BLENDED LEARNING W SGGW

1. BLENDED LEARNING W SGGW Arkadiusz Orłowski, Marian Rusek, Tomasz Minkowski Warsaw University of Life Sciences - SGGW

2. Modern Open Online Didactic Environment perfect past, continuous present,and bright future

3. Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment • Online distance learning system • Learning Management System (LMS) • Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) • Open Source Project • Distributed under GNU GPL • Authors: • Martin Dougiamas, Curtin University, Perth (Australia) • 118 developers registered on sourceforge • Available in 61 languages • 3301 registered Moodle sites • From 115 coutries • All it requires from users is a standard web browser!

5. Perfect past (March 2003)

6. We have found an old web server

7. We learned how to type some obscure SQL commands…

8. Sometimes heavy equipment was used to remove obstacles on our way

9. Voila! Our initial Moodle web site: March 2003

10. Continous present (Now)

11. Our Moodle web site now

12. Course authors: dr Waldemar Karwowski dr Andrzej Kluza dr Jerzy Różański dr Marian Rusek dr hab. Arkadiusz Orłowski dr Urszula Skórnik-Pokarowska Course categories: Economics 6 courses Computers 8 courses Mathematics 2 courses Programming 12 courses Miscellaneous 4 courses 22 available courses; 1900 students

13. Nonstandard use of an e-learning system • Supporting regular face-to-faces classes • Electronic exams • Collecting home works • Lecture notes sharing • Administration of a students group • Checking students presence in a class • Grade book management • Electronic message board • Distant consultations

14. Server load (2005) Server load (2003) 2 800 000 hits per month(8 x increase) 350 000 hits per month Hourly usage (2003) Hourly usage (2005)

15. Grade book management • Our Moodle system collects grades earned by the students for: • Problems solved by the students during classes • Home works • Students can always check their grades • And report possible errors • The teacher can easily calculate final grades

16. Grades as seen by the students

17. Simple grade export into Excel (for the teacher)

18. Lecture notes sharing • Every student can submit his or her lecture notes • They are graded by other students • This grade affects the final grade • Lecture notes can be used other students • The teacher is not involved directly • He will use these notes when writing a textbook

19. Lecture sharing example (Moodle workshop module)

20. Discussion forums • Forum posts can be automatically sent to all course participants • Easy way to send organizational messages to students • Allow the teacher to answer students questions around the clock • Facilitate collaborative problem solving by a students group

21. Example of a distant consultations at midnight

22. Students activities for assessment • System automatically takes care of the deadlines • Students can submit their solutions from home • Some activities (quizes) are automatically graded • Assignments (graded by the teacher) are submitted by the students as files • Sometimes the students can grade themselves (workshop module)

23. Our students like activities and problem solving

24. Submitting a file for assessment by the teacher

25. Assessment of other students work by a student

26. A standard quiz (with shuffled answers)

27. Not only single or multiple choice quizes!

28. Electronic Automatically graded (to a great extent) Stressful feeling of a failure Everything can be submitted as a file Easier to read Questions are selected randomly Paper Tedious checking of students work Stressful waiting for the result Easier to write Sometimes difficult to read Should be printed in several versions How to conduct an exam?

29. Our students prefer electronic exams!

30. Exam access is protected by a password

31. … which was not complicated enough

32. Moodle student tracking features…

33. … did not succeeded this time

34. Fortunately the quizes were not active

35. The student was not able to see the questions

36. Proposed security measures • Every student needs to enter a password in order to start the quiz • A course itself can be protected by an additional password • Enrollment key • Quizes are available only in a certain time window • An additional time limit for viewing a quiz can also be set • Questions in each quiz can be randomly selected • Each student has his own set of questions • Answers in multiple choice quizes can also be shuffled • Quiz can be made invisible for students until an exam starts • Quiz hiding is done manually by the teacher

37. Stupid forum posts (spam)

38. This time the sender was identified

39. Bright future (Later)

40. Course sharing • Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) • Moodle can import foreign courses • SCORM packages • Moodle can export courses to other web sites • Export to other Moodle installations is available now • Export in the form of SCORM packages will be available soon • You don’t have to use Moodle to share your courses with us! • SCORM is a widely accepted standard • Already supported by several Online Learning Environments

41. An example SCORM course imported into Moodle

42. Pedagogical background • Constructivism • Students learn by constructing knowledge • Social constructivism • Constructing knowledge is best achieved in groups • Constructionism • Learning occurs if students actually create a product

43. Summary • Moodle allows enhanced interaction • Between teachers and students • Students with other students • Moodle features encourage discussion and shared learning • Allows the students to see each other work • Allows the to post their work on the web for download at home • Students can access course material if they miss lessons