T E C H N O L O G Y

In this series, Nicky Hockly

Moodle
(but were afraid to ask)

Five things you always wanted to know about

explains aspects of technology which some people may be embarrassed to confess that they dont really understand. In this article, she explores Moodle.

Moodle? Is that noodle before running the spell check?

What has Moodle got to do with me?

Moodle is a virtual learning environment, or VLE. This is just a fancy-sounding name for an online platform which keeps a number of tools and resources in the same place. Think of one space online, where you can have communication tools such as forums, blogs, wikis and chat rooms, as well as a place to store documents, video and audio. Thats Moodle. Basically you log onto a web page, and there it all is. Moodle, which stands for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, was created by Martin Dougiamas, who was teaching at a university in Australia with another VLE. A lot of the things that he wanted to do with this VLE were simply not possible, so he decided to create one which would be more flexible. That was the start of Moodle, and he invited fellow programmers and friends to contribute to its development. For a short engaging interview with Martin Dougiamas, in which he explains the origins of Moodle, go to www.usq.edu.au/learnteach/ learnres/vsarchive/mdougiamas.

Moodle is an excellent platform through which to offer fully online learning. However, it is also used by classroom teachers as support for face-to-face courses. So, for example, you can use it as a place to store extra resources for a class, such as documents, audio or video. You can post homework assignments, extra language practice activities and links to websites of interest. You can even get your students to use the blog or wiki functions to collaborate on projects out of class time. Classroom teachers can also use Moodle to offer blended learning (part face-to-face and part online). It makes sense to take advantage of face-to-face class time for speaking activities (among others), as speaking is the hardest skill to practise effectively online. However, free video conferencing platforms such as Dimdim (www.dimdim.com) and WizIQ (www.wiziq.com) allow teachers to offer students opportunities for speaking practice at a distance. You can easily integrate these with Moodle.

Why is Moodle so popular?

How can I use Moodle?

There are many other VLEs, but one of the main reasons for Moodles popularity is that it is open source. This means that it is continually being developed by programmers from all over the world, who contribute their time and work for free. It also means that it is free to use. Moodle is not the only open source VLE; another popular one is Sakai. There are also licensed VLEs, which can be very expensive. Moodle gained rapidly in popularity when large educational institutions, such as the Open University in the UK, adopted it. A graphic on the Moodle.org site shows the exponential growth of Moodle from just a few users in 2003 and 2004, to over 40,000 registered sites by mid-2009.

Although Moodle is web-based, it is not simply a website that you just go along to and log in. You first need to download it from the internet and install it. You can do this on your own computer, but then only you will have access. This is fine if you want to play around and learn how it works on your own (although note that installing Moodle is not for the fainthearted you do need some basic technical knowledge). For your students to be able to access your Moodle site, it first needs to be installed on a server, so that it can be accessed from other computers.

and installs it on the institutions server, and teachers can then access and use it. Remember that as with any new tool, and especially if you are new to online and blended learning, you will need some training in how to use Moodle from a technical standpoint (this is not that difficult), but, more importantly, you will need to know how to design effective online materials with a range of interesting and varied task types (this is the part many teachers find more challenging). So, first get your institution to have Moodle installed on their server. Then persuade them to provide some training, not only in how to use Moodle technically, but in online materials, course and task design. You could do this via an online training course, or you could get somebody to run face-to-face workshops for you and your colleagues. One of the great things about Moodle being open source is that there is a large international community of users providing informal support and feedback for each other. This community can be found at http://moodle.org. Whenever you have a Moodle-related question, search the forums there to see if anyone has already posed this query. With such a large community of users, its almost guaranteed that somebody will already have asked the same question, and someone else will have answered it, so you can draw on their experience. We ourselves have solved many of our own Moodle issues this way. Happy moodling!
Nicky Hockly has been involved in EFL teaching and teacher training since 1987. She is Director of Pedagogy of The Consultants-E, an online training and development consultancy. Nicky is co-author of How to Teach English with Technology, published by Pearson Longman, which won the 2007 Ben Warren Prize. Contact Nicky at nicky.hockly@theconsultants-e.com and let her know of any other ICT areas youd like her to explore in this series.

So where do I start then?

Most teachers start using Moodle via their institutions. The technical team downloads

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Issue 65 November 2009 ENGLISH TEACHING professional www.etprofessional.com