Thursday, January 2, 2014

Quenching My Thirst to Understand the Moodle LMS Platform

Quenching My Thirst to Understand the Moodle LMS Platform

Reflecting upon my intense training on Moodle LMSs in the last few months of 2013, I have been examining ways to implement tools in my current and future courses at the university where I work. The whole experience has been extremely enriching since –through the pass of weeks- I have come to better understand the use of several tools that were not fully comprehended by me with the succinct information provided by out IT Department. However, I still have not quenched my curiosity on how to get started with Moodle on my own and how to better understand the whole potential a platform like this provides instructors and learners.

The reason why this thirst or curiosity of mine has not yet been quenched is due to the limitations imposed by Moodle administrators at my workplace. These restrictions have been set because of a good reason, no doubt, by university authorities following policies of use. However, you get to experience some sort of frustration when dealing with them –up to certain extend-. To give you an example of what I am talking about, I must start by a tool explained on our online training: Rubrics. These were disabled within our LMS platform. Why? It is one of those unknown things that you question but no solid, resounding answer is provided. I am not into questioning policies, but it is kind of contradictory why tools are shown to Moodle users, and then the chances of using them are beyond one’s reach due to these policies.

I also feel that my Moodle command is still defective in terms of a teacher using the system, and I am in the way to try to quench my thirst for really knowing how to use it at its best of its capabilities within my user’s profile from a non-IT standpoint. For this reason I started surfing the Web to try to find a site [blog, wiki, etc.] that could give me a hand in trying to self-teach myself in those areas that I feel I must work harder to master the use of all Moodle tools but from a non-IT position.

Although I am not an IT engineer, from my curriculum development standpoint I always try to see from the academic point of view and visualize its potential learning extension for students and instructors. At this site, you can learn how to start your own course by downloading a localhost server to launch Moodle on your PC or laptop. With this instructors can see the engineering behind the program and how it can be used by the academia in terms of the student learning process.


Moodle Courses

Moodle.Org also gives a free training course called “Using Moodle” to gain expertise in the use of all tools within this LMS platform. The amount of information provided by this page ranges from installation help all the way down to activities, resources to other components and Moodle development.
Using Moodle. Retrieved from https://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5
Requires users to sign for an account.

That I have not learned lots of new tricks and uses of tools in my Moodle training is something I cannot state; that would be too untruthful on my part. Laureate International Universities –by giving me that chance to take an online certificate in Online Hybrid and Blended Learning Education- has opened a lot of new doors for me to explore and exploit with the guidance of my instructor, Mr. Herbert Soriano from UNITEC, Honduras. Let’s hope I can fully become a topnotch instructor who can better assist learners in their search and building of knowledge.


? To fully comprehend the scope of this teaching issue, it is highly advisable that the following topics must be expanded further:
·        IT LMS platform uses and policies
·        Limitations in Moodle use by IT authorities
·        How to use rubrics in Moodle
·        Moodle teacher training
·        How to start a Moodle localhost server


Professor Jonathan Acuña-Solano
ELT Trainer, Instructor & Curriculum Developer based in Costa Rica
Resource Teacher and Curricular Developer at CCCN
Senior ELT Professor at Universidad Latina, Costa Rica, since 1998
Contact Information:
Twitter @jonacuso
Email jonacuso@gmail.com




Article published on Wednesday, January 1, 2014




How to quote this entry: Acuña, J. (January 1, 2014) Quenching My Thirst to Understand the Moodle LMS Platform, from Reflective Online Teaching, Website: http://reflective-online-teaching.blogspot.com/2014/01/quenching-my-thirst-to-understand.html

1 comment:

  1. Exquisite and very beautifully you write your blog and choose a wonderful topic for your blog on net. Kindly keep wording like this on net and explain the blog better way on net.

    palinfocom.net/moodle-customization-development.php

    ReplyDelete