Organization Intranet

Why invest in a separate system when staff are already familiar with Moodle? Consider the following example when creating courses for internal use:

Human Resources: 

• Lesson to provide video and text based instruction with checkpoint assessments for required training such as Blood Borne Pathogens, Sexual Harassment, Anti-bullying, etc.,
• External Repositories and Moodle Resources to provide access to frequently used forms such as vacation request, payroll, W2s, etc.,
• Choice with limited response enabled to form committees, and
• Feedback to gather data regarding staff culture/climate.

The list above is far from exhaustive so consider the needs of your organization, be creative with your application of the LMS, and have fun Moodling!

~ Tara