Using Moodle - review

by Elena Blanco on 13 March 2006 , last updated

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Introduction

  • Author: Jason Cole
  • Publisher: O’Reilly
  • Year: 2005
  • ISBN: 0-596-00863-5

Using Moodle is a practical, no-nonsense book that combines step by step examples with sound advice and suggestions as to best practice. Jason Cole is a self-confessed education geek. He has spent 10 years using technology to run his own courses and to help others with their courses. His advice and guidance comes direct from his own experience of what works and what doesn’t. Reading this book will certainly help any teacher to avoid some of the common pitfalls.

To get the most out of this practical book it is assumed that the reader has access to a Moodle installation in order to try out the step by step examples. Seems obvious, but where can you go to try out Moodle? Why not try the Moodle.org site itself?

The book starts with an overview of Moodle including a feature comparison between Moodle and its competitors. Whilst this type of comparison dates quickly it is nevertheless a useful yardstick for users of other virtual learning environments who are perhaps considering Moodle as an alternative to their current system. But once the comparisons are out of the way, the book quickly moves in the second chapter to the hands-on style. The reader gets started using Moodle for real by signing up for an account and looking at the basic interface.

Step by step, tool by tool

Most of the remainder of the book (the next 9 chapters in fact) is devoted to covering the individual tools found in the Moodle package. This starts with the step by step building of a course. The reader is shown how to add content and is given advice on file formats and file sizes. Then comes the introduction to communication tools such as forums, chats and dialogues. Next, we move on to the creation and use of quizzes along with advice on quiz strategies and ideas on countering cheating. This is followed by discussion of assignments and exercises for the straight-forward collection of student work.

One of the most interesting aspects of Moodle is its support for peer review. The workshop tool is a complex and flexible tool that allows student work to be submitted and peer reviewed within a structured framework. Cole spends a chapter exploring the idea of workshops and explains how to create and manage them. He goes on to cover learning tools such as the journal tool - encouraging students to keep a reflective diary, and the glossary tool - helping students to develop a shared vocabulary. He concludes his walk through Moodle’s toolset by examining the lesson tool used to create branching paths through learning materials, the creation and use of wikis, the inevitable issue of grading, and the use of feedback tools such as surveys and choices.

Administration

The administrative functions that a course leader will need to perform to keep both the course and the students organized such as adding and deleting users, creating groups, creating backups etc. are also covered. In the penultimate chapter the author shares his ideas on how to develop effective learning environments. This chapter would be particularly useful for experienced teachers who are new to teaching in a virtual environment as he shows how Moodle’s educational philosophy guides and affects the structure of the learning environment.

The final chapter is aimed at those administering the Moodle installation. It is brief but useful and would be perfect for a busy system administrator wanting to get a Moodle installation configured and running in a short space of time.

Strengths

Using Moodle is packed with practical tips for users who may be unfamiliar with techniques that are second nature to IT professionals. For example, the author recommends including a date stamp in filenames to help deal with the problems of versioning in organizing content. Whilst this concept may seem obvious to those who have already come across it, it is very useful for less IT literate people who are applying their professional teaching skills in this new environment.

In addition to practical tips the author is also willing to share his mistakes in order that others do not fall into the same traps. For example, early on Cole takes a look at the settings available within a course and warns of a mistake that he made when setting the enrolment period. He interpreted the enrolment period to be the length of time a student had to enrol in a course but this setting actually refers to the length of time that a student would stay enrolled on a course! This type of information is particularly useful for perhaps experienced teachers who are new to the virtual learning arena, as knowing that other people make mistakes can be a huge confidence boost for the new user.

In keeping with the spirit of the open source software that it describes, this book has been licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sharealike licence which allows anyone to copy, distribute, display, and make derivative works from the contents of the book as long as it is not for commercial purposes. For more information on the licence see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/.

Using Moodle would be a useful book for any teaching professional wishing to use Moodle as a virtual learning tool. There is something here for those who are looking to transfer their teaching skills to a virtual environment for the first time as well as something for those who are already accustomed to virtual environments.

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