Comments on: Review: Moodle Teaching Techniques

By: Harold

Harold — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:09:01 +0000

Thanks for the clarification, Daniel.

By: Daniel Lemire

Daniel Lemire — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:06:00 +0000

Harold: there are actually only few popups, and I did not put them there. The actual content is in normal pages.

By: Harold

Harold — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 22:33:56 +0000

Thanks, Mark; I had considered describing it as a Course Management System, which is probably more accurate. I remember when all of these names started cropping up in the mid to late nineties and they were more about marketing than accurate descriptors to inform purchasers and users.

By: Mark Berthelemy

Mark Berthelemy — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 22:02:41 +0000

Hi Harold,

I’m afraid you can’t call Moodle a “learning content management system”. A more accurate description would be a “learning activity management system”, but LAMS has already taken that. Moodle can handle any content a tutor/teacher throws at it, but each bit of content is stuck inside that particular course. Moodle works best when paired with a system such as Joomla or DOOR which handles the content.

Moodle’s core learning philosophy is social constructivism, so any learning experience that is based on such a philosophy will match well with Moodle. It is possible to use it for behaviourist or cognitivist types of learning experience, but that’s not the best fit.

Also Moodle blog posts do allow tags, so it’s quite easy to find related posts. The lack of comments is still a real downer though. I tend not to switch on Moodle’s blogs unless I’m asked to by the client. There are far better multi-user blogging engines out there. (eg. b2evolution)

By: Christopher Mackay

Christopher Mackay — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:02:12 +0000

No, Harold, the pop-up windows wouldn’t drive you crazy, because you’d disable them.

By: Harold

Harold — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 23:29:50 +0000

Now all you have to do is fork Moodle and create a new system. At least Moodle can be forked, not like “BlackWeb” or any other proprietary systems.

By: Gilbert

Gilbert — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 23:05:16 +0000

The book will be useful.

I don’t agree with Daniel’s comment. A specialized tool is very useful. Even more so if it is based on research into user needs. My experience in the K12 environment has showed that a system custom designed by teachers for teachers will produce much better performance support than a mashup of ad hoc tools.

The problem with Moodle and others is that there are not sufficiently specialized to be efficient.
A web litterate teacher can mash up a few services and produce better results. If he is a programmer he can work wonders.

The LMS that claim to be specialized are more examples of what technology can do than proper support systems for the teachers and students.

I worked for many months to develop a formative assessment system that would work for university teachers. It had to be very different than the one I used for K12 and took about 2 months to design.

Moodle is nice but I really wish we had a more modern tool to work with. More powerful “mashup” and maybe “semantic” hooks. Can’t complain about the price though.

By: Harold

Harold — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:26:26 +0000

Most large systems (LMS) are more about control – control of access; control of curriculum; control of testing – than anything else. You don’t need an LMS to teach or learn online.

BTW, nice course site, but the pop-up windows would drive me crazy

By: Daniel Lemire

Daniel Lemire — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:20:42 +0000

I fail to see why people get all excited about Moodle and these all-encompassing eduwares.

Here is what I do with a generic content management system (SPIP):

http://benhur.teluq.uqam.ca/SPIP/inf6460/

I challenge any prof. using Moodle to match my SPIP content.

Who needs specialized tools for education when generic tools do just as well?