At the Edge

Blog text

 

Jill Evans and Jean Gaywood led a very useful session illustrating their approach to bringing online learning to more people in the Torfaen area. They have led a European project which has enabled them to set up courses online. The results so far have been highly encouraging in a couple of key respects:

Learner engagement has greatly exceeded the target for the project (especially from subjects other than Information Technology

Results for British Computer Society qualifications have improved greatly

The session was conducted on locally stored copies of Moodle on the laptops, which worked with very few glitches. This is reassuring for those teachers who will need to take Moodle into classrooms where there is no internet connection… Delegates had the chance to use various online quizzes, which the learners really enjoy using.

Currently, Jill and Jean are supporting learners directly by setting up courses and adding the resources themselves – the next step will be to provide training for tutors to set up their own courses.

 

Ideas you might like to follow up….

· Access to the Torfaen Moodle demo materials is available on request. If you completed their form, then Jill will contact you. If not then contact me (p.b.r.richardson@swansea.ac.uk) and you will be added to the list…

· A few people were interested in experimenting further with Moodle, but don’t have a server set up yet. The RSC can offer support to people in this position. Email p.b.r.richardson@Swansea.ac.uk to find out what we can do for you…

· If you are thinking of using Moodle , or already doing so, you may like to join the Moodle Users Wales Group, which provided excellent support via its JISC Mail list.Visit http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/MOODLE-WALES.html to sign up.