Proposal
To: Kevin Walters (Director of IT, North Island College)
From: Miguel Strother, Instructor, Faculty of English
Re: Installation of Moodle Server
Overview
As part of a project with the Haisla First Nation of Kitamaat Village, BC that I am currently examining with some colleagues[i], we are requesting the addition of a Moodle server to North Island College’s current educational technology offerings. After careful analysis, it is our feeling that Moodle will offer significant teaching and learning benefits to this project. Support for this small pilot will also allow the college to expand Learning Management System expertise beyond WebCT/ Blackboard while conducting continuous evaluation of Moodle as a long-term solution for NIC[ii]. Additionally, we feel this project has the potential to bring recognition to the college for furthering its strategic plan by fulfilling promises to two major constituents, online learners and First Nations communities[iii]. Hiring third party server administration support is feasible, however, the cost in time and resources will be minimal compared to the return for your department and the entire institution. As such we submit the following to request your partnership in this important initiative.
Evaluation
The proposed project is aimed at preserving ancient language and First Nations culture through digital storytelling. The learning environment and community we hope to create through the LMS is critical to success. Overall, it’s Moodle’s ability to meet complex cultural and community learning needs at a reasonable cost that leads us to request this server installation.
Community and Culture
Moodle can integrate communication technology and an appropriate interface design that will navigate the complex cultural protocols, nuances and traditions integral to First Nations storytelling (Duggan p. 3). In particular the social structure, filial relationships, shared experience and reliance on oral storytelling (Archibald, p. 7) need to be accounted for within the LMS used:
“As learning is a cultural activity, the design of Web sites is infused with cultural meaning and with cultural nuances and identity issues, as instructional designers and developers bring their own viewpoints and perspectives into the design process.” (McLoughlin, C. and Oliver, R, p. 60)
Unfortunately, with NIC’s WebCT/ Blackboard licensing agreement, the ability to customize in this context is limited, as is the ability to work in multiple languages. And while modifications can be made they are often expensive and time consuming [iv]. These limitations impact our specific research needs and will impact teaching and learning outcomes:
“While the use of computers has the potential to play a positive and welcome role in Indigenous education, not all of the software and system implementation provides enough cultural relevance to be effective. Cultural inclusivity is one of the essential foundations of student-centred learning environments (Chen, Mashadi, Ang & Harkrider, 1998), as it “allows learners to access learning resources in a manner that is congruent with their values, beliefs and styles of learning” (Duggan, p. 226)
With Moodle, users have access to common look and feel templates but are not bound to them. Navigation, color schemes and graphics can be changed as can the menu system. This flexibility is useful, perhaps even vital in this context as we are dealing with learning needs and traditions not necessarily grounded in Western culture or epistemology.
Moodle is capable of building a strong sense of community and offers many synchronous and asynchronous forms of communication. Being able to communicate in ways that suit the emerging learning, teaching and administrative needs of the multi-generational participants involved is crucial and Moodle accounts well[v].
The ability to foster community through Moodle is proven in both the course offerings created using its code, as well through a nearly 1.2 million strong community of users[vi]. This advanced sense of community will support all involved and accelerate learning for motivated participants, including the instructor, as even answers to complex questions are often readily available. Our group’s access to this community should result in less investment of your team’s time.
Costs
It is our understanding that NIC, while well trained in Web CT/ Blackboard, has not ruled out the addition of, or transfer to Moodle.[vii] With the recent moves of WebCT/Blackboard[viii], and it’s obligation to shareholders, we’re concerned about access and long-term costs for this project.
If necessary, we are prepared to look for third party assistance for this project, and have found that it is available and sufficient for our anticipated needs. However, it stands to reason that there is far more to gain from having the college IT team directly participate. This is a reasonably small project based around multi-year involvement of 5-7 participants and there is no reason to assume it will grow beyond this size in the near term. As such even external costs for administering should be kept minimal and at the very least controllable.[ix]
Requirements
With current limitations in the ability to handle server side administration we need a dedicated partner to help grow expertise. Knowledge of the required software packages (Linux using Apache, PHP, MySQL)[x] already exists in the department. In addition to the installation, we will require regular monitoring, updates, and backups. We would also greatly appreciate input on how to best manage Security, Authentication, Version control, the Graphic User Interface (GUI), System architecture, Application configuration, Interface design, Customising, Templates, and Accessibility standards (Briton, et al). Senior systems analyst Gordon Carlyle has expressed interest in supporting this valuable work and we’ve acquired the permission of VP of Student Services Lisa Domae to account for this time.
Conclusion
Ultimately it is the cost, scalability, the ability to provide a strong sense of community while accounting for cultural differences and learning styles that has led us to Moodle for this project. While we feel it would be possible to administer this project through a third party provider, growing this expertise internally is valuable; the potential outcomes should benefit the project, the participants and their communities, which will ultimately bring recognition to your department and the institution. We hope you we support this request and look forward to the opportunity to partner with you on this important initiative.
Bibliography
- Archibald, Dr. Jo-Ann, Indigenous Storywork, Vancouver: UBC Press, 2008.
- Balbon, Albert, in discussion with the author, January 2012
- 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. 75-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.
- Briton, Derek; Stewart, Brian; Gismondi, Mike; Heller, Bob; Kennepohl, Dietmar; et al “Choosing MOODLE: An Evaluation of Learning Management Systems at Athabasca University”. International Journal of Distance Education Technologies. 3 (Jul-Sep 2007): 1-7.
- Duggan, Thomas and Yumbah, Nulloo, “Supporting ways of learning for Indigenous Australian pre-undergraduate students using Moodle.” Same places different spaces Proceedings ascilite Auckland 2009 (2009) Pages: 222-229
- McLoughlin, C. and Oliver, R. “Instructional Design for Cultural Difference: A Case Study of the Indigenous Online Learning in a Tertiary Context” Australian Journal of Educational Technology 2000, 16(1), 58-72.
- Trotter, Andrew, “Blackboard vs. Moodle”. Education Week: Digital Directions. June 13, 2008
- Young, Jeffery, “Blackboard Customers Consider Alternatives Open-source software for course management poses market challenge” Chronicle of Higher Education, 9 September 2009
- Website: Blackboard Shareholders Approve Merger Agreement With Affiliates of Providence Equity Partners. http://www.blackboard.com/about-bb/media-center/Press-Releases.aspx?releaseid=1608115
- Website: “North Island College Mission, Values and Strategic Directions” http://www.nic.bc.ca/about_us/governance/bog/policies/vision.aspx#VS –
- Website: Moodle Community page. http://moodle.org/community/
End Notes
[ii] Albert Balbon, Personal Conversation Jan, 2012
[iii] North Island College Mission, Values and Strategic Directions
[iv] Chronicle of Higher Education, From chronicle.com/free/v55/i03/03a00103.htm 9 September 2009
[v] “(In Moodle) Learning is undertaken in an environment that encourages groups to construct and build knowledge together, to collaborate in tasks and to share new knowledge within the group. On face value alone it would seem the philosophy of learning in Moodle aligns with the Indigenous learning styles that have been identified, in particular the importance of groups and community.” (Duggan p. 225)
[vii] Albert Balbon, Personal Conversation Jan, 2012
[ix] “Commercial firms offer customized versions of Moodle, as well as hosting services. For example, Moodlerooms, a systems-integration company based in Baltimore, charges schools a fee to create customized versions of Moodle’s grade books, repositories of learning resources, warehouses for student data, and tools for real-time learning activities. The company also hosts Moodle systems for schools for an annual fee of $1 per user.” (Trotter, 2008)