the dog that didn’t bark

‘total Moodle’ at a research-led institution

"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes.

"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time." "The dog did nothing in the night-time." "That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes.

Clive Young & Jessica Gramp

Learning Technology Support Service (LTSS)

UCL

The dog that didn’t bark

Watch the first 20 seconds of the video on the next slide…

UCL

• research-led university• 22,000 students• 2,500 teaching staff• 3 schools• 10 faculties• 70 teaching departments• 4,500 taught modules• all modules on Moodle are manually created

minimum requirements

• consistent set of information to support face-to-face teaching:– organised– accessible– copyright considered

minimum requirements

must include:

staff contact detailsmodule outlinemodule handbookreading lists - ideally using the Library Block to link to the online reading list servicediscussion/news forum

minimum requirements

should include:

timetable/course calendar lecture notespresentation slideshandoutsglossary of key termslinks to external resourcesadditional texts and resources

Sept 2011 deadline

“All modules to have a Moodle presence at baseline level by Sept 2011”

(email to all staff from Academic Committee, Spring 2010)

we prepared a template response for the impending backlash…

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your email about the intention that all modules use Moodle from academic year 2011/12 onwards. The target does put an onus on departments to engage with Moodle, but we would like to reassure you that this is only at a modest level. The baseline requirement is really just for handbooks, timetables and the like to be made available to students, together with contact details for getting in touch with staff. The aim is to provide a standard set of basic administration material for all courses, so that students across UCL get a more consistent and productive experience.

We appreciate that not everyone at UCL will be keen to follow this guidance immediately. However, with nearly half of all modules already on Moodle it's clear that this has very quickly become a standard - and popular - online teaching and support resource for very many staff and students. Of course some staff already do much more with Moodle, and we hope others will join them when they see what it has to offer. Equally there will also be existing rich e-learning resources which currently live outside of Moodle. It is possible - and indeed may be desirable - to combine the use of Moodle with that of other tools in a broader 'virtual learning environment' and we would be happy to advise and support you if this is of interest.

You may be interested to know that the requirement for all courses to adopt a standard web-based approach to providing basic course information and resources was first set out in the 2006 E-learning Strategy (http://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/staff/policy/staff/e-learning_statement) with a target date of Sept 2009 so the timescale has already slipped somewhat. The intention of the requirement is genuinely to improve the consistency of the student experience and to encourage innovation. We do not see it being used as a 'stick' or as overriding common sense decisions, rather we hope to work with colleagues within this general spirit of using technology to enhance teaching, learning and student support.

Kind regards,

LTSS

what actually happened?

Cue tumbleweed and whistling wind….

why?

• The institution ‘adopted’ Moodle

• Support staff ‘supported’ Moodle

• Departmental staff ‘adapted’ Moodle

• Students ‘demanded’ Moodle

Institution (adopted)

• email from Academic Committee showed institutional commitment

• other related systems integrated with Moodle:– Turnitin plagiarism detection system **– Echo360 Lecture capture system *– Library reading lists– Common timetable

Support staff (supported)

• summer ‘09 started promoting the scheme well before formal announcement – many staff already prepared

• targeted late adopters & new staff early on• identified groups of staff to work with• produced levels of Moodle use:

– Baseline & Enhanced

• training mapped on to levels– 1 3h training course to get to Baseline

Department staff (adapters)

• changes in department structures happening simultaneously

• departmental Administrators emerged as key Moodle adapters

• DAs of today– new staff– highly skilled and organised– understand management benefits of VLE

• content migrated from websites into Moodle

Students (demanders)

“all courses should be on moodle, and lecture notes and homework problems uploaded on to it”

“[Moodle] use varies enormously by module/by lecturer: some make excellent use of these technologies, some don't use them at all”

“It's a good start, but could be so much better. Consistency and more control in Moodle would be good”

adopter

+

supporter

+

adapter

+

demander

no backlash=

what’s happening now?

• systematic review of Moodle courses• supporting the late adopters• working with DAs to clarify their role• identifying good practice ‘hot spots’• progress report to Academic Committee in

September 2011

what happens after totality?

• quality review• enhance training & guidance – esp for DAs• enhance existing courses, rather than new• improving service (e.g. archiving, Turnitin)• integrating further technologies:

– Lecture capture (Echo 360 social commenting)– Enhanced reading lists (Talis Aspire)– Portfolio (Mahara)

• Moodle 2 (September 2012)

Any questions?