Using Moodle to support

non-teaching activities

David Bain & Kelly Marshall Centre for Educational ICT

Flinders University

A brief history at Flinders

• 1999 – WebCT 1.4 • Only a few teaching units

A brief history at Flinders

• 2005 – WebPET • Web Presence in Every Topic – all

teaching units in the LMS

• Integration with Student Information

System

• Library Assignment, Academic Integrity

• A few “course sites”

A brief history at Flinders

• 2007 – Blackboard Vista • Better integration with Student Information

System

• Starting to automate some administrative

tasks

• More course sites

• Set of sandpits for training

A brief history at Flinders

• 2012 – Moodle 2.3 • Even better integration for teaching units

• Even more automation

• More enrolment options, eg meta-linking,

cohorts (set and forget)

• Support sites, cohort sites

• User sandpits for workshops

A brief history at Flinders

• 2014 – Moodle 2.5 + customisations • Course request manager plugin

(coming soon)

• Collaboration spaces

Now

• Over 2,200 non-teaching sites

Types of non-teaching sites

• Course sites • Intent – build community

• Reality – administration

Types of non-teaching sites

• Generic skills • Information, skills testing, remedial learning

• Can be tied to assessment in teaching units, or

mandatory training for staff

Types of non-teaching sites

• Collaboration • Committees

• Communities of practice

• Project sites

• Extra tools to support: Skype, OU wiki

Types of non-teaching sites

• Support and training • Sandpits

• Training

• Staff: eLearning support materials

• Students: Study skills

Types of non-teaching sites

• Other types?

Why choose the LMS?

• Other options available: • CMS

• Blog

• Email lists

• Wiki

What makes the LMS an

attractive space?

What we think

• Less formal policies around use

• Familiar environment for staff and students

• Has some of the right tools – assessment,

collaboration, communication, content

But…

• Need to consider return on investment

• Is it worthwhile, given the setup and

maintenance costs?

• Still a manual process – is it worth

automating?

Outcomes

• Huge variation in use

• Success stories: • Academic Integrity

• Library Assignment

• FLO Advisory Group

• Support sites

• The rest…

Lessons learnt

• Needs to be relevant

• Tied to assessment or meets real needs

• Maintained by an owner

• Embedded

• Sometimes it’s just not the right tool

• Has the potential to be an administrative

nightmare

Some questions

• What is the fundamental purpose of the

LMS?

• Is it solely for student learning? Should we

intrude?

• Who decides on a site’s value?

• If we continue to host these non-teaching

sites, should they be separate?