Students seek to unmuddle Moodle

Courses at UP are escaping the confines of the classroom and the printed page and making their way to the good old World Wide Web, in part because of a student-driven campaign to raise more awareness about Moodle.

Moodle is the name of the course management system software implemented at the University almost five years ago.

It enables professors to post syllabi, assignments and grades and fosters communication among students through forum posts.

Accessed through PilotsUP, the system is currently known as Learning@UP, but will be officially changed the name to Moodle on Feb. 10.

Currently, over half of the faculty uses Moodle or other online resources to provide their students with basic information like syllabi and office hours, according to Academic Technology Services Technology Training Specialist Bill Bateman.

He is confident that recent efforts spearheaded by Academic Technology Services and students themselves will increase Moodle usage to two-thirds of faculty by next fall.

"Our aim is to increase communication between faculty and students," Manager of Academic Technology Services Jamie Worley said.

The department is working toward this goal by training faculty and providing support to help both students and professors get the most out of the system.

This year was the first time UP's new faculty orientation in the fall had a technology component, including Moodle training.

Academic Technology Services student workers Alexandria Risinger and Martina Sheer are raising awareness about Moodle through flyers and a Facebook profile, "Moodle UP," which has already garnered over 130 friends.

The page provides students with a demonstration video that can help them upload photos to their Moodle profiles.

"The most current drive is student driven," Bateman said.

When a professor does not set up Moodle for his or her class, students are unable to use the online features that might be available to them in other classes.

"Students have started to expect and ask for Moodle," Bateman said. "We want students to go politely to their professors and say they want to be on Moodle."

In December, Academic Technology Services contacted faculty members to encourage them to introduce Moodle to their courses. While it is not required, it is highly recommended.

"It does have a learning curve, but any software does," Bateman said. "Support for faculty is readily available."

Academic Technology Services provides support for those needing assistance and is developing a Moodle Emergency Response Team (MERT), which started out as a joke but has turned into a valuable method of assistance for students and faculty.

"We can do a MERT for someone in 20 minutes," Bateman said. "We're taking the mystery out of Moodle."

One of the most challenging aspects of the software for faculty tends to be grading.

"If you don't set it up correctly at the beginning, it can be a pain at the end," Worley said.

Benefits of the software that help compensate for the tedious process of setting up grades include the ability to post syllabi and assignments, link to videos and articles and create discussion forums.

"I don't think I've ever had a lot of needs or thoughts for the Web site that I haven't been able to enact," English professor Molly Hiro said.

Hiro has used forum posts since 2006 and started using other Moodle features in earnest over a year ago, but recognizes that there is no way to replace time spent in the actual classroom.

"There's nothing that can reproduce the feeling of a vibrant classroom conversation," Hiro said.

While the majority of professors at UP tend to use Moodle to communicate with students, others, like communication studies professor Elayne Shapiro and engineering professor Aziz Inan, opt to use their own Web sites.

Some faculty members had their own sites running before Moodle was introduced, and others just prefer to use a medium that is accessible without a password.

"The University provides all professors the ability to make their own sites," Bateman said. "If that's what you want, for heaven's sake do it."

Sophomore Daniel O'Connell says that about half of his professors use Moodle to post assignments and grades online.

"If I don't have a planner to write down an assignment, I can just check online," O'Connell said.

The ability to post information online also means cutting back on printing costs and paper use.

Instead of going through reams of paper, professors can direct students to their class Moodle page to find the information electronically.

This gives faculty the ability to say "no trees were harmed in the creation of this class," Bateman said.

In addition, it offers many of the features the committee wished to introduce to the university, enabling professors to upload, link, illustrate and communicate.

Bateman has seen faculty adoption of the system nearly triple, from about 24 percent to 60 percent in the last two and a half years.

"Change is hard," Bateman said. "Education is changing, so academic institutions are realizing they need to change as well."

Support is available on an on-call basis as well as through a desk-side service.

Students who would like assistance navigating Moodle are encouraged to visit Franz Hall 13, where Bateman has an open-door policy.

"I found out on a survey 81 percent of students didn't know I existed," Bateman said. "Don't be afraid to ask for help and know that there's a resource."

Goals for the future include increasing functionality between Gmail and Moodle and perhaps customized Moodle banners for each department.

A resource like Moodle can be useful in the event that faculty or students cannot attend class, and Academic Technology Services realized it would be helpful had the H1N1 virus ever severely affected attendance.