Introducing Moodle Implementation:

In K12 and Higher Educational Institutions

Abstract
In this paper, readers are introduced about Moodle with its educational philosophy, learning types and
compliance with technology standards, its features and basic components, user access types and copyright
openness (unique to Moodle). The document presents a brief review of Open Resources Repositories (OER) in
the world, various aspects of applying Moodle for education such as, Learning Activities, Assessments and use
of in-built resources. A serious consideration is the Implementation and its derived technology glitches that an
institution gets spiraled into, producing 'institutional and educational misbehaviors' on its human communities.
To wade through such technology let-downs, the paper suggest a starter, for planning resources, framing
actions, constituting of human taskforces having policies, practical technology adoptions, course
operationalization and analyzing measured goals for their impacts. The document completes with useful
resources on Moodle (ebooks, presentations, demos, and Moodle services). Appendices provide useful
resources, such as, Moodle usage statistics, introduction to Moodle learning activities, list of selected Moodle
extensions and Moodle Taskforces for working out a course project in educational institutions.

Keywords: Moodle, Technology-aided eLearning, Social Constructivism, Moodle Accessibilities, Learning Standards and
Resources, K12 Education, Higher Educations, Moodle Extensions, SCORM, Open Education, Course Management, Learning
Activities, Moodle Taskforce, Moodle Usage Policy, Course Operationalization, Course Design and Development.


Reference: Introducing Moodle Implementation: In K12 and Higher Educational Institutions, Technology Review Document
College IQAC and Documentation Cell, Don Bosco College, Yelagiri Hills (DBCY), June 2014.


Consider a situation wherein you have been asked to draw a plan, for the first time, to implement
technology-aided educational projects in your institutions. Having been introduced to a limited
exposure on eLearning technologies and services, you would surely be overwhelmed with massive
technological choices with meager application feasibilities for institutional services. Technology
implementation for educational services is a serious challenge for management, administrative and
teaching staff. Creating a singular-implementation plan can start with choice of Learning
Management System (LMS). Moodle, being an open-source, free, and popularly used web
application is a starting point for such focused implementation approach. This paper is a technology
review document, focusing on implementation areas, measures, approaches and policies suitable to
further research and decide on. Moodle is right application for K12 and Higher Educational
institutions our current technology history says so.

Moodle (mdl) is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment.
Martin Dougiamas, an Australian Software developer, Computer Scientist and educator developed
Moodle, a unique contribution to 21st century global education. Moodle as web-based software
helps educators create quality online courses and manage students and their learning outcomes. It
is multilingual and support major global languages with 60+ language packs.

As eLearning systems, Moodle is often referred to as,
o Course Management System (CMS)
o Learning Management Systems (LMS)
o Virtual Learning Environments (VLE)
o Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS) (Bryan Williams, 2005)

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As social and eLearning software, Moodle is an ideal online learning solution for K-12 Schools,
Colleges, Universities, Governmental Agencies, Business Organizations, Trade Associations, Hospitals
and Libraries and Employment Agencies. (Williams, 2007).


1. Moodle Usage
Moodle users are institutions and individuals, such as Universities, High schools, Primary schools,
Government departments, Healthcare organizations, Military organizations, Airlines, industries,
Homeschoolers, Independent educators and special educators. See: Moodle Usage Statistics
Appendix (A)

2. Educational Philosophy
Moodle is designed and developed based on "Social Constructionist Pedagogy" a strand of
educational philosophy of learning. In such pedagogy, 'a social group constructing things for one
another, creating a small culture of shared artifacts with shared meanings immersion into a
learning culture at varied level. (Bryan Williams, 2005). Moodle also provide an educational Design
Model triad integration, Pedagogy, Technology and Learning Content.


Moodle promotes greater learner involvement by students' active engagement in a meaningful ways
to analyze, investigate, collaborate, share, build and generate knowledge with what they already
know; rather than parroting facts, skills and processes of a subject.

Social Constructivism for students mean:
Students come to class with an established world-view, formed by years of prior experience
and learning.
A students world-view filters all experiences and affects their interpretations of observations.
For students to change their world-view requires work.
Students learn from each other as well as the teacher.
Students learn better by doing.
Allowing and creating opportunities for all to have a voice promotes the construction of new
ideas (Mungo, 2005).

Expanding access, alleviating capacity constraints, capitalizing on emerging opportunities and serving
as a catalyst for institutional transformation poses real changes; because, the educational service
providers have to address diverse student population and gain country-wide recognition, limitations
of small educational institutions, mergers of educational system towards developed social
transformation (Catterson, 2004). Thus, every technology-aided educative venture produces an
avalanche of overwhelming choices in all eLearning participations.
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3. Learning Types
Online Learning: As Moodle facilitate web-based learning, students, teachers, trainees and experts
collaborate in a virtual classroom. This is most suitable for Distance Educational scenario wherein
virtual environment enables course participants cooperate through learning activities 24x7@365.
The service-providers of Higher Education and trainings opt for online learning, providing access to
quality learning content and services on a cloud environment. The takeaways are: greater student
reachability, expert collaborations, quality content services and better student performances and
responsiveness.

Classroom Learning (Teacher-led): Moodle for classroom is highly suitable for K-12 and Higher
Educations. Moodle serves as teacher-led platform for students to engage in classroom activities,
often extended to practical works. Teacher moderates the classroom learning, using Moodle as a
content presenter. In such learning, students have Moodle services right in a classroom but without
students participation, not a good idea. In K-12 Classroom learning, Moodle serves as content
platform for presentation and teacher-led interactive demonstrations. The advantages of Moodle in
Classroom are: standardization, reuse and repurpose of content, making it qualitative and best
practicable resources.

Peer-to-Peer Learning (Lab): Moodle, being social software is best-known for collaborative
learning in real-life with synchronous communication (in school or college computer lab). Practical
and project-intensive learning would need a platform wherein student collaborate with other
students and teachers on learning quests. This learning is highly practical, making even
theoretical/conceptual course domain (e.g. Arts stream), interesting and engaging to learn. Benefit
from P2P learning is that students gain cumulative knowledge, skills and competencies in a focused
learning environment' of a school or college.

Blended Learning: The best of Moodle ambition for educational institution is this: 'making Blended
Learning' a reality through both synchronous and asynchronous communication. Moodle is just for
this: making classroom, laboratory and entire campus connecting with teachers and students
communities. Moodle thus become a ubiquitous campus podium and can possibly be extended to
homes of teachers and students, as well. Blended Learning integrates distance learning, P2P and
classroom learning.

Lifelong or Workplace Learning: Moodle is a productive learning platform with less or no cost
for workplace training or lifelong learning. Workplace learning is construed as industrial, business
and corporate trainings. This learning is largely competency-oriented and used to disseminate
knowledge and skills in a most effective way. Training institutes avail this zero-investment open
product with web deployment enabling global access for professional trainers and trainees. Moodle
is the right choice for more effective and responsive human development and knowledge solutions.


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4. Educational Standards
Educational standards are organizational phenomenon that keeps evolving. The standards by
definition are the most rigorous and the slowest to be developed; it requires preferred ultimate
approval; while Specifications comes first as an initial solutions. Technology standards for education
pose challenging areas for educational service providers, namely:
Accessibility: access instructional components from one remote location and deliver them
on to many other locations.
Interoperability: use instructional components developed in one location, with one set of
tools or platform, in another location, with a different set of tools or platform.
Reusability: incorporate instructional components into multiple learning experiences.
Durability: continue using instructional components when technology changes, without
redesign or recoding.
Affordability: increase learning effectiveness significantly while reducing time and costs
(Rehak, 2003).

Broad categories of Educational Standards can be: a) Content, b) Assessment and c) Accessibility.

a) Content Standards
Some of the prominent organizations for Educational Technology Standards are:
ADL SCORM (http://www.adlnet.gov)
IMS Global Learning Consortium (http://www.imsglobal.org)
IEEE Learning Technology Standards Committee (LTSC) (http://ieeeltsc.org)
Schools Interoperability Framework http://www.sifinfo.org)
Centre for Educational Technology Interoperability Standards (CETIS)
(http://www.cetis.ac.uk)
Moodle is conforms to ADL SCORM and IMS Global Learning Consortium standards.
Note: A consortium of National Schools or High Educational network would necessarily create a
Global Educational Standards Directory serving the confluence of educational interest across cultural
and linguistic divides and enabling Quality Open Education and Open Learning Resources/Processes.

SCORM: "Shareable Content Object Reference Model" or SCORM is a collection of standards and
specifications for web-based e-learning. SCORM package is a bundle of web content in compliance
with ADL.NET standards. Simply, SCORM is [AICC & IEEE & IMS & ADL] a convergence of training
interests and evolution of standards. The philosophy behind SCORM is to produce interactive-rich
learning objects that can be standardized, re-purposed and re-used with less or no amount of
content development / publishing efforts and cost.

SCORM standardizes Packaging content, Metadata (for discovery and transaction), Communication
(with user and LMS), and Sequencing (Learning Pathway). SCORM defines how content may be
packaged into a ZIP file. Learning Objects (or SCO: Sharable Content Object) such as like Quiz, Lesson,
Assignment, Resources (e.g. Documents, Presentations, Images, Flash, HTML, Audio, Video) are
designed within the SCORM Package and is tracked by Moodle, for student/teacher performance
data (over SCORM content). Thus far, SCORM versions are: [1.1], [1.2] [1.3] and [2004]. Moodle is in
compliant with SCORM 1.2 (Bhavsar, 2006) only.

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IMS Content Package: IMS Consortium is developing and promoting open specifications (IMS
Content Package/CP) for facilitating online distributed learning activities, such as locating and using
educational content, tracking learner progress, reporting learner performance and exchanging
student records between administrative systems (Key Standards Organisations, 2008).

b) Assessment Standards
IMS QTI: In IMS Question and Test Interoperability (IMS QTI) terminology, tests are known as
assessments. Core structure of IMS QTI is ASI (Assessment, Section and Item model); within an
assessment, a course can have one or more questions. To deliver a question, you need to know,
score for getting it correct, layout rendering information and what feedback should be given. So
questions, with their associated data, are known as items. The person taking the test is called,
participant. At the end of the assessment a results report is generated. IMS QTI tries not to support
a particular pedagogy or method of learning. It makes available a number of commonly used
question types or item types. IMS QTI specifies a way of exchanging assessment information, such
as questions, tests and results. It uses XML extensible markup language (Low, March 2002).

c) Accessibility Standards
Moodle's envisions to being fully accessible and usable for all its users, regardless of their ability,
including students with learning disabilities (LD). Moodle interface can be highly customizable using
themes and settings. Learning content of diverse nature can be produced by any teacher or any
student. Accessibility is 'not a state, it is a process of continuous improvement in response to our
users and the wider technical environment.' It is difficult to determine with 100% certainty, whether
a software product has total accessibility. In such a scenario, Moodle strives to improve better
accessibility in conformance to the following standards: WCAG 2.0, ATAG 2.0 and Section 508 (US).
(Moodle Docs, 2014).

d) Moodle Compliances
Moodle is in compliance with following technology standards for learning:
User Authentication LDAP, Shibboleth
Student Enrollment IMS Enterprise
Import/Export Quiz and Quiz Questions IMS QTI, XML and XHTML
Moodle Resources IMS Content Packaging, SCORM, AICC, LAMS
Syndication RSS or Atom newsfeeds
Content Management System (CMS) Integration PLONE, Joomla, Postnuke, etc.
License GNU General Public License



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5. Moodle Features
Educators using Moodle host their own learning website, with dynamic courses that extend learning,
anytime, anywhere to their learning community. The features of Moodle facilitate such a technology
provisions:
Category Features
General Modern, easy to use interface
Personalized Dashboard
Collaborative tools and activities
All-in-one calendar
Convenient file management
Simple and intuitive text editor
Notifications
Track progress
Administration Customizable site design and layout
Secure authentication and mass enrolment
Multilingual capability
Bulk course creation and easy backup
Manage user roles and permissions
Supports open standards
High interoperability
Simple add-ons and plug-in management
Regular security updates
Detailed reporting and logs
Course Development and Management Direct learning paths
Encourage collaboration
Embed external resources
Multimedia Integration
Group management
Marking workflow
In-line marking
Peer and self-assessment
Integrated Badges
Outcomes and rubrics
Security and privacy
Source: (Moodle Docs, 2014)


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6. Moodle Components
Basically, there are three different elements that assist the learning process using Moodle. They are:
a) Activities, b) Resources and c) Blocks.

a. Activities: Students and Teacher interact with each other using Moodle Activities. Activities can
be contributing to a forum, uploading an assignment, answering questions in a quiz or
collaborating together in a wiki. All activities can be graded (with marks for evaluation). Using
Moodle Activity chooser (drop-down menu in course edit mode), teacher can create an
(custom) Activity or a standard (pre-installed) Activity.

b. Resources: A resource is an item that a teacher can add to a course in Moodle to support
learning. Resource can be file, audio, video or hyperlink to a website. Unlike Activities, Resource
is static, i.e. students can merely view and read rather than participate. Resource is introduced
by teacher using Activity chooser (drop-down menu in course edit mode).

c. Blocks: Moodle Block is an item that a teacher can add to the left or right of a Moodle course
page. Blocks are Moodle 'Widgets', providing, for example, RSS, newsfeeds, quiz results,
calendar, links to blogs, glossary terms or private files and many more functionalities. Blocks are
added, removed, placed (left/right) in Course edit mode using "Add a block" drop-down menu,
usually found on the bottom right side of course page. Moodle Layout can be changed by
Administrator or a Teacher based-on course needs by adding or removing a block. Blocks
location can also be changed (Moodle Docs, 2014).


Moodle File System
Moodle Core Directory (name: 'moodle') among many subfolders, this directory or folder
contains block, course, lang (language), lib (library), mod (Modules) themes, etc.
Data Directory (name: 'moodle_data') this folder contains all uploaded files including user
pictures. The numbered folders in Data Directory correspond to course IDs.
Database (MySQL or PostgreSQL) MySQL is preferable since the users' database is more.



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7. User Access Types in Moodle
Moodle can be accessed by students, staff (teaching and non-teaching), parents (guests),
admins (usually, Management staff) as per user authentication protocol (e.g. LDAP). Moodle
can be accessed on following network scenarios:

Scenario: Network Access Scenario: Technology Implementation
Local Area Network (LAN) Classroom
Web or Online Distance Education, School/College Online
Mobile Mobile Moodle apps powered by LAN and/or Online
Personal Computer (PC) or Offline Portable Moodle (PLOODLE) for Personal access to specific-
course

LAN Access: Moodle is better in performance for Classroom and Computer centers of a
school/college. Wired LAN access is faster, secure and restrictive (to labs and classroom) as
compared to Wireless (Wi-fi) LAN access. Wireless connection is conducive for ubiquitous and
mobile, campus-wide access, a best-fit for college campus. Wired LAN access to Moodle is useful for
K12 schools. LAN-based Moodle is applicable for Classroom (Teacher-led) Learning, Peer-to-Peer
(Lab) Learning, Blended Learning, Lifelong or Workplace Learning types. LAN deployment can opt for
Mash-up network for better peer-to-peer transaction.

Web/Online Access: Moodle online initiative is for larger Educational/Training organizations, such
as Universities, Colleges and Professional Training Institutions. Making Moodle online creates global
connectivity with stringent access control and activity regulations. Performance can be slower in
respect to Internet connectivity - a serious online limitation, discouraging students and their learning
experiences. Yet, Moodle capability is never constrained, while facilitating better online learning
environment.

Mobile Access: With advent of Mobile learning technologies, Moodle can also be accessed using
mobile apps (e.g. Mobile Moodle) with limited user interactions. Mobile learning to this day is a
distant possibility for resource intensive and complex learning process that an educational domain
demands. Moodle on mobile communication is an appropriate and simpler platform to 'push
information' as short message (e.g., SMS) updates over school/college activities in Moodle.
Notifications, Grade reports, Course status, Student attendances, etc. can be 'messaged' using
Moodle.

Moodle Mobile is the Moodle official mobile application for Android and iOs. It's available in Google
Play and Apple Market designed for phone and tablets PCs. Moodle Mobile as a platform is secure,
can work offline, makes some Moodle operations faster and more convenient; supports notifications
on all platforms (coming soon), Moodle website branded by CSS, customizable and expanded as per
institution. First version of our new HTML5 Moodle Mobile app was released on Google Play (for
Android); only Moodle version 2.4 supports Mobile Moodle App (Mobile App, 2014).

Personal Computer (PC) Access: In a given educational circumstances, when Moodle should be
accessed offline (not online), PLOODLE (or Portable Moodle), helps students download their course
from school/college Moodle and host in their personal Ploodle. Ploodle can be carried in portable
memory sticks or cards (USB or SD Card) or in students' laptop. Students have personal access to
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their course resources anywhere without having to access Moodle online or in computer labs. The
disadvantage is that students cannot participate in evaluative and collaborative learning activities.

8. Moodle Openness
Moodle towards Open and Free Education with Open Educational Services, Content and Format
would weed-out commodification of knowledge and positively provide emergent educational
paradigm. Practically, online education from organizational perspective is to do with resource and
process management than learning itself. Learning/Knowledge products forces to get skirt around
Intellectual Property and Copyright issues. The copyright violations are often centered on learning
objects, textbooks and use of resources (technological and people).

Providing institutional support in implementing Open Educational Service Initiatives is personally and
technologically challenging to enforce credibility and satisfying sense of learning achievements,
rather than cheapening organizational services and resources. The alternate knowledge, skills and
competencies, personal accreditations (other than institutionalized qualification ceilings) in a self-
interested, but domain-rigorous learning process requires open learning approaches. This open
initiative promotes access, equity and quality in the spirit of rightfulness to knowledge capabilities of
one's appropriate orientations.

Creative Commons: an organization that provides ready-made licensing agreements that are less
restrictive than the "all rights reserved" terms of standard international copyright. Creative
Commons are more pertinent to educational products and services than software applications of
business domains.

GNU General Public License: from FOSS: free and open-source software community. Moodle is
distributed under GNU license.


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9. Open Resources Repositories (OER)
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines OER as: "digitized
materials offered freely and openly for educators, students, and self-learners to use and reuse for
teaching, learning, and research. OER includes learning content, software tools to develop, use, and
distribute content, and implementation resources such as open licenses".

Repository Description
Internet Archive
http://archive.org
(Since, 2001). Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library
with the stated mission of "universal access to all
knowledge". It provides permanent storage of and free
public access to collections of digitized materials, including
websites, music, moving images, and nearly three million
public-domain books.
MIT OpenCourseWare
http://www.oeconsortium.org
(Since 2002). OCW Projects is online publication of high-
quality MIT course materials of graduates and
postgraduate programs for free
Wikimedia Foundation
http://wikipedia.org
(Since 2003). Wikimedia is non-profit charitable
organization whose goal is to collecting and developing
free educational content and to disseminate it effectively
and globally. WikiEducator Project suggests that OER
refers "to educational resources (lesson plans, quizzes,
syllabi, instructional modules, simulations, etc.) that are
freely available for use, reuse, adaptation, and sharing'.
Wikipedia ranks in the top-ten most visited websites
worldwide since 2007.
National Council of Educational
Research and Training (NCERT)
http://nroer.gov.in/home
NCERT of India digitized all K12 textbooks (i.e. 1st standard
to 12th standard) and made it available online. NROER
(National Repository for Open Educational Resources) host
variety of content.
Open Course Library (OCL) Project Effort by the State of Washington to identify and make
available digitally, to community and technical college
instructors and students across that state, free textbooks,
interactive assignments, and videos. But not free.
Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) (Since, 2012). An online course aimed at unlimited
participation and open access via the web. In addition to
traditional course materials such as videos, readings and
problem sets, MOOCs provide interactive user forums that
help build a community for students, professors, and
teaching assistants. MOOCs are a recent development in
distance education which began to emerge in 2012.
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Repository Description
MERLOT II
http://www.merlot.org
MERLOT or "Multimedia Educational Resource for
Learning and Online Teaching" is a program of the
California State University System partnering with
education institutions, professional societies and industry.

Source: (Open Educational Resources, 2014)

Open Archive Initiatives (OAI) is the popular global initiative hosting vast knowledge resources online
using open standards.


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10. Applying Moodle for Education
User Management
User management in Moodle includes: Administrator, Teachers and Students. Managing user
community involves enabling access to information about learners in a course; Ability to segment
participants into groups; Site, course and user calendar event scheduling and so much more. For
example, applying scales to different learner activities, managing grades, tracking user access logs
and uploading external files for use within the course etc. (Mungo, 2005).

User Registration: User account is created with a self-registration authentication process by
which user account gets activated, when following Moodle activation link sent to their email
address. This authentication in Moodle is Email-based Authentication, less moderated by Site
Admin. This registration is useful for Online and Distance Education scenarios. Administrators of
Moodle themselves create individual or bulk user accounts. Such a user creation process in
Moodle is, "Manual Accounts Only. To create multiple users (teacher/student), administrator
uses a text file (.csv or comma separated value, file format) with fieldnames (in correct order):
username, password, firstname, lastname, email. The first row should contain the following
mandatory fields. A [.csv] file should have records as given below (rows) in text file with file
extension .csv.

username password firstname lastname email


In this way, an administrator can upload bulk user records automatically. Basic user information
in Moodle is: User Name, User type (admin, teachers, students, guests) User profile, Description
about User, Contact Address, Mobile, Email Addresses and Photo.

User Group: Moodle allows Administrators and Teachers to separate students into groups on a
specific course purpose; e.g. projects assignment to student groups in a class (Group Studies,
Project works, etc.)

User Assignment: Teachers and students are assigned to course(s) by Moodle Administrator
using Editing Permission with a course environment.

User Views: Based on User type (Admin, Teacher, Student, etc.), Moodle can be viewed with
features pertaining to user rights. The available Moodle views are: Administrator, Course
Creator, Teacher, Non-Editing Tutor, Student and Guest. A Moodle view is reversed by clicking
on Return to Normal Role... option in course.

Course Management
Usually Admin creates courses in Moodle (while, Course Creators too can create course with
permission). To create a Course in Moodle, Admin/Course Teacher(s) should provide the following
information for course settings:

Course Category (Standard, Class, Class Section, Subject Groups)
Course Full Name e.g. Business Administration
Course Short Name e.g. B.Admin
Course ID e.g. BA-2014
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Course Summary Summary of the course
Course Format Topic, Weekly, Social (Moodle Course format)
Course Start Date When course begins?
Enrolment Period During when course can be enrolled (self-enrolment)
Enrollment Key First time student access only. (Enrolment key is given on payment of
course fee)
Group Mode No, Separate, Visible (Student Groups)
Course Availability Hide or unhide course from student view
Force Language What is the course language? (based availability of language pack

The course in Moodle is administered by Course Teachers. A teacher would have the following
options in customizing a course by Turn editing on in Course. A school or college can create a
mandatory Course Plan prior to creating them in Moodle.

A Course Plan would align with Moodle specifications for course, such as:
Course Settings
List of Teachers in Course
List of Students in Course
List of Learning Activities (not needed for creation of course)
Course Backup and Restore
Course Scales (excellent, good, average)
Grades (Items, Categories, Strategies)
Activities Log (history)
Files (uploaded files in course)

Communications
Moodle can be an educational Communication Network for Schools/Colleges, bringing together,
people, content and pedagogical practices). For example: CoSN (Consortium for School Networking),
USA (http://www.cosn.org).

In a networked educational community, Moodle communications is structured as per its Users:
namely, Admin (Managing), Course Managers (Non-Teaching), Teachers (Teaching), Students
(Learning), Parents (Mentor) and Guests (Visitor).

Moodle communication levels are:
Campus only
Web/Online (campus and online)
Mobile only (campus and online)

The asynchronous communications are Email, Discussion Forums, Messaging, Survey, Feedback,
Blogs, Workshop and so on. Synchronous communications in Moodle features chat, instant
notifications for discussion post, recent events/news, grade reports, course status, student
attendances and learning activities. Moodle communications are more effective when it is online
than campus-wide access, because of wider coverage of message recipients, thus making learning
community network informed in real-time.

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11. Learning Activities
A typical Moodle course has Resources and Activity. Moodle activities are Assignments, Book, Chat,
Choice, Dialogue, Forum, Glossary, Journal, Lesson, Quiz, SCORM, Survey, Wiki and Workshop.
Student/Course Experience Designer (Students XP Design), Course Strategies and Teachers should
refer to Moodle Guide for Teachers, (one page pdf document) when planning to implement a course.
This guide can be downloaded at www.cats-pyjamas.net or www.eit.ac.nz. See Appendix (B) that
provide brief introduction to standard Learning Activities in Moodle.


12. Assessments in Moodle
Assessment activities in Moodle are in conformance with IMS QTI. Learning activities that can be
assessed for student learning performances are: Quizzes, Assignments, Lessons, Choices, Glossaries,
Workshops, Books, Discussion Forums and Journals (Smith, 2005). The Grades feature in Moodle
provides a quick view of all assessable learning activities. The grading scale applied to a learners
submission is shown, along with a cumulative total, on a single page (Mungo, 2005).

Gradebook automatically updates students marks for a Moodle course. Gradebook has following
elements:
Item: Student Marks for course Assignment/Revision Quiz etc. (Weighted grade items)
Category: Grouping grade items together (All Quiz Grade)
Multiple Grading Strategies: Not Graded, Error Banded Grading, Criterion Grading and
Rubric Grading

Grade Report can be viewed for single student or for entire class highlighting passes or fail scores.
Teacher/ Student can generate Report Card and export as Excel Spreadsheet.


13. Moodle Resources
Apart from Learning Activities and Blocks, Moodle has got standard Resources. A resource is an item
that a teacher can use to support learning, such as a file or link. Moodle supports a range of resource
types, which teachers add to their courses: They are,

Resource Name Description
Label Used to display Titles or Captions with/without image. Also used to
separate resources and activities in a course topic section, or feature a
lengthy description or instructions in course content area.
Web Page A single, scrollable web page that a teacher creates with Moodle in-
built HTML editor (e.g. TinyMCE).
Hyperlink to file / website By inserting hyperlink, teacher direct students to any web locations or
websites: (e.g. Wikipedia).
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Resource Name Description
Folder Files helps to organize files; one folder may contain many sub-folders;
useful to display folders with documents and presentations for
student/teacher downloads.
Book Multi-page resources with a book-like format. Teachers can export
their Books as IMS Content Package. Book may include File, Picture,
PDF, Spreadsheet, Sound or video file.
IMS Content Package Hosting static course material from other sources in the standard IMS
content package format.


14. Moodle Implementation Guide
Elearning as such is born with hype and it will persist so, until its maturation in complete technology
actualization for education. The educational ecosystem is changing as the digitalization trend gets a
firmer grip on learning technologies, enabling new educative models. Educational service providers
are forced to make tough choices about technologies and improve flexibilities at the speed of
change by developing the infrastructure into an exostructure. Education (be it direct, distance or
online) is wrapped with unusual management hype and one need to take into account the evolving
technological trends in educational domain. The following Gartner chart present an abstraction
evolving educational trends tied-up with techno-and management hype (Lowendahl, 2013).



For technology deliberations, among other guides, one may refer to Gartner Technology Research
Document Hype Cycle for Education". This research report highlights possible use of gadgets and
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services such as, Mashware, Education Tablet, Campus App Store, Adaptive eBooks, Student CRM,
Digital Preservation of Research Data, Mobile Learning Low Range/Mid-range Handsets, Mobile
Learning Smartphones, eTextbook, Cloud Mail, Virtual Worlds, Virtual Desktop, Lecture Capture and
Retrieval Tools, Media Hubs and ebook readers.

Gartner research document briefly highlights topics such as Open Source Financials, Web-based
Office Productivity Suites, MOOC, SIS International Data Interoperability Standards, Social Software
Standards, Open Micro-credentials, BPO, Citizen Developers, Learning Stack, Adaptive Learning,
Quantum Computing and Affective Computing (Lowendahl, 2013).

To implement Moodle learning solutions, an institution deliberate on the areas of requirements:

No. Deliberation Areas Remark Check
1. Project Plan and Budgetary
Proposal
Not under document scope.

2. Steering Action Framework Personnel, Technology and Infrastructure
Integration, Project Execution Modalities,
Reporting Mechanism, Deliverables, Innovations
and Achievements.

3. Technology Deliberations:
Hardware and Software
A real investment pain, based on the choice of
physical network (in campus/online) software:

a. Hardware and Software Requirements
b. Implementation of Repository for Moodle
c. Acquisition of Course Development Toolkits
d. Integration of Moodle Extensions
e. Web-based Productivity Environment
f. Network Deployment (not under doc. scope)

4. C Constitution of Moodle
Taskforce
School or college taskforce to conduct course
research, design, development, operationalization
and evaluation.

5. Course Operationalization
Process
Framing Operational Process for courses:
Administration, Management, Moderating,
Assessment and Analytics.

6. Framing Policy and
Guidelines
Framing user-based policy framework at
management level.




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i. Project Plan and Budgetary Proposal
Note: Not under document scope.

ii. Steering Action Framework
Institution shall create Infrastructural Implementation Vision with achievable Milestones and
Tasks. Tools such as Balanced Score Card (BCS) help to frame realistic and measurable goals and
indicators (Strategymap: BCS software, free for limited use) for project success. Also, the Project
Team identifies risks and limitations to address at every implementation stages. The Action
Framework may constitute, Service Personnel, Technology and Infrastructure Integration,
Project Execution Modalities, Summarizing and Reporting Mechanism, Keeping track of
Deliverables, Eliciting Innovative ideas for future enhancements and Assess Project Goals with
measurable achievements.

You will find useful project resources, guidelines and tips online to help manage your
institutional project in a business-like manner. You may also consider a project management
tool, for example, OpenProj (a simple project management tool) or choose a web-based complex
project management tools to address stipulations of Steering Action Framework.

iii. Technology Deliberations
a. Hardware and Software Requirements: On a Technology deliberation for Hardware
requirement, one should consider the following aspects (completely subject to revision
as per institutional situations):

Hardware Aspects of Configuration (not exhaustive)
Server Processor, RAM ( critical performance factors)
Hard Disk Space (1/ 2 TB, not GB) (real content challenge)
Multimedia Support (Monitor, Media Card, Speakers,
Scanner, Biometrics)
Networked Printer (restrictive use)
Clients (Staff Students
Computers)
Processor, RAM, Hard Disk (in GB)
Multimedia Support tools

Software Requirements (not exhaustive)
Server Operating System: (Choice of Windows/Linux)
Server Stack (Open Source): WAMP/LAMP
Database (Open Source): MySQL
Learning Management System: Moodle
Repository (Moodle supported)
Web Browsers (Internet Explorer, FireFox, Chrome)
Media and Flash Players
PDF Reader
Office Suite (ideal is MS Office)
Digital Library
Clients: Staff Students Operating System: (Windows)
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Computers Learning Management System: Moodle
Web Browsers (Internet Explorer, FireFox, Chrome
Media and Flash Players
PDF Reader
Office Suite (ideal is MS Office)

b. Implementation of Repository for Moodle: The repositories supported by
Moodle are Merlot II, Alfresco Repository (Community Edition), Google Drive,
Flickr Public, Picasa Web Album, Amazon S3, Dropbox, File system (FTP), Legacy
Course Files, Microsoft OneDrive (earlier, Skydrive), WebDAV and EQUELLA.

Note: It is advisable to choose a locally hosted repository than availing cloud-
based repositories.

Wiki (Educational Content Repository): A wiki is a web-based repository that supports
the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages using a simplified
markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor, within a browser. The collaborative
encyclopedia Wikipedia is one of the best-known wikis. Wikis are typically used to
facilitate the exchange of information within and among teams or a user community.
Content in a wiki can be updated quickly, with little or no administrative intervention,
and being web-based, the content is available in real-time from anywhere.

However, like any other software tool, wikis have limitations that need to be understood
prior to making the decision to implement one. Benefits of Wiki are: Ease of Use,
Collaboration, Access Controls, Edit and Approval Cycles, Versioning and History. Wiki
needs to improve on issues such as Structure and Organization, Importing Content,
Multiple Output Limitations, Information Accuracy and Internally Focused (Info Pros,
2009).

c. Acquisition of Course Development Toolkits: The common educational content
creation and hosting applications are:

Content Management System (CMS) Plone (http://plone.org) - open source teaching
environment and Joomla (the leading open source
CMS). Plone is suitable Content Management System
(CMS) for Educational Content and Services for Moodle
integration than with Joomla, Drupal or WordPress or
any other CMS.
Moodle HTML Editor (By default Tiny MCE) is a ubiquitous HTML editor in
Moodle. The settings of which can be defined by the
Moodle Administrator. With Moodle HTML Editor,
students/teachers can create content and apply
formats, create lists, insert links, table, images,
emoticons, audio, video, mathematical equation and
symbols, perform spell-checks, redo and undo like a
Word Processor. User can also switch between Full
Screen and Normal Screen; between HTML Source and
back.
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Multimedia Authoring Adobe Creative Suite (Commercial, Expensive) and
Portable Apps (3D Blender, FotoSketcher, Inkscape,
LibreCAD, PDFTKBuilder, MuseScore, Marble,
Mnemosyne, Oposoft Video-Editor, PencilProject,
Songbird, Stellarium, VLC Player) and so on.
SCORM Content (Free) RELOAD, Recourse, eXe, MOS SOLO (MindOnSite),
XERTE Elearning, CourseLab, Microsoft Learning
Development System, eLML and so on.
HTML/XHTML Editors Dreamweaver (commercial), KompoZer, Amaya,
Bluegriffon and so on.
Assessment Tools Moodle Question Editor, iSpring Quiz Maker (Free),
HotPotatoes, QeDoc Quiz Maker and so on.

You can consider any of the above tools or only consider aforementioned
categories for better deliberations. Most of these tools are free to use and does
not burden financial allocations of institute or department.

d. Integration of Moodle Extensions: Moodle learning activities are useful for
Course Design, Students Activities, Teacher Tools, Multimedia and Games,
Students Counseling, Project Management, Communications, Rooms and Resource
Management, Reports and Analytics and Document Management and Repository.
Moodle.org has got vast number of Modules, Blocks and Plugins (most of which are free
of charge for download and extend your Moodle educational capabilities. You may
consider Moodle Extensions that fits your educational need. You can find a selected list
of Moodle Extension under the following categories: Course Design, Student
Activities, Multimedia and Games, Teacher Tools, Learning Project Tools, Student
Counseling, Communications, Rooms and Resource Management, Reports and
Analytics and Document Management and Repository. See Appendix (C).

e. Web-based Productivity Environment: A redistributable, free-cloud, Web Office is
ideal for educational productivity environment accessible over web and mobile
extending eLearning services (Moodle) in a professional way. The UNG project is
developing UNG Docs is the Next Generation Web Office (in Prototype stage). It is
bundled-up with Calendar, UNG Docs (file manager), Text Editor, Spreadsheet Editor and
SVG Editor. The cloud tool has got basic functionality of modern Office Suites. UNG Docs
is pure Javascript, document-oriented, serverless interaction, data access abstraction
and content collaboration. It is useful to integrate a Web Office with Moodle services (as
External Tool) to have productive environment for students in collaborative learning
activities. For more detail, visit: http://www.ung-project.org/project/ungdoc

f. Network Deployment: Not under document scope.


iv. Constitution of Moodle Taskforce
A School or Higher Educational Institution, when for the first time setting-up a Moodle-oriented
educational infrastructure in the campus, should invest its deliberation on constituting a
Taskforce for successful follow-up of technology-aided initiatives. Here, the constituted
taskforce is primarily (and only) for iterative course research, design, development,
P a g e | 20

operationalization and impact evaluation. See Appendix (D) for Moodle Taskforce constitution
with Tasks, Roles and Responsibilities.

v. Course Operationalization Process
Every course project should address its operationalization process standardized by the
educational institutions. A Moodle-based course deployment manager may consider the
following process for implementation or tailor a successful course process available as standard
practices.

Operation Milestone Description
Course Administration Course Management Only Moodle Administrator can create a
course (or bulk courses), delete course(s),
taking periodic course backup, restoring
course backup, importing course data and
resetting a course.
Course Enrolment Admin enrolls users with several enrolment
methods; or unroll users (teachers and
students).
User Management Admin can create user groups, import user
groups and define cohorts.
Course Layout Admin/course teacher can customize
Moodle Layout using Blocks. Some of the
Standard Blocks are Main menu, Navigation,
Courses, Activities, Blog menu, Calendar,
Comments, Course completion status,
Course overview, Feedback, Latest news,
Messages, My private files, Recent activity,
Search forums and Upcoming events.
Course Content
Management
HTML Content Editor
(TinyMCE)
HTML Editor is used to create and update
content in Moodle. It features Toolbars that
can be customized. The tools includes Color
Pickers, Images and Media, File Upload,
Math Equation Editor, Character symbols,
emoticons, Tables and Spell Checker
Moodle Resources Book, File, IMS/SCORM Content Package,
Label, Page and URL.
Course Content
Management
It involves Working with Files, Repositories,
Portfolios, Working with Media, Filters,
Licenses and Plagiarism Prevention.
P a g e | 21

Operation Milestone Description
Moderating Learning
Activities
Standard Activities Course-related learning activities supported
by Moodle are: Assignments, Chat, Choice,
Database, External tool, Feedback, Forum,
Glossary, Lesson, Quiz, SCORM, Survey,
Wiki, and Workshop.
Assessment and
Evaluation
Quizzes Moodle Quiz comes with question types
namely, Calculated, Simple Calculated,
Calculated Multi-choice, Description, Essay,
Matching, Embedded Answers (Cloze),
Multiple Choice, Short-Answer, Numerical,
True/False, and Third-Party Question Types.
Student Performance Student Performance tracking is achieved in
Moodle using Gradebook. The Gradebook
features Settings, Scales, Grade Letters,
Import and Export and Learning Analytics
using Advanced Grading Method.
Learning Analytics Course Progress
Tracking and
Reporting
Teacher or Administrator works to track
progress of course-specific Activities and
their adherence, till course completion and
certification.

vi. Framing Policies and Guidelines for Moodle Usage
Basic roles in Moodle are: Administrator, Teacher, Student and Guest. However, you can create
new roles, such as,
Moderator: a person who can edit or delete a forum post;
Seminar-Leader: a student who can make activities in a single course, but cannot view
or change grades;
Quiz-maker: students can make quizzes but no other teacher functions;
Super-Teacher: a teacher with limited admin functions can add/edit users, etc.

Since assigning permission to roles is complex, you should read documentation in Moodle Docs.
You will assign *people* to the role you create in the specific context (i.e. course, not website),
where they will use the role (Don Hinkelman et al., 2007).

The usual Policy focus would be Administrators, Teachers and Students. As an extraordinary
level, an institution may include 'Parents' as one of the Moodle users (usually, as guest users).
The below checklist can serve to consider, while framing Moodle Usage Policy for your
school/college.

a) Policy Consideration for Administrators
Administrators' policy is to be framed based on the aspects of responsibilities that Admin finds
suitable in congruence with Moodle-based educational services.

P a g e | 22

Policy Scope Policy Pointers
Installation, Upgrading &
Management
Apache Server, PHP, MySQL Database (LAMP/WAMP)
Moodle Web Hosting and Maintenances
Software and Tools pertaining to School/College
Educational Initiative
Moodle Administration Moodle Website Configurations Policy
Main Configuration Properties
Settings
Themes (appearance)
Language
Modules of learning activities (hide, unhide, installing,
removing)
Blocks of learning information (hide, unhide, installing,
removing)
Controlling Moodle Services Glossary Auto-lining terms
Resource/Activity/Wiki Names Auto-linking
AlgebraTeX notation
Multimedia Plugins
Word Censorship (posting abusive words in Moodle)
Multi-language content (multi-lingual support)
Email Protection (against spam)
User Management Activities Authentication and (username, password policy)
Add, Edit, Upload User accounts (management,
teacher, student, parents, guest...)
Enrolments (internal and External)
User Assignments (as teacher, course creator,
students)
Course Management Creation of Course Categories
Generating Course Logs (course and student, date-
wise or specific activity reports)
File Management Managing Site files (creating folders, uploading,
moving, deleting and zipping files)
File Format Support and Maximum File Size (site-wide)
Backup Courses and user data for reuse
Security Measures Hacking
Site Policy Violations
Help Desk Course Support Services
Help Manuals (teachers and students)
Issue-Tracking (troubleshooting)
Suggestions and Grievances Forum



P a g e | 23

b) Policy Considerations for Teachers
Policy Scope Policy Pointers
Profile Update Updating Teacher Profile
Course Administration Course Settings and Editing Course
Maximum File Size (for upload)
Course Plan and Course Page
Design
Moodle Layout Design (blocks, labels, content
sections arrangements)
Choice of Course Format (topic, week, social, etc.)
Course Content Management
Services
Use of Resources (label, image, video, web page,
hyperlink) in Moodle
Manage Course Files (uploaded)
Class Activities Administration Norms for Learning Activities (assignments, forums
and forum participations, wiki, blog, glossary, chat,
choice, journal, quiz, workshop, etc.)
Assessments Assessment (quiz creation, question categories,
question bank)
Grade Strategy
Grade (grading activities)
Backup and Restore Course Backup
Course Restore
Evaluation and Reporting Course Logs (students activities)
Survey and Feedbacks
Teacher Communication Students
Peer Teachers
Administrator (Moodle)
License and Copyrights Use of Educational Content
Use of third-party Educational Tools

Source: (Baker University School of Professional and Graduate Studies, 2010)


c) Policy Considerations for Students
Policy Scope Policy Pointers
Personal Data Student Registration in Moodle
Profile (name, image, contact data) in Moodle
Personal Blog
Course Access Enrolment in Course
Communications Behaviors Forums (Post, Wikis)
Messaging (Chat, SMS)
P a g e | 24

Policy Scope Policy Pointers
Student Participation In Learning Activities: Wiki, Database, Glossary,
Workshop, etc.
Assessment Grade Regulations
Academic Violations Plagiarism, etc.
Student IT Ethics Hacking
Spam
Moodle Access Violation
Abusive Content (word, image, Audio/Visual)
Online Stalking
Cyber Bullying
Abuse of Social Networking External Tools, etc.

Source: (Crawford, 2009)


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15. Moodle Resources Online
Official Sites

Official Website
http://moodle.org

Moodle Releases and Extensions (Plugin, Blocks, Modules) Downloads
http://download.moodle.org

Moodle Documentations (For Moodle Training Content)
http://docs.moodle.org/25/en/Main_page

Discussion Forum (Teaching with Moodle)
https://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=41

Open Educational Resources (free and licensed courses on various domains)
URL: www.moodle.net

Moodle Help Manual (on Installation of Moodle)
http://localhost/moodle/help.php?file=index.html


eBooks on Moodle

Jason Cole and Helen Foster, Using Moodle: Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course
Management System, 2nd Edition, O'Reilly Community Press, Cambridge, 2008.

Radana Dvorak, Moodle for Dummies, Wiley Publishing. Inc., Indianapolis, 2011.

William Rice, Moodle, Elearning Course Development: A Complete Gide to Successful Learning
Using Moodle, Packt Publishing,
http://www.packtpub.com/moodle/book/mse

Brandon Hall Research, Learning Technology Products 2009: Authoring Tools, Learning
Management Systems, and Learning Content Management Systems, March 2009.
www.brandon-hall.com

Michael Spector, David Merrill and et al, Handbook of Research on Educational Communications
and Technology, 3rd Edition, Taylor and Francis Group, New York, 2008.
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com

Jan-Martin Lowendahl, Hype Cycle for Education-2013, Gartner, Inc. G00251104.
https://www.gartner.com/doc/2559615


Presentations and Demonstrations

Teacher Demos
http://demo.moodle.com
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How To
http://www.howtomoodle.com

Moodle Presentations
http://docs.moodle.org/26/en/Moodle_presentations

Moodle Online demonstration Websites (Mount Orange School, Moodle Sandbox, QA Testing
Site)
https://moodle.org/demo

105 Free Moodle Video Tutorials
http://elearningindustry.com/105-free-moodle-video-tutorials

40+ Great Moodle Tutorials for Teachers and Students
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/01/40-great-moodle-tutorials-for-teachers.html

Moodle Video Courses and Tutorials from lynda.com
http://www.lynda.com/Moodle-training-tutorials/257-0.html

Moodlerooms Video
http://www.youtube.com/user/MoodleroomsVideo

Free Online Moodle Tutorials
http://www.wiziq.com/tutorials/moodle

Faculty Moodle Guide
http://www.law.lsu.edu/medialib/tutorials/moodle/Faculty_Moodle_Guide.html


P a g e | 27

References
Key Standards Organisations. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.aictec.edu.au/aictec/browse
Mobile App. (2014). Retrieved from Moodle Docs: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Mobile_app.
Moodle Docs. (2014). Retrieved from Moodle.org: http://docs.moodle.org/25/en/Main_page
Open Educational Resources. (2014). Retrieved from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources
Baker University School of Professional and Graduate Studies. (2010). Faculty Moodle Tutorial.
Bhavsar, J. M. (2006). Moodle Support for SCORM. Retrieved from mailto: bhavsar.jalpa@gmail.com
Bryan Williams, M. R. (2005). Moodle For Teachers, Trainers and Administrators. Free Software
Foundation, Inc.
Catterson, A. (2004). Understanding the Implications of Elearning in Higher Education Using Moodle.
Paper presented to the Department of Instructional Design and Technology. Emporia State
University.
Crawford, S. (2009). Moodle: A Student Guide to Using Moodle. Oshki Education and Training
Institute.
Don Hinkelman et al. (2007). Tailoring Moodle to Your Own Needs. JALTCALL International
Conference. Tokyo: Waseda University.
Info Pros. (2009, August). Understanding Wikis: Solution for Your Documentation Needs?
Whitepaper.
Low, N. S. (March 2002). IMS Question and Test Interoperability: An Idiots Guide, Version 0.5. CETIS
Assessment Special Interest Group.
Lowendahl, J.-M. (2013). Hype Cycle for Education-2013. Retrieved from Gartner, Inc.:
www.gartner.com
Mungo, R. (2005). The Case For Moodle: Using Moodle for Course and Content Management in 21st
Century Schools and Organizations.
Rehak, D. (2003). eLearning Standards, Questions, Decisions, Actions. Carnegie Mellon University.
Smith, D. (2005). Using Your Moodle.
Williams, B. (2007). Introducing... Moodle! PowerPoint Presentation. www.moodle.com. Retrieved
from www.moodle.com



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Appendices
(A) Moodle Usage Statistics
(B) Standard Learning Activities
(C) Moodle Extensions
(D) Moodle Taskforce



(A) Moodle Usage Statistics

Statistics as on June 02, 2014
ITEM STATISTICS
Registered Moodle Websites 64,219
Countries 235
Courses 7,416,969
Users 71,247,429
Teachers 1,155,559
Enrolments 100,934,311
Forum Posts 129,206,480
Resources 68,398,217
Quiz Questions 215,606,132
Source: https://moodle.org/stats



P a g e | 29

(B) Standard Learning Activities
Assignment Is an activity that allows students to submit (online), files like Microsoft Word,
PowerPoint, Excel or any other file format. Moodle can be used for Offline
assignment submission in the classroom, as well. Optionally, Assignments can be
graded on submission for assessment. Creating Assignment activity in Moodle
requires following:
Assignment Name, Description, Assignment Type, Allow Resubmitting, Grade, Maximum (File)
Size, Due Date

Chat Students and Teachers can participate in real-time synchronous communication in
Moodle. Classroom chat, usually in a distance education, is useful to better
understand topics or concepts in a course. Chat can be moderated and past sessions
can be viewed or downloaded for analysis and decisions. Chat time and date is
displayed automatically in Course Calendar.
Chat Name, Description, Display Description on Course, Chat Sessions

Database Is an activity for both teacher and students to build, display and search a set of
record or entries on a given topic in a course. The format and structure of database
entries (records) is almost unlimited. Users can include numbers, text, images, files
and URLs.
Database Name, Description, Entries (fields), Availability (Data and Time)

Choice In Choice, Teacher(s) posts a question with a choice of multiple responses during
classroom (online)/lab session on a topic. Students respond to the question as a
quick poll. Choices are useful for voting on a course activities or provide feedback
for a research. Results can be viewed by students and teachers.
Choice Name, Description, Display mode, Allow choice to be updated, Limit number of responses,
Availability, Restrict answering, Results, Publish results, Privacy of results

Forum Students and Teachers participate in discussion on a given course topic. Discussion is
initiated by teacher(s) and students submit their questions and answers as posts,
sometimes with attachments. Discussions help to construct and share new
knowledge. The posts are given peer/teacher rating for auto-grading. Discussion
Posts can optionally be forwarded as email to teacher/students.
Forum Name, Forum Description, Forum Type, Attachments and Word Count, Subscription and
tracking, RSS Feed, Post Threshold for blocking, Grade, Ratings, Roles with permission to rate,
Group Mode

Glossary Is a kind of collaborative dictionary, relevant to Course that students would like to
lookup into. Students can submit new terms with definition (and comments) that are
reviewed, approved and graded by teachers. Glossary entries are exportable to
another course in Moodle. Terms in Glossary are auto-linked into words occurrences
throughout the course with pop-up glossary definition.
Glossary Name, Glossary Description, Is this glossary global?, Glossary type, Glossary Entries,
Appearance Settings

Lesson Is a Web (HTML) content having multiple pages simulating self-paced learning. Each
page features a question and a set of answers. Based on student comprehensions,
P a g e | 30

lesson can progress to next page or back to previous page. Students are assessed for
their knowledge and comprehension of the subjects based on their responses to
questions. Lesson helps to apply teacher-tailored, Learning Path (a.k.a. learning
design), workflow fashion. A typical Lesson page contains: Page Title, Page Contents,
Answer 1, Response, and Jump to (next/previous page).
Lesson Name, Appearances, Availability, Lesson Flow control, Grades, Password protected lesson,
Prerequisite Lesson

Quiz Moodle features in-built Quiz Editor to design and conduct online objective-type
assessments. Quiz Editor supports Multiple Choice Questions, True/False Questions,
Short Answer Question, Numerical Question, Matching Question, Description
Question, Random Set, Random Short Answer, and Embedded Question (Cloze).
Questions are kept categorized in Question Bank to be re-used in a course or
exported to another course. Students are allowed to attempt more than once,
depending on teacher's choice and receive feedback for correct answers. On
completion of a test, grade is automatically marked. Moodle supports questions
from Blackboard, WebCT and IMS QTI, AON, GIFT, IMS/QTI and Missing word
format.
Name, Description, Timing, Grade, Layout, Question behavior, Review Options, Appearance, Extra
restrictions on attempts, Overall feedback

SCORM 1.2 SCORM activity in Moodle allows teacher to upload SCORM 1.2 package as learning
activity in the course. On completion of their attempts on SCORM Content Package,
students are awarded grades, based on their performances. SCORM Content
Package is created using third party applications, many of them are free/open
source.
Name, Description, Display description on the course page, Package, Appearance, Attempts
management, Compatibility settings

Survey Moodle provides pre-defined survey instruments capable of assessing and
stimulating students' learning. Teachers gather data from students to learn class
performance and their teaching impact. The available surveys are ATTLS (20 item
version), Critical incidents, COLLES (actual), COLLES (preferred and actual), COLLES
(preferred). However, Teacher can opt to create their feedbacks instruments with
several Feedback extensions available in Moodle.
Name, Survey type, Description, Display description on the course page, COLLES - Constructivist
On-Line Learning Environment Survey, ATTLS - Attitudes to Thinking Learning Survey

Wiki Students or Teachers work as a group or as individual on Wiki activity to create web
pages and change content. Every revision of content is maintained (never get
deleted) and any version can be restored again. Moodle wiki is based on Erfurt Wiki
which uses HTML Editor (TinyMCE) to customize pages. Wiki is a great collaborative
tool for students as well as teachers in authoring learning content. Wiki wiki in
Hawaiian language is "superfast". Wiki is a simple HTML-oriented markup language
to create and edit web content within web browser. Every modification of content is
versioned with editor name and can be reviewed for acceptance or revert to original
content. Wikis are open to general public (anyone can edit/contribute).

Wiki name, Wiki mode, Wiki description, Display description on course page, First page name,
Format.

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Workshop Is a peer assessment activity with number of choices for student to assess students'
project works. It provides greater students' participation effort and yes, has a
learning curve.
Name, Description, Display description on the course page, Grading settings, Grading Strategy,
Grade for Submission, Grade for Assessment, Decimal places in grade, Submission settings,
Maximum File Size, Assessment Settings, Feedback

Feedback Using Feedback, teachers can create and conduct surveys to collect
students/teachers' feedback. Unlike Survey took, Feedback module allows you to
create questions, using list of pre-written questions. Feedback module helps you
create non-graded questions, which is not possible in Quiz tool. Feedback activity is
ideal for Learning Outcome, Student/Teacher Performance and Course Evaluation.
Feedback Name, Description, Availability (Allow answers from date), Allow answers to date,
Question and submission settings, Show analysis page, Completion message

Journal Journal is a private communication for students to reflect on a course topic/concept.
Students edit and perfect their answers over a time. Responses are private and only
teacher reads and offer feedback with grade on a journal entry. It is a good teaching
practice to have one journal activity every week.

Book Module allows you to setup indexed multi-page study material very useful for
presenting non-linear content (e.g. PowerPoint or Web Pages). Chapters are
numbered and content sections are titled. Students are allowed to print book
content (Bryan Williams, 2005).



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(C) Moodle Extensions
All these extensions are downloadable at www.moodle.org
Course Design
Learning Outcome Wizard The Learning Outcome Wizard is a plug-in to help lecturers choose
which activities to add to their course based on intended learning
outcomes for the course. This is the main components to the plug-
in, the wizard. There are also two support plugins the generator
and the outcome sequence list page.
Learning Outcome Generator The generator of flowcharts for use in the Learning Outcome
Wizard. The Learning Outcome Wizard is a plug-in to help
lecturers choose which activities to add to their course based on
intended learning outcomes. This is done in cooperation with
educational developers that create sequences based on research
into pedagogy. Lecturers can easily step through these sequences
and eventually be taken to the appropriate activity creation page.
This plug-in was created to replace existing sequences that were
difficult and time-consuming to manually generate. There are
three main components to the plug-in, the wizard, the generator
and the sequence list page.
Learning Outcome Sequence List The Learning Outcome Wizard is a plug-in to help lecturers choose
which activities to add to their course based on intended learning
outcomes for the course. There are three main components to the
plug-in, the wizard, the generator and the sequence list page.
Learning Plan This plugin serves as a database and plan for all learning activities
in the organization for a structured learning program, including
management reports.
Lesson objectives Displays current lesson objectives in the side-bar. 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).

Student Activities
Mindmap / Advanced Mindmap The advance Mindmap module enables students create Mindmap
in Moodle as learning activity.
Flash Card Set The flash card set enables teacher to organize learning content as
decks of cards which can be viewed in an interactive and
interesting way.
Realtime Quiz This is a type of quiz designed to be used in face-to-face lessons,
with a classroom full of computers.
FN - My Progress The Progress Report block provides students with an overview of
their progress in regards to activities in a given course.
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Progress Bar A time management tool for you and your students; A time-
management tool for students, Shows progress in activities /
resources, Color coded to quickly see completed / viewed,
Teachers select which pre-existing activities / resources are to be
included, Order by times / deadlines or order in course, Overview
page shows teachers the progress of all students.

Multimedia and Games
Eduplayer The eduplayer module allows to playback .mp4, .flv video files and
.mp3, .m4a audio files
MDID The Madison Digital Image Database (MDID) is a freely distributed,
open source web application developed at James Madison
University. MDID is a digital media management system with
sophisticated tools for discovering, aggregating, and presenting
digital media in a wide variety of learning spaces.
Lightbox Gallery This resource allows you to create 'Lightbox' enabled image
galleries within your Moodle course. As a course teacher, you are
able to create, edit and delete galleries. Smallthumbnails will then
be generated, which are used for the thumbnail view of the gallery.
Games The game module enables students engage in Hangman,
Crossword, Cryptex, Millionaire, Sudoku, Snakes and Ladders,
Hidden Picture, Book with questions.
Mootyper MooTyper implements the typing instructor functionality into
Moodle.
oohoo - Text to Speech OOHOO Text to Speech is a Moodle block that reads out loud the
content of a resource. This block adds text to speech functionality
to Moodle.
SWF The SWF Activity Module is a Moodle plugin extension for
deploying Flash learning applications, also known as Flash
templates.

Teacher Tools
Crot Plagiarism Checker FREE plugin is aimed at digital plagiarism detection: it uncovers
assignments copied from peers at the same institution. The module
is language independent and standalone.
Question Practice The basic idea is that the teacher sets up a bank of questions
organized into categories. Then the student can then choose what
questions they want to practice when. This is about student-
centered learning based on the capabilities of the Moodle question
bank.
Teacher Diary Teacher diary allows teachers to write a summary for each lecture
they have adding the amount of time they spent on that. for
Moodle 1.9.
Appointments This block provides a form for teachers to book 1 to 1
appointments with Students on a class. The student can be notified
of the appointment, and it will be added to both users' calendars.
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Scheduler An appointment scheduler for planning face-to-face meetings
between teachers and students. Teachers can set up time slots,
and students can choose one of these on Moodle.
Enrolment Key Generator Enrolment Key Generator (EKG) is an administrative block (usable
by teachers and above) which creates random course enrolment
keys from lists of words, but with a number of configuration
options if you are not keen on the defaults.

Learning Project Tools
Technical Project Managing Technology Projects (Science, Computers or Arts) as part
for learning activity.
PBLTool This block implements a project management tool create to be
used with collaborative learning. It is integrated with group forum
and chat. The main idea is that students and teacher plan their
activities together.

Student Counseling
My Mentors Shows a students mentors/parents with profile picture, messaging
link, and online status.
My Mentees This block is a feature-rich version of the core Mentees block.
Student profile picture: Online status indicator, Links to student's
grades, forum posts, and blog posts and Messaging link.

Communications
jMail jMail is an internal mailing (a.k.a. internal email) tool for Moodle 2.
It supports features like: labels (folders), attachments, reply,
forward, print, read and unread messages, etc... This plugin doesn't
work in Moodle 2.0.

Rooms and Resource Management
MRBS Based on the stand-alone MRBS project
(http://mrbs.sourceforge.net), this allows users to book rooms and
other resources from within Moodle. Resource Scheduling.

Reports and Analytics
Certificate The certificate module enables teachers to design and issue
certificate online for the students.
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.
Activity track This block show the total no. of activities pending and completed in
percentage and number in a course where course completion is
activated.
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My Stats A student dashboard for the My Moodle page. Shows statistics
about site-wide student activity. Shows charts and statistics for
forums, quizzes, blog posts, and more.
Analytics and Recommendations The Analytics and Recommendations block is a tool for students
and teachers. It visually shows the student participation in each
course activity and it shows recommendations for students about
what activities they should work to improve their final grade.
Dashboard Graphic, one query dashboard element using MIT library JQplot
and other libraries. The dashboard element bloc is of use with
flexible Moodle page formats allowing free setup of the dashboard
page layout using blocks. Data table output, Graphic plotting using
JQPlot, Geographic plotting (using GoogleMaps API), and Time
special plotting: Integrating SIMILE Timeline plugin, Data output
additional features, Performance features.

Document Management and Repository
Shared Resource Shared resource provides Moodle with a full-featured central
resource repository handling full indexing with LOM based
metadata schemas. Central library front-end and search engine.
GroupDocs GroupDocs is a next generation Document Management solution
that makes it easier for businesses to collaborate, share and work
with documents online. So, organize, view, annotate, compare,
assemble and share all your documents with Moodle. This block
was created to provide Moodle users with a modern PDF / PPT /
DOC / DOCX Viewer.
GroupDocs Annotation The Moodle GroupDocs Annotation extension lets you embed
documents complete with GroupDocs Annotation into Moodle
sites. GroupDocs Annotation is an online application for annotating
and commenting on documents. With this powerful tool, teachers
and students can share and collaborate on documents in real time -
annotate, comment and draw - to improve communication and
learning, and speed up review. Connect to students quickly and let
groups work together effectively.




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(D) Moodle Taskforce
STUDENT EXPERIENCE DESIGN
Tasks Roles Responsibilities
Student Research Course Master and Analyst
Student Survey (profile, competency,
knowledge and skills)
Instructional Designer Audience Analysis
Information Architect User Analysis

Subject Matter Expert
(Non-Teacher)
Student-oriented subject analysis
Student Experience Design Curriculum Strategists Course Plan
Information Architect Student (User) Experience design

COURSE RESEARCH
Tasks Roles Responsibilities
Topics Analysis and
Taxonomy
Content Manager Topic Mapping
Information Architect User, Content and Navigation Organization

Subject Matter Expert
(Non-Teacher)
Domain-specific Review
Topics Inventory and Profile Content Manager Learning Content Profile
Information Architect Learning Content Design

Subject Matter Expert
(Non-Teacher)
Domain-specific Review

COURSE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
Tasks Roles Responsibilities
Learning Process and
Activities Analysis
Instructional Designer
Application of Instructional Process over
Learning Content
Curriculum Strategists Syllabus Integration
Information Architect
Learning Activities Analysis for Learning
Process Integration
Learning Navigation Design Instructional Designer Final Learning Design
Information Architect Review of Learning Design
Course Package Wireframe /
Mock-up
Information Architect
Prototype / Wireframe of Course Package
(Web/Multimedia)
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COURSE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
Tasks Roles Responsibilities
Visual and Interactivity
Design (Basic Web Design-
Development)
Content Manager Content Project Management
Web Designer and Developer Web Design and Development
Desktop and Web Publisher DTP, Web and SCORM Publishing
Digital Media Designer
Multimedia Production (Graphics,
Documents, Audio/Visual)
Information Architect
Review of Visual UI and Course
Interactivities
Resources and Content
Integration
Content Manager Content Project Management
Web Designer and Developer Course (Web) Packages Integration
Desktop and Web Publisher Print Publications
Assessment Content
Development
Content Manager Authoring Assessment Content
Desktop and Web Publisher Publishing Assessment Activities
Web Designer and Developer Web Support for Assessment Activities
Digital Media Designer
Multimedia Support of Assessment
Activities

Subject Matter Expert
(Non-Teacher)
Domain-specific Reviews of Assessment
Content
Assessment Content
Integration
Content Manager Project Management
Web Designer and Developer Integration of Assessment Package
Server Administrator Server Hosting of Assessment Package
Desktop and Web Publisher
Multimedia and Web Integration of
Assessment Package

Subject Matter Expert
(Non-Teacher)
Domain-specific Reviews of Assessment
Content

COURSE PACKAGE TESTING
Tasks Roles Responsibilities
Usability Test Information Architect Conducting Package Usability Test
Course Package Quality Test Curriculum Strategists
Conducting Course and Course Content
Quality Test
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COURSE PACKAGE TESTING
Tasks Roles Responsibilities
Course Master and Analyst Test Management
Review Update Web Designer and Developer Review update on Web Content
Desktop and Web Publisher Review update on Publishable Content
Digital Media Designer Review update on Multimedia Content

COURSE PACKAGE PUBLISHING
Tasks Roles Responsibilities
Web Publishing Web Designer and Developer
Completion of Web Publishing of Course
Package
Content Manager Content Project Management
Document Publishing Desktop and Web Publisher
Completion of Print Publication of Course
Package
Content Manager Content Project Management
SCORM 1.2 Publishing Web Designer and Developer
Completion of SCORM 1.2/2004 of Course
Package
Content Manager Content Project Management

COURSE PACKAGE DEPLOYMENT
Tasks Roles Responsibilities
Course Operationalization Server Administrator Course Package Deployment
Content Manager Content Project Management
Course Master and Analyst Deployment Follow-up
Support and Maintenance Server Administrator
Server and Client-side support for Course
Packages
Content Manager Content Project Management
Course Master and Analyst Review and Support Follow-up
Backup / Restore Server Administrator
Periodic Course, and Course Package
Backup

COURSE ANALYTICS AND REPORTING
Tasks Roles Responsibilities
Staff Feedback on Course Course Master and Analyst
Conduct Staff Feedback Survey on
Deployed Course
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COURSE ANALYTICS AND REPORTING
Tasks Roles Responsibilities
Student Feedback on Course Course Master and Analyst
Conduct Student Feedback Survey on
Deployed Course
Course Analytics and
Reporting
Course Master and Analyst
Submit Course Analytics and Feedback
Summary (staff and students)


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2014 Don Bosco College, Yelagiri Hills, All right reserved.






ABOUT DOCUMENT
This technology review document is prepared in response to the need for references in terms of
implementation and management of Moodle-oriented initiatives for institutes of educational (K12,
Higher Education) and training nature.

Version: 1.0.
Date: June 3, 2014
Department: IQAC and Documentation


Don Bosco College, Yelagiri Hills (DBCY)
An arts and science college affiliated Thiruvalluvar University.

Sixteen Years of Academic Experience
Innovative educational pedagogy.
Industrial expertise in computer education.









CONTACT
Don Bosco College
Guezou Nagar, Yelagiri Hills
Vellore District, Tamil Nadu
INDIA 635 853

Office: (04179) 295443, 245239 (office hours only)
Mobile: (+91) 9786000439

info@dbcyelagiri.edu.in
www.dbcyelagiri.edu.in