Type: Magazine

From: David Rapp

Published: 2 August 2008

For the generation that grew up with the Internet, social networking and IM-ing are second nature. Now educators must learn the same language.

See the full publication

Added to this database by: Mark Burnet

Type: Blog entry

From: Tomaz Lasic

Published: 6 August 2008

Before starting to work as a part-time technology integrator at our school this year, the principal asked me to come up with one ‘thing’, one key strategy for staff and students to ICT to improve their teaching and learning. After seeing the flexibility, robustness and ‘organic’ nature of Moodle the choice was pretty simple to make.

The video, shown here in two separate clips, is not so much about the technical features of Moodle but about people using it.

See the full publication

Added to this database by: Helen Foster

Type: Journal article

From: Ining Tracy Chao

Published: 7 August 2008

Adopting an open source learning management system combined benefits and challenges, with lessons for change management. Selecting and implementing a learning management system (LMS) is an important task for many higher education institutions, which can consult various resources1 when embarking on such endeavors. Educational technology practitioners regularly discuss system features, adoption strategies, support services, training, and evaluation.2 At Royal Roads University (RRU), these issues are very important because the university relies on a robust LMS to deliver its academic and professional programs in a blended, cohort-based mode—short-term on-campus residencies combined with fully online courses.

See the full publication

Added to this database by: Mark Aberdour

Type: Web article

From: Luke Fernandez, Weber State

Published: 15 July 2008

From the article:



Last month I went to San Francisco to attend a Moodlemoot, a conference for people who use Moodle. Moodle is a virtual learning environment (VLE) used by many high schools, colleges and universities for teaching classes online. It is open source software created, managed, and licensed much like its famous cousin Linux. Moodle is led by Martin Dougiamas who launched the project as part of his doctoral dissertation at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia. Dougiamas kicked off the conference with a keynote address a bit more erudite than one might expect for a technically-oriented group. As Dougiamas explained, Moodle is a VLE that is meant to facilitate “social constructionist” teaching and learning within internet-based communities of reflective inquiry.



Like many instructors who cut their teaching teeth in the classroom without the benefit of formal learning theory, I was skeptical of this enterprise. I wasn’t sure I wanted a philosophy of education built into the software I used in my class. After all, what if I subscribed to some other teaching philosophy? Wouldn’t a more agnostic technology be more consonant with a professor’s need for ideological freedom? Mine are common sentiments, and they explain why some harbor reservations about the Moodle software. But Dougiamas’ keynote, and a later keynote by John Seely Brown, addressed many of those concerns. Brown, the self-labeled “chief of confusion,” has been promoting the virtues of so-called participatory learning on the lecture circuit and in his writings for a number of years now, so he was a good fit for the Moodlemoot.[1]

See the full publication

Added to this database by: Martin Dougiamas