Moodle

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Moodle

Moodle-logo.svg
Basic data

developer Martin Dougiamas

and many other developers

Publishing year 2001
Current  version 3.9.1
(July 13, 2020)
Current preliminary version 4.0dev
(weekly creation)
operating system Any system that supports PHP
programming language PHP
category LMS
License GNU GPLv3 +
German speaking Yes
moodle.org

Moodle [ / muːdl / ] is a free, object-oriented course management system and learning platform . The software offers the possibility to support cooperative teaching and learning methods.

Installation requires PHP and a database system, e.g. B. MySQL or PostgreSQL , but also Oracle , MS SQL or other systems that support DBXML . The name Moodle was originally an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment . Moodle is very widespread, as shown by the more than 107,000 registered installations with 174 million users in 20 million courses in 230 countries and autonomous areas, which were recorded on the project page (as of November 2019). These are companies, public educational institutions such as schools and universities as well as private educational institutions. Worldwide there are 81 authorized "Moodle partner companies" that support Moodle professionally, i. In other words, they finance the ongoing maintenance and further development of the program. The Moodle User Association started its work in November 2015. It should become a further pillar of funding for Moodle.

construction

Moodle provides virtual course rooms. In these, working materials and learning activities are provided. Each course can be configured so that only registered participants can attend it, guests are allowed or a password is required to participate. Different course formats allow a "weekly overview", a thematic structure, a central forum or a SCORM learning unit in the center.

Working materials in courses are texts, links and files. Learning activities are forums, tests, assignments, lessons, wiki etc. The arrangement of working materials and learning activities allow different didactic scenarios that can follow an instructional or constructivist learning model .

The users have different rights as trainer / lecturer / teacher or participant / student / pupil via assigned roles in the course room or for individual activities. The Open Badges project operated by the Mozilla Foundation opens up the possibility of issuing digital performance certificates, the so-called awards, from version 2.5. Holders of such awards can present them on the Internet, for example in the Mahara e-portfolio system .

Modules

The learning activities included as standard in Moodle include, for example, “voting”, which corresponds to a small survey, or “feedback” for carrying out evaluations (“evaluations”). With a "task" the teacher can specify an exercise that has to be worked on by the course participants and then handed in on time as a text or uploaded file. This can be, for example, drafts, presentations or reports.

In addition to the other communication modules such as chat, forum and the messaging system (Messenger), Moodle also includes a wiki function that enables people to work together on texts. Blogs can be operated directly in the system. A test module for the evaluated query of the learning successes can be based on various question types - such as B. Multiple choice, assignment and free text - can be used. Learning lessons can be created directly in Moodle. In addition, SCORM learning units can be integrated. However, courses and learning units cannot be exported in these formats; they can only be exchanged between Moodle systems. The SCORM functionality has been certified by ADL .

Moodle systems can be networked with each other for the exchange of course content and for comprehensive course access. The IMS Learning Tools Interoperability Standard (LTI) has been supported since Moodle 2.1 . This means that external content and activities can be seamlessly integrated.

In addition to the standard modules, there is a large number of optional additional modules. The high flexibility in the design of the course room is complemented by a freely configurable role and rights model and the visual adaptability on the basis of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS).

Additional modules

Extension modules that are not part of the standard installation scope of Moodle are e.g. B. "Certificate" (for creating participant certificates as a PDF file), "Individual Learning Plan" (ILP, serves to create individual learning plans). Interfaces to LiveClassRoom systems can be added. Around a thousand available additional modules can be downloaded from the Moodle website or discontinued - Moodle expressly encourages programmers to contribute their own developments to the project. When implementing additional modules, you should always make sure that they are supported by the Moodle version you are using.

history

moodle developer Martin Dougiamas

Moodle has been developed by Martin Dougiamas (Australia) since 1999. The starting point was the criticism of classic learning platforms that served exclusively as material distribution stations. Dougiamas had studied computer science and later education. He dealt extensively with socially constructivist approaches to learning . As part of a (incomplete) doctorate, he developed a new learning platform: Moodle. The first version was published in August 2002.

Moodle 2.0 was released on November 24th, 2010. Existing functionalities have been fundamentally revised (e.g. course backup, editor, designs, internal file management) and a number of new functionalities have been implemented (including external repositories, "community hubs").

Moodle 3.0 was released on November 16, 2015. While Moodle 2.0 contained many fundamental changes, Moodle 3.0 is the 'next half-yearly release'.

safety

Moodle users who have registered their system receive security-relevant information automatically and in advance. This gives you the opportunity to update your system. Information on this will be published in the security announcements . Security problems are reported in the tracker . If entries are marked as "Serious security issue", they will not be published until the "security team" has checked them.

Data protection and criticism

Different users have different requirements for the provision of data on the use of the courses and the learning progress. Companies often have to prove the implementation and the result of compulsory training. At universities, lecturers' insight into student activities is sometimes viewed very critically. Schools take great care to protect the privacy of underage students. At the same time, however, teachers need information about student activities in the courses in order to design individual support. Moodle can be customized for the various purposes via settings and permissions in order to design the different situations.

Since the users of the Moodle system log on in a personalized way, there is the possibility of creating behavior profiles for them. Users can be monitored through the option of the course organizer to view the attendance times ("login", "logout") or the times at which materials were downloaded.

There are no classic folder structures in Moodle, instead the individual files are shown in a list below the respective higher-level folder. This has the advantage that all files can be viewed quickly. In the case of deeply nested folders, however, this has the disadvantage that the folder structure can appear confusing, since the entire data structure is displayed in a list. Furthermore, all files have to be saved or opened individually, as downloading entire folder structures is currently not available.

See also

literature

  • Kay Hoeksema, Markus Kuhn: Teaching with Moodle 2 - Practical introduction to e-teaching . Open Source Press, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-941841-02-4 .
  • Ulrike Höbarth: Constructivist learning with Moodle. Practical application possibilities in educational institutions . 3rd, updated, supplemented edition. Hülsbusch, Boizenburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-86488-033-9 .
  • Ralph Meiers: The introduction of learning management systems at German universities: promoting and inhibiting factors . Saarbrücken 2012, DNB  1023235056 ( full text PDF, free of charge, 255 pages, 3,175 KB - dissertation University of Saarbrücken 2012, 247 pages).

Web links

Commons : Moodle  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Copyright and usage rights for Moodle. July 23, 2013, accessed February 4, 2015 .
  2. ↑ moodle.com .
  3. ↑ Development release. Moodle, accessed June 16, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Moodle statistics page. In: moodle.org. Retrieved November 5, 2019 .
  5. ↑ Moodle partner company. Moodle.org, accessed May 2, 2016 .
  6. ↑ Helen Foster: Moodle 1.9.5 is certified SCORM 1.2 compliant. moodle, October 23, 2009, accessed on July 26, 2012 .
  7. ↑ IMS Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI)
  8. ↑ Overview of additional Moodle modules
  9. ↑ Martin Dougiamas: Martin Dougiamas. September 8, 2014, accessed February 4, 2015 .
  10. ↑ Moodle Releases. January 31, 2015, accessed February 4, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Moodle 2.0 version information  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: dead link / docs.moodle.org  
  12. ↑ Moodle 3.0 version information
  13. ↑ Security Announcements. moodle, July 17, 2011, accessed on February 28, 2013 .
  14. ↑ Summary. moodle, September 10, 2012, accessed July 26, 2012 .
  15. ↑ Settings
  16. ↑ Permissions