Don't be Daunted: 8 Steps to Grow your Moodle

A political science professor once said this about Democracy to me: "It's the worst type of government, except for all of the others." One might say the same about Moodle. It gets a lot of guff for being a behemoth of code (over 500,000 lines) and for being a little extra complex (even though the standard install is pretty "bare bones" compared to the customized Moodles around the web).

For all of the criticisms, no other Learning Management System (LMS) or eLearning platform has enjoyed the rapid growth and press that Moodle has, thanks to it's huge user base, great online support forums and community at Moodle.org and it's widespread adoption by hosting companies and enterprise solution providers working to provide is freely to the world (including GlobalClassroom.us).

We're happy to offer it freely to teachers and students worldwide, and we're doing our best to support the community at large (and small). And if you're one of the critical or skeptics, or if you're a teacher just starting out and want to create your course then keep reading...

I ran across a great blog post that talks about the complexity of Moodle and how the author suggested teachers can get past the "Whoa". Check out the Changing Face of Education in Iowa blog (by Evan Abbey) for more information. The original post is a must read, here's a quote:

Moodle is not for the faint of heart. After showing it to teachers, I often hear something along the lines of "Whoa, that is a lot more complicated than a wiki!"

Yes, that's true.

But, you can also do much more with it. Not just in terms of individual tasks, like a discussion board and a database, but also big-picture outlook. You have several different starting points. And best of all, you can start and just get your feet wet, or when you are ready, you can always progress in your use. There are many acceptable levels of use that improve your classroom instruction... you don't have to become fully immersed in it to use it well. (from "Degrees of Moodle Use in the Classroom" by Evan Abbey)

Evan goes onto suggest several (8) steps that a teacher might use Moodle and not be overwhelmed with the advanced features or complex forms and fields required to create all at once. Wade into the Moodle pool by advancing through these steps (note that after each step the basic assignment/resource that might correspond to each is in parenthesis after; I've also linked to past blog posts where you might learn more, if applicable):

1. Repository of documents (link to a file or website/display a directory)
2. Links to all the websites you use in class (link to a file or website/create hyperlinks)
3. a Classroom calendar (utilize the classroom calendar and add events)
4. Digital Assignment Dropbox (upload a single file/advanced uploading of files/online text assignments)
5. Classroom discussion board (forums)
6. Enrichment (differentiate instruction using groups and groupings)
7. Supplement (quizzes/wikis/lessons)
8. Full online course (all of the above and more!)

Click here for the full post at Evan's blog. And discuss and comment on his great contribution there.

Image Attribution: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hiddedevries/ / CC BY 2.0