Teaching with Moodle

Our Learn Moodle 3.7 Basics MOOC has recently ended and Helen and I are busy going through the participant feedback to improve the course for its next run, starting on 13 January 2020. Here’s a short overview of how the course went this time:

Some facts and figures:

• 3425 people started the course and of these 51% were awarded a Learn Moodle 3.7 participant badge for posting in a forum. 
• 25% (845) went on to complete all 32 activities and obtain a certificate of completion and badge. 
• 36% of participants chose to progress through the course one week at a time, while 64% chose to see all the activities at once. 
• 31% of participants used the Moodle app when accessing the course.
• In the week 4 final feedback, 92% of participants said that their overall impression of the course was good or outstanding. 
• In the week 4 final feedback, 88% of participants said that the tasks in the course were just the right level for them.

What we did well:

In control of your learning

Participants appreciated being able to choose whether to see the materials all at once or have them revealed one week at a time. They also liked seeing the activity completion boxes and later, the course completion status:

 For me personally, it was a very good option to choose whether to do the course week by week or when ever I want! That's great because then everyone can decide which time is the best to do the course and I think this increases the number of participants. Moreover, I liked the ticking boxes next to the tasks! It allows a good overview.

Alternative options

Presenting the videos both online but also for download, along with the transcripts was welcomed particularly by participants with poor internet connections or where YouTube is banned, and is also recommended for accessibility.

 Everything was explained very clearly and pedagogically. Absolutely loved the fact that information was given in an audio-visual format! That kept me focused in a way reading wouldn't.

Forum participation and collaboration

Along with an Introduce yourself! forum, each week had an Any questions? forum where problems were quickly resolved through discussion with other participants, not just the facilitators.

 Even though I dislike participating in forums, due to my own insecurities, I really enjoyed the forums in this course. The forums and transparency help to give confidence and show that there are others who are just learning as well.

 Despite the course being aimed at new Moodlers, experienced Moodlers return regularly to help out, in the spirit of Social constructionism upon which Moodle is based:

 Super content and great participants. I liked having some experienced folks in the class and appreciated their comments in the forums.

Five participants received “Learn Moodle Basics helper” badges for their invaluable support in the MOOC. Thanks to John Bennett for being our “doorman” welcoming every single participant to the course - some feat! Thanks to Hart Wilson and Domenico Recchiafor patiently responding to queries (in several different languages) and thanks to Twahir Hussein Kassim for motivating participants with his infectious enthusiasm. Grateful thanks finally to Michael Milette for enrolling in and highlighting a large number of practice courses. Other regular MOOC participants are also appreciated and valued - please come again!

How we can improve:

Supporting learners in other languages

The course is in English, but we make it clear people are welcome to post in their own languages. This seems to work quite well in Spanish but participants speaking other languages sometimes struggle. The videos have English transcripts which are available to download and read but we do rely on volunteers to translate them into other languages. If you are reading this and you’re a native speaker of a language other than English, please read our page on Translating Moodle video subtitles.

Clarifying workshop instructions

We’re getting there, slowly! This time fewer participants were confused about the different phases of the Workshop activity, but some were uncertain whether they had submitted or not and whether they could edit their submission. We’ll make a short screencast to explain what to expect as a participant.

Big Blue Button help

The new Big Blue Button HTML5 option allowing participants to join in our live sessions from their mobile devices was very well received. However, some people still struggled with the settings, especially sound. We’ll include some simple tips for new users to read before they join the sessions so they get a better live experience, and don’t need to rely on watching the recording afterwards.

Bug fixes!

For us at Moodle HQ, one of the benefits of running a large-scale MOOC with the latest version of Moodle is that it highlights bugs and improvements that developers can fix. Here are some of the bugs recently reported or confirmed:

1. MDL-66090 - Confusing analytics upcoming activities due notification email

2. MOBILE-3086 - Title on database not linking correctly

3. MDL-64598 - Emojis are very big when emailed

4. MDL-65803 - Invalid record error message from deleted item in recently accessed items block - already fixed in Moodle 3.7.1!

5. MDL-64935 - Jump to button interferes with activity/resource links - already fixed in Moodle 3.7.1!

If you missed the MOOC this time or if you didn’t get to complete it, we’ll be opening the Learn Moodle 3.8 Basics course up for sign up during December ready for our January 2020 launch. Keep an eye on our social media accounts for updates.