Getting the most out of your VLE:Maximising Moodle

Suzanne Wright, Andy Beggan and Indre PetrauskaiteLearning Technologies SectionUniversity of Nottingham

Moodle.Nottingham

• Start of session 2012– Out of the box look and feel– Few integrations at the start– University-wide– Performance initially the main area for improvement

Moodle.Nottingham

57606 active users 19000+ modules

Moodle.Nottingham

• Current situation for start of session 2013:– Student Records for enrolments– Echo 360– Equella– Kaltura– Xerte online Toolkits– Rogō

• Plus over 40 extensions & plugins from the community and homegrown

RogōE-Assessment Management System

Maximising Moodle

Resourcing

• Successfully bid for a Graduate Trainee from the University’s GT programme

• Specific consultancy from a focus group expert to shape the focus groups

• Funding gained from Leadership Foundation for HE for some consultancy

What we did

• Focus Groups with students – 20 focus groups in the UK– 4 focus groups on the China Campus – 4 focus groups on the Malaysia Campus

• Student survey• Students Union

Main themes

• Extent of usage across schools• Materials in one place• Organisation of materials within modules• Features and functionalities not known• Navigation• Look and Feel

Feedback from Students

Feedback from Students

Quotes from students

''I didn't know wikis even existed. I think it would be useful to an

extent.''

“If my course mates hadn't told me that past

papers are on Portal, maybe I would not have

found them at all.''

“Out of six teachers we have, only one of them uses Moodle. If they just knew how, I am sure they would use it very well. With it being optional they just refuse to get a go on it.

They don't realise the impact that it has.”

“All of them have module resources that are clearly structured and easy to use”

“Discussion forums are really helpful for coursework”

“Our … lecturer puts everything up in advance. It makes you feel calm about the modules; you know what to expect”

Staff Feedback so far

• Very small sample as yet – 1-1 conversations with UK staff

• Staff survey has not yet gone live• Overall, positive attitudes• Praised for its flexibility, being intuitive to use, liked by

students• Comments around the linear approach (scroll of death)• Still felt to be used as a document store• Confirmed extensive use of turnitin across the University

Moving on with Moodle

• Selling the benefits to academic staff

• Promoting best practice within staff and student user communities

• More advanced training now most people have got the basics

• More consistent approach

Now and the future

• Improvements to various aspects of Moodle

• Training• Moodle Inspiration Sessions• Moodle Magic

• Input into the new strategies that are being written at the moment

• Working closely with the Students Union with a view to a Students as Change Agents programme

Any questions?

Thank you for listening.

Learning-technologies@nottingham.ac.uk