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A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle
- Updated for Moodle version 1.9
- Straightforward coverage of installing and using the Moodle system
- Working with Moodle features in all learning environments
- A unique course-based approach focuses your attention on designing well-structured, interactive, and successful courses
- Configure site settings, set up the front page, create user accounts, and create courses
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Language English
Paperback 300 pages [191mm x 235mm]
Release date
June 2008
ISBN 1847193536
ISBN 13 978-1-847193-53-7
Author(s)
William Rice
Topics and Technologies
Open Source
A complete guide to successful learning using Moodle, focused on course development and delivery and using the best educational practices. Moodle is relatively easy to install and use, but the real challenge is to develop a learning process that leverages its power and maps effectively onto the content established learning situation. This book guides you through meeting that challenge.
This unique book gives you more than just a guide to the Moodle software; it uses Moodle as a route to better teaching, more motivated students, and more successful courses. Moodle is the leading Open Source learning management system. Using Moodle, teachers can easily construct richly textured web based courses. A course can consist of a number of lessons, with each lesson including reading materials; activities such as quizzes, tests, surveys, and projects; and social elements that encourage interaction and group work between students.Moodle E-Learning Course Development shows you how to use Moodle as a tool to enhance your teaching. It will help you analyse your students' requirements, and come to an understanding of what Moodle can do for them. After that you'll see how to use every feature of Moodle to meet your course goals.
The social constructionist learning philosophy is at the heart of Moodle: we all "construct" knowledge through interation with one another and with learning materials in a social way. Moodle E-Learning Course Develelopment will show you how to add static learning material, interactive activities, and social features to your courses so that students reach their learning potential. Whether you want to support traditional class teaching or lecturing, or provide complete online and distance learning courses, this book will prove a powerful resource throughout your use of Moodle.
Once you read this book, you will:
Understand what Moodle can do, how it compares to other e-learning packages, and how it can support your teaching strategies
- Install the Moodle software on your own computer or a server, and understand your way around it
- Know how to create different kinds of courses. Moodle can support courses where the group works through the classes with a shared schedule, or where individual students work through at their own pace, or courses where students are free to explore the different topics in their own time. This book will show you how.
- Understand all of Moodle's learning features. Moodle provides features for managing course content, interactive resources, and social activities such as forums and wikis. This book explains what each of these features are, how they work, and most importantly how and when to use them effectively.
- Manage students – so that you can ensure that the right students are going to the right classes; allow students to enrol themselves, or invite students to join a course. You can even set up commercial courses where students pay to sign
The book is fully revised and updated to take advantage of Moodle version 1.9. Changes and enhancements include:
Extensive coverage of the new Moodle 1.9 configuration facilities
Moodle 1.9 has a new approach to configuration. Instead of a single configuration page, configuration options are spread throughout Moodle. In a new Configuration chapter, William walks through both new and familiar settings, helping you to work with the new and improved Moodle.
Covers new features – including mentees and messages
The newest version of Moodle enables you to assign a mentor to a student. The mentor can see the student’s activity in the system, and the student’s grades. The book covers the use of the Mentee block, which makes this possible.
Messages allow students and teachers to send private messages to one another from within Moodle, without sharing email addresses. This new edition of Moodle E-Learning Course Development documents each of these new blocks, and shows how to use them effectively in your online teaching.
Understand, use, and customize roles
Moodle now supports powerful user management with roles and privileges. This means you have much more control over how users can work with your courses, but of course it also adds some complexity. This new edition provides a clear, straightforward tutorial to using roles.
Monitor how learners interact with your site using site stats
The book covers Moodle’s new statistics facility, and how to use it to analyse how students are using and interacting with your courses.
Multimedia course content
Embed sound, video, and other multimedia into your courses. Handle security and safety issues raised by embedded content.
More detail and discussion throughout the book
The new edition contains expanded discussion throughout the book: clearer explanations, additional best-practices and tips, and deeper coverage of every important feature. Popular modules such as wikis, file uploads, quizzes, and lessons have extensive new discussion.
William Rice is an experienced trainer and expert on learning and teaching practices. This experience and expertise forms the foundation of his approach: What do we want to teach? How would this best translate into a course? How best can Moodle support these course objectives?
Of course, the book contains everything you'd expect from an introduction to Moodle: clear step-by-step instructions, plenty of screenshots, explanations and guides through the many features and options that you have to choose from. Throughout the book, William develops an example course. He uses this example to explore the sort of decisions, design considerations, and thought that goes into developing a successful course.
This book is for anyone who wants to get the best from Moodle. Beginners will get a thorough guide to how the software works, with great ideas for getting off to a good start with their first course. More experienced Moodlers will find powerful insights into developing more successful and educational courses.
William Rice
William Rice is a software training professional who lives, works, and plays in New York City. His indoor hobbies include writing books and spending way too much time reading sites like slashdot and 43folders. His outdoor hobbies include orienteering, rock climbing, and edible wild plants (a book on that is coming someday).
William is fascinated by the relationship between technology and society: how we create our tools, and how our tools in turn shape us. He is married to an incredible woman who encourages his writing pursuits, and has two amazing sons.
For more updates on him and his work, you could visit his online
blog: http://williamriceinc.blogspot.com
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