Please let me refer you to a discussion I had with Mary Cooch and Lauren Goodman in another forum earlier this year:
https://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=445177
Here is where that discussion led: The materials shared with me in that discussion allowed me rethink how to use Moodle effectively in a nation (Liberia) where few people have computers, but most people have phones. Most of those phones are not the greatest, and Internet access is expensive -- about US$2.00 for per Gigabyte. I did not have time to redesign the courses as advised, but I could change my expectations of student behavior and make some accommodations to help them.
Here are some of the outcomes:
- We have survived! I don't believe technical challenges have adversely impacted anyone's grade.
- I have to return to the US 3 weeks before the semester ends. We did a pilot where I sat in another room and pretended to be in Indianapolis. It worked, and my students were happy to continue studying with me from 5400 miles away.
- I told them about my conversations with Mary and Lauren and asked them: If I design Moodle courses differently in the future to optimize for mobile phones, would you take another online course from me? They said yes! (I don't believe they were telling me what I want to hear because we have a fairly candid relationship.)
- I was asked to write and teach two new courses next year. I cannot return to Liberia until January, 2024. I told the administration I planned to teach the autumn course online from Indianapolis, and I told them I would also deliver the winter course online as blended learning when I return to Liberia. They had no objection!
In addition to following the guidelines that Lauren shared, I will likely move our school's Moodle from our school website to Moodle Cloud. Moodle is easy enough to administer. But in a rush, I made a mistake that took a several days for some helpful Moodle experts in these forums and me to correct. The problem I experienced never would have happened (or would have been fixed quickly and easily) if I had been in Moodle Cloud.
So there you have it: In December 2022, we were Moodle-less. Now we have Moodle, and the faculty, administration, and students perceive it positively. And our school is moving into the 21st Century!
If you are in this forum because you are trying to decide if Moodle is right for you, then please let me say this:
Moodle Rocks! ❤️
-- Russ Schwartz