Taking a Closer Look: Exploring the Details of Moodle Usage€¦ · Exploring the Details of Moodle...

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Taking a Closer Look: Exploring the Details of

Moodle Usage

Stephanie FriedmanHampshire College, Instructional Technologist

February 28, 2019NERComp MUG @UMass Amherst

Hello!

Introduction

Inspiration and Approach

Findings and Adjustments

Engaging with Faculty

Conclusion

Hampshire College Context

➔ ~1100 students, ~150 faculty

➔ 250-300 total Moodle courses per semester (active + inactive)

➔ No letter grades, so gradebook support needs are minimal

➔ Very short (30min) yearly Moodle orientation for new faculty

➔ Mainly reactive Moodle support

The Project

View each Fall 2018 course in Moodle

For active courses, record:

● organizational style

● types of activities used

● other commonalities/trends/features

Use results to make format/theme adjustments, improve teaching &

engagement

Inspiration and Approach

Why this method?

Data from wikipedia.org

Why this method?

Image by Jared Benedict via wikimedia commons; available under the

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Gathering all the data...

● Reports as a starting

point

● Questions/categories

developed throughout

the process

● ONLY 180+ courses…

Findings and Improvements

The BasicsHow many courses are

active?

In which schools?

The Basics

Course FormatsWhich are most popular?

Are faculty matching their style to

format?

Can we retire collapsed topics?

Format Used for Course

Organization

Strategy

class-by-date collapsed

topics

topics weekly Grand

Total

class-by-date 71% 2% 1% 0% 73%

topics 1% 7% 3% 1% 11%

weekly 4% 2% 0% 9% 16%

Grand Total 76% 10% 4% 10% 100%

Course Formats

Changes to Our Formats

- Collapsed Topics (3rd party format) not really desirable

- Replicates features and clashes with our theme

- Accessibility concerns

- Ways to address this in our theme:

- Quick-edit option for course titles

- Collapsible sections

PedagogyAre there trends in activity use?

How to summarize

recommendations in a simple and

substantial way?

Some Theory

➔ A Room Without Chairs: How to Help New Instructors Design in a Learning

Management System (blog post - Jenae Cohn, Stanford)

➔ Classification of the Features in Learning Management Systems (Jurado et

al)

Tiers of Interactivity

Create a shared digital work,

shaped significantly by its

being online

Submit work

electronically, receive

direct faculty feedback

Gather information from syllabus,

readings, videos, and more

Collaborate

Respond

Refer

Other observations...

Engaging Back with Faculty

A worksheet for faculty (still in draft form)

Find something to celebrate - Course Showcase

Conclusion

Garrote Jurado, R., Pettersson, T., Regueiro Gomez, A., & Scheja, M. (2014, November). Classification of the features in learning management

systems. XVII Scientific Convention on Engineering and Architecture, Havana City, Cuba, Nov 24th-28.

Cohn, J. (2018, September 8). A Room Without Chairs: How to Help New Instructors Design in a Learning Management System.

Retrieved February 28, 2019, from https://www.jenaecohn.net/2018/09/08/a-room-without-chairs-how-to-help-new-instructors-

design-in-a-learning-management-system/

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