Proposal
Moodle Proposal
To: Mrs. Marilyn Petersen, Dean of Instruction, College of the Rockies
From: Heather Wik
Date: June 19, 2011
Subject: Proposal to adopt Moodle as the Learning Management System (LMS) for the Child, Youth, and Family Studies Department (CYFS)
Introduction
CYFS is planning to expand its current face-to-face course format to include both online and blended courses beginning in September 2013. I propose you choose Moodle as your LMS.
Why Moodle?
Moodle’s interface is user-friendly and provides the opportunity for instructors to create a learning environment that is highly collaborative. They can facilitate experiences that promote innovative thinking, creativity, and self-reflection (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). Constructivist principles are easily incorporated that encourage students to build on their current knowledge, and to contribute to a larger body of knowledge created collaboratively with classmates online. The interface is quite intuitive for instructors and students.
Moodle is a free open source software program and provides similar features as other commercial LMSs (Perkins & Pfaffman, 2006). It can be used completely independently, or a variety of hosting options are available.
One of the advantages of using Moodle is that it has a proven track record. As of June 3, 2011, there are 54,391 registered sites in 212 different countries, with 42,992,232 users and 1,122,215 instructor accounts enabled (Moodle Statistics, 2011). In addition to a strong history, there are extensive resources, supports, and tutorials for Moodle available online which are easily accessible.
Three other departments within the College currently use Moodle as their LMS and there are various structures currently in place to support future expansions, including:
- One full time e-Learning Specialist
- One full time Educational Technologist
- Three full time Computer Technicians
Method for Evaluating LMS Options
In examining various LMS options, I used two frameworks as evaluation guides. First, Bates and Poole (2003) provide a “SECTIONS” model for selecting technology. Eight areas are considered in this approach. I have listed them below, with a brief comment on how Moodle supports each.
- Students – easy access through Mac and PC platforms and from a variety of mobile devices; built in security and privacy controls, extensive orientation and tutorial features for students
- Ease of Use and Reliability – intuitive affordances built in enable users to use the program quickly and easily; proven reliability; scheduled maintenance and upgrades available; backup and recovery support available; options for internal and external hosting
- Costs – Various options provided from free for internally supported use to scaled options for external hosting
- Teaching and Learning – Extensive options for presenting materials in both teacher directed and student directed environments; many collaborative tools to support constructivist learning principles; varied assessment tools (both instructor and peer)
- Interactivity – Supports asynchronous and synchronous collaboration, videos, links, feedback options, and more
- Organizational Issues – can be easily implemented within the current COTR LMS structure
- Novelty – Has a proven track record and is being used successfully within the College already
- Speed – Can be initiated very quickly, enabling instructors to get courses developed and online by the September 2013 start date.
As a second guide I referred to Chikcering and Ehrmann (1996) who outline key principles for good practice. These include:
- Good practice encourages contacts between students and faculty
- Good practice develops reciprocity and cooperation among students
- Good practice gives prompt feedback
- Good practice emphasizes time on task
- Good practice communicates high expectations
- Good practice respects diverse talents and ways of learning
The various features in Moodle provide opportunities to promote each of these practices. Communication, collaboration, assessment, and highly diversified alternatives for both accessing information and demonstrating learning are incorporated.
Resources Needed to Bring CYFS Moodle Server Online
“Moodle can be installed on any computer that can run PHP, and can support an SQL type database” (About Moodle, 2011). There are no fees for using the program. If desired, Moodle identifies several partners who do provide hosting services. For example, Lambda Solutions offers a dedicated virtual hosting for 5000 user accounts for an annual fee of $3600. System requirements include 100 GB disk space, 100 GB bandwidth per month, 1 CPU, and 2 GB Ram (Lambda Solutions, 2011). As COTR is already using an external host, options for upgrading their current service should be available, or sourcing out the CYFS department separately through a company such as Lambda Solutions could be considered.
Additional funding could also be allocated to instructor training. Costs for this would be very minimal however, as the e-Learning Specialist and the Educational Technologist are continually providing workshops and professional development for staff, and they welcome the participation of CYFS instructors.
Personal Experience
I have been using Moodle for the past five years to teach both online and blended courses. I love the diversity of accessible features, and have used a various assignment, chat, choice, forum, journal, nanogong, and quiz options. There are are also many other great choices for instructors. I’ve found both the COTR tech support and the online Moodle resources to be incredibly helpful. It really is a wonderful program, and I hope you choose to adopt it as your LMS for CYFS.
References
Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: A framework for selecting and using technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.
Chickering, A.W. & Ehraman, S.C. (1996). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6. Accessed online 10 May 2011 http://aahea.org/bulletins/articles/ sevenprinciples.htm
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National educational technology standards for teachers. Retrieved June 6, 2011 from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx
Moodle. (2011). Moodle Statistics. Retrieved June 3, 2011 from http://moodle.org/ stats/
Moodle. (2011). About Moodle. Retrieved June 3, 2011 from http://docs.moodle. org/20/en/About_Moodle
Perkins, M. & Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a course management system to improve classroom communication. Science Teacher, 73(7), 33-37.
