Open Source Software Virtual Learning Environments What is

Open Source Software Virtual Learning Environments

What is Open Source Software? Open source software is software whose source code is open to public review. It is free to download, free to modify, free to redistribute. Links Open Source Definition Open Source Licenses GNU General Public License More examples of OS Software

Advantages of using Open Source Software evolves and improvements can happen with far greater speed than proprietary software. Bugs can be fixed, improvements and new developments can be made available to all. . Freely available, with a global support community. Free to obtain, modify and redistribute High quality, stable, secure software available to all Wonderful gifts for the educational community!

Open Source Software in Education l l l l Total cost of ownership is reduced, Freedom from being tied to particular products Lower costs for home-school communities Customise to fit your needs. Can be used on older computer systems. Allows productivity to increase for small outlay Saves money for cash-strapped schools Flexibility and adaptability to with changing needs Examples of Open Source Software? l l l l l Apache webserver Squirrelmail webmail system sendmail, the most widely used email transport software Python programming language PHP programming language Abiword processor Linux: the most used Unix-like operating system Postnuke Content Management System Moodle Virtual Learning Environment

What is a Virtual Learning Environment? An online vehicle for teaching and learning l Controlled access to curriculum ‘modules’ l Modules can be separately assessed and recorded l Tracking of student activity and achievement l Activities to facilitate, guide and monitor learning l Access to learning resources and assessments l Communication between the learners and teachers/facilitators, and between peer groups l Links to administrative systems

Virtual Learning Environments Buy a VLE : Digital Brain l Blackboard l Web. CT l VTLE (RM) l BT Learning Centre l Learning Gateway (MS) l Free VLE’s ATutor l Moodle l Claroline l COSE l

Proceed with caution… Do your homework first! l What are our strengths? l What do we need? l What can a VLE offer? l What is available? l What are the teaching and learning opportunities? l Do they match our requirements? l What flexibility is provided? l What other issues need to be considered?

Information and Guidance? l FERL: Further Education Resources for Learning. “An Internet based information service for lecturers and other practitioners in Further Education colleges funded by the FEFC and managed by BECTa. ” Links to guidance/help pages: Why have a VLE? Evaluating Learning Platforms Purchasing a VLEStaff Development Piloting a VLE Mainstreaming a VLE Administration Case Studies How to Get it all Wrong List of Case Studies

Information and Guidance? l JISC : Joint Information Systems Committee. “An independent advisory body that works with further and higher education by providing strategic guidance, advice and opportunities use to use ICT to support learning, teaching, research and administration. ” Useful documents MLEs and VLEs explained

Open Source: Case Study A challenge: What else can we be doing to support our students?

Case Study : Providing more support Initial Ideas l More Individual support within lessons l Additional support at lunchtimes and after school l Individual programmes of study l Exploring new teaching methods and learning styles l Increase number and range of choices l Home/School links l Parental involvement

Case Study : Providing more support Constraints l Making it all fit into scheduled lessons l Commitments of staff and students outside of scheduled lessons l Mismatch between timetables between teachers and students for additional support.

Case Study : Providing more support VLE: Initial questions l What are our needs? l What new opportunities for teaching and learning can a VLE provide? l Can we match our requirements with a VLE? l Is it flexible enough to change with us! l What INSET is required? l Is 24/7 access available? l Can a VLE be applied and used in context with our courses? l Do we have the infrastructure to make it accessible to all students l How much will it cost?

Case Study : Providing more support VLE: Why Open Source? l l l l l Open Source No ties Flexible Meets our requirements Easy to install and backup Easy to create, change, modify courses Select range of facilities Ability to save our courses Overall costs are low Provides a range of new teaching opportunities and learning styles

Case Study : An Open Source solution Moodle it! MOODLE is an acronym for…. “Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment “ It is also a verb that describes the process of… “lazily meandering through something, doing things as it occurs to you to do them, an enjoyable tinkering that often leads to insight and creativity …. . ”

What is Moodle? l A software package – designed to help educators create quality online courses. l A course management system (CMS) – or Learning Management Systems (LMS) or Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). l Supports social constructionist pedagogy l Open Source software l FREE to download it, use it, modify it and distribute it ( GNU General Public License). l Supports a range of platforms Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Netware and any other system that supports PHP, including most webhost providers. l Data is stored in a single database: such as My. SQL and Postgre. SQL. Can also be used with Oracle, Access, Interbase, ODBC and others…. l Available in 34 languages

Who created Moodle? Martin Dougiamas created Moodle Martin is Australian, living in Perth. Moodle started out as a hobby for Martin, and grew into the subject of his Ph. D thesis: "The use of Open Source software to support a social constructionist epistemology of teaching and learning within Internet-based communities of reflective inquiry", Moodle is now being used in many schools, universities and other educational communities. Martin Dougiamas More Information is available from Using Learning Communities to Create an Open Source Course Management System Moodle’s Home

Who uses Moodle? There almost 700 sites which have registered, in over 67 countries! (January 2004) Albania | Argentina | Australia | Austria | Belgium | Bolivia | Brazil | Canada | Chile | China | Colombia | Costa Rica | Croatia ( Hrvatska) | Cyprus | Czech Republic | Denmark | Dominican Republic | Ecuador Finland | France | Germany | Greece | Guatemala | Honduras | Hong Kong | Hungary | Iceland | India | Indonesia | Iran (Islamic Republic of) | Ireland | Italy | Japan | Korea; Republic of | Lithuania | Malaysia | Mexico | Morocco | Nepal | Netherlands | New Zealand | Nicaragua | Norway | Pakistan | Peru | Philippines | Poland | Portugal | Romania | Russian Federation | Saudi Arabia | Singapore | Slovakia (Slovak Republic) | South Africa | Spain | Sweden | Switzerland | Taiwan | Thailand | Trinidad and Tobago | Turkey | Ukraine | United Arab Emirates | United Kingdom | United States of America | Uruguay | Venezuela …………. . Download your Moodle now!

Who uses Moodle? Coolwebschool’s Moodle North Chadderton School Openschool’s Moodle Supporting 21 st Century Science

Teacher to Facilitator? l Moodle supports a change of role from ‘teacher’ to a ‘facilitator’ : l A change from ‘source of knowledge' to being an influencer and role model of class culture, l Facilitator connects with students by - addresses individual learning needs, - moderating discussions and activities - collectively leads students towards the learning goals of the class. l The future developments of Moodle provide more support for this approach

The Philosophy ? “Social constructionist pedagogy“ A social group in which the focus is on both group and individual activities : Constructing Collaborating Creating Sharing

Moodle: Site Management l An administrator Control of the site is by an administrator user defined during setup l Plug-in "themes" The administrator can customise the site colours, fonts, layout etc to suit local needs l Plug-in activity modules These can be added to existing Moodle installations l Plug-in language packs Currently there are language packs for over 34 languages. These can be edited using a built-in web-based editor.

Moodle: Course Management (1) l A teacher administrator has full control over all settings for a course, including restricting other teachers l Choice of course formats such as by week, by topic or a discussionfocused social format l Flexible array of course activities – Forums, Journals, Quizzes, Resources, Choices, Surveys, Assignments, Chats, Workshops l Display recent changes to the course since the last login can be displayed on the course home page l Easy editing of text for resources, forum postings, journal entries using an embedded WYSIWYG HTML editor

Moodle: Course Management (2) l Grades for Forums, Journals, Quizzes and Assignments can be viewed on one page (and downloaded as a spreadsheet file) l User logging and tracking – full activity reports for each student are available with graphs and details about each module. Also a detailed review of each student’s involvement including postings, journal entries etc l Mail integration – copies of forum posts, teacher feedback etc can be mailed in HTML or plain text. l Custom scales – teachers can define their own scales to be used for grading forums, assignments and journals l Courses can be packaged – as a single zip file using the Backup function. These can be restored on any Moodle server.

Moodle: Course structure l Weekly format Each week consists of activities. Some might have deadlines, others might be open. l Topics format Presented and organised into topics. A topic is not restricted to any time limit. l Social format All activities are presented and organised into a single forum. Could also be used as noticeboards

Moodle: Course structure l Weekly format Each week consists of activities. Some might have deadlines, others might be open. l Topics format Presented and organised into topics. A topic is not restricted to any time limit. l Social format All activities are presented and organised into a single forum. Could also be used as noticeboards

Moodle: Modules l l l l l Assignment Attendance Chat Choice Dialogue Exercise Forum Glossary Journal Modules available for Moodle l l l More details Quiz Resource Survey Web. Quest Webwork Workshop

Moodle: Assignment Module l Can be specified with a due date and a maximum grade. l Students can upload assignments They are date-stamped. Different file formats are allowed l Late assignments are allowed The amount of lateness is shown clearly to the teacher l Whole-class assessment Grades and comments provided for each assignment, on one page in one form. Viewable by assigned teachers l Teacher feedback This is appended to the assignment page for each student. Notification is sent by email l Resubmission of assignments This can be allowed by teachers after grading (for re-grading)

Moodle: Forum Module l Different types of forums are available, teacher-only, course news, open-to-all, one-thread-per-user. l All postings have the authors photo attached. l Discussions can be viewed as nested, flat, threaded, oldest or newest first l Every registered user can join, or the teacher can force subscription for all l The teacher can choose not to allow replies l Discussion threads can be easily moved between forums l Attached images are shown inline

Moodle: Journal Module l Journals are private between student and teacher. l Each journal entry can be directed by an open question. l The whole class can be assessed on one page in one form l Teacher feedback is appended to the journal entry page, and notification is mailed out.

Moodle: Quiz Module (1) l Teachers can define a database of questions for re-use in different quizzes l Questions can be stored in categories for easy access, and these categories can be "published" to make them accessible from any course on the site. l Quizzes are automatically graded, and can be re-graded if questions are modified l Quizzes can have a limited time window outside of which they are not available l At the teacher's option, quizzes can be attempted multiple times, and can show feedback and/or correct answers l Quiz questions and quiz answers can be shuffled (randomised) to reduce cheating l Questions allow HTML and images

Moodle: Quiz Module (2) l Multiple-choice questions : single or multiple answers l Short Answer questions ~ words or phrases l True-False questions l Matching questions l Random questions l Numerical questions (with allowable ranges) l Embedded-answer questions (cloze style) l Embedded descriptive text and graphics Administration Panels

Moodle: Assignment Module. l Assignments can be viewed online, or downloaded l Teacher can attach feedback comments l Notification is sent out by e-mail l Resubmission can be granted for assignments, for re-grading

Moodle: Assignment Module l Assignments can be specified with a due date and a maximum grade. l Students can upload their assignments (any file format) to the server - they are date-stamped. l Late assignments are allowed, but the amount of lateness is shown clearly to the teacher l For each particular assignment, the whole class can be assessed (grade and comment) on one page in one form.

Installing Moodle Fantastico! http: //www. webschool. org. uk/science/powerpoint/moodleinstall. ppt

Installation: requirements 1. 2. Choose a hosting company which provides a My. SQL (open source database) and PHP (embedded scripting language) Make sure they offer Fantastico. 3. No special technical knowledge is required for the installation of Moodle 4. It is all controlled using 'point and click' operations. 5. Once installed, you can build your own Virtual Learning Environment, to suit the needs of your school.

Installing Moodle : Using Fantastico! is usually installed on Linux hosting accounts with CPanel 1. Logon to the Control Panel bse 33 ugo ******* • Use the username and password supplied with Welcome Mail!

Installing Moodle : Using Fantastico Select Fantastico! From the Control Panel

Installing Moodle : Using Fantastico

Installing Moodle : Using Fantastico

Installing Moodle : Using Fantastico supportme

Installing Moodle : Using Fantastico

Installing Moodle : Using Fantastico

Installing Moodle : License Information Agree to the terms of the GPL License……

Installing Moodle : Version Information Current version of Moodle is displayed…. .

Installing Moodle : Release Notes about the current version No input required here… …. just continue with the installation

Installing Moodle : Database Tables

Installing Moodle : Database Upgrade

Installing Moodle : Configuration Specify the configuration variables A few are shown here…. The default settings usually work ! They can be changed at any time by the Administrator

Installing Moodle : Site Format Configure the site format presented to visitors

Installing Moodle : Admin. Profile Set the User Profile for the Administrator A few items are shown here…. They can be changed at any time

Moodle : Ready to go! Moodle has been installed and configured. Courses can now be added….

Science Support Websites North Chadderton School Home l www. webschool. org. uk Community Websites l www. mywebschool. org/postnuke/ l www. scibase. org/ l http: //www. scigallery. org/blogger/modules/news/ Image Galleries www. supportscience. org/cgi-bin/imagefolio/image. Folio. cgi www. webucation. org/gallery/ Virtual Learning Environment Websites www. coolwebschool. org/moodle/ www. openschool. org. uk/support/ 21 st Century Support Sites Databases ( for KS 3 and Science Links) These were originally developed for the ASE l l www. scilinks. org. uk/ www. scishop. org www. 21 stcenturyscience. org. uk/support/ www. scienceblog. org/community/index. php Blogging User Logon www. webschool. org. uk/cgi-bin/mt/mt. cgi North Chadderton School Websites : Constructed using Open Source Software