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Features: Difference between revisions

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== Resource Module ==
== Resource Module ==


* Supports display of any electronic content, Word, Powerpoint, Flash, Video, Sounds etc
* Supports display of any electronic content, Word, Powerpoint, Flash, Video, Sounds etc. that are stored locally, or remotely
* Files can be uploaded and managed on the server, or created on the fly using web forms (text or HTML)
* Files can be uploaded and managed (zipped, unzipped, renamed, moved, etc..) on the server
* Folders can be created and managed on the server and linked to
* Internal web pages (html formatted) can be created with WYSIWYG editor and linked to
* Internal text pages (no formatting) can be created and linked to
* External content on the web can be linked to or seamlessly included within the course interface.
* External content on the web can be linked to or seamlessly included within the course interface.
* External web applications can be linked in with data passed to them
* External web applications can be linked to with data passed to them
* Linked MP3 audio files will display with elegant flash player


== Survey Module ==
== Survey Module ==

Revision as of 09:56, 29 January 2006

Moodle is an active and evolving product. This page lists just some of the many features it contains:

Overall design

  • Promotes a social constructionist pedagogy (collaboration, activities, critical reflection, etc)
  • Suitable for 100% online classes as well as supplementing face-to-face learning
  • Simple, lightweight, efficient, compatible, low-tech browser interface
  • Easy to install on almost any platform that supports PHP. Requires only one database (and can share it).
  • Full database abstraction supports all major brands of database (except for initial table definition)
  • Course listing shows descriptions for every course on the server, including accessibility to guests.
  • Courses can be categorised and searched - one Moodle site can support thousands of courses
  • Emphasis on strong security throughout. Forms are all checked, data validated, cookies encrypted etc
  • Most text entry areas (resources, forum postings etc) can be edited using an embedded WYSIWYG HTML editor

Site management

  • Site is managed by an admin user, defined during setup
  • Plug-in "themes" allow the admin to customise the site colours, fonts, layout etc to suit local needs
  • Plug-in activity modules can be added to existing Moodle installations
  • Plug-in language packs allow full localisation to any language. These can be edited using a built-in web-based editor. Currently there are language packs for over 70 languages.
  • The code is clearly-written PHP under a GPL license - easy to modify to suit your needs

User management

  • Goals are to reduce admin involvement to a minimum, while retaining high security
  • Supports a range of authentication mechanisms through plug-in authentication modules, allowing easy integration with existing systems.
  • Standard email method: students can create their own login accounts. Email addresses are verified by confirmation.
  • LDAP method: account logins can be checked against an LDAP server. Admin can specify which fields to use.
  • IMAP, POP3, NNTP: account logins are checked against a mail or news server. SSL, certificates and TLS are supported.
  • External database: any database containing at least two fields can be used as an external authentication source.
  • Each person requires only one account for the whole server - each account can have different access
  • An admin account controls the creation of courses and creates teachers by assigning users to courses
  • A course creator account is only allowed to create courses and teach in them
  • Teachers may have editing privileges removed so that they can't modify the course (e.g. for part-time tutors)
  • Security - teachers can add an "enrolment key" to their courses to keep out non-students. They can give out this key face-to-face or via personal email etc
  • Teachers can enrol students manually if desired
  • Teachers can unenrol students manually if desired, otherwise they are automatically unenrolled after a certain period of inactivity (set by the admin)
  • Students are encouraged to build an online profile including photos, description. Email addresses can be protected from display if required.
  • Every user can specify their own timezone, and every date in Moodle is translated to that timezone (e.g. posting dates, assignment due dates etc)
  • Every user can choose the language used for the Moodle interface (English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese etc)

Course management

  • A full teacher has full control over all settings for a course, including restricting other teachers
  • Choice of course formats such as by week, by topic or a discussion-focussed social format
  • Flexible array of course activities - Forums, Quizzes, Glossaries, Resources, Choices, Surveys, Assignments, Chats, Workshops
  • Recent changes to the course since the last login can be displayed on the course home page - helps give sense of community
  • Most text entry areas (resources, forum postings etc) can be edited using an embedded WYSIWYG HTML editor
  • All grades for Forums, Quizzes and Assignments can be viewed on one page (and downloaded as a spreadsheet file)
  • Full user logging and tracking - activity reports for each student are available with graphs and details about each module (last access, number of times read) as well as a detailed "story" of each students involvement including postings etc on one page.
  • Mail integration - copies of forum posts, teacher feedback etc can be mailed in HTML or plain text.
  • Custom scales - teachers can define their own scales to be used for grading forums and assignments
  • Courses can be packaged as a single zip file using the Backup function. These can be restored on any Moodle server.

Assignment Module

  • Assignments can be specified with a due date and a maximum grade.
  • Students can upload their assignments (any file format) to the server - they are date-stamped.
  • Late assignments are allowed, but the amount of lateness is shown clearly to the teacher
  • For each particular assignment, the whole class can be assessed (grade and comment) on one page in one form.
  • Teacher feedback is appended to the assignment page for each student, and notification is mailed out.
  • The teacher can choose to allow resubmission of assignments after grading (for regrading)

Chat Module

  • Allows smooth, synchronous text interaction
  • Includes profile pictures in the chat window
  • Supports URLs, smilies, embedded HTML, images etc
  • All sessions are logged for later viewing, and these can also be made available to students

Choice Module

  • Like a poll. Can either be used to vote on something, or to get feedback from every student (eg research consent)
  • Teacher sees intuitive table view of who chose what
  • Students can optionally be allowed to see an up-to-date graph of results

Forum Module

  • Different types of forums are available, such as teacher-only, course news, open-to-all, and one-thread-per-user.
  • All postings have the authors photo attached.
  • Discussions can be viewed nested, flat or threaded, oldest or newest first.
  • Individual forums can be subscribed to by each person so that copies are forwarded via email, or the teacher can force subscription for all
  • The teacher can choose not to allow replies (eg for an announcements-only forum)
  • Discussion threads can be easily moved between forums by the teacher
  • Attached images are shown inline
  • If forum ratings are being used, these can be restricted to a range of dates

Quiz Module

  • Teachers can define a database of questions for re-use in different quizzes
  • Questions can be stored in categories for easy access, and these categories can be "published" to make them accessible from any course on the site.
  • Quizzes are automatically graded, and can be re-graded if questions are modified
  • Quizzes can have a limited time window outside of which they are not available
  • At the teacher's option, quizzes can be attempted multiple times, and can show feedback and/or correct answers
  • Quiz questions and quiz answers can be shuffled (randomised) to reduce cheating
  • Questions allow HTML and images
  • Questions can be imported from external text files
  • Quizzes can be attempted multiple times, if desired
  • Attempts can be cumulative, if desired, and finished over several sessions
  • Multiple-choice questions supporting single or multiple answers
  • Short Answer questions (words or phrases)
  • True-False questions
  • Matching questions
  • Random questions
  • Numerical questions (with allowable ranges)
  • Embedded-answer questions (cloze style) with answers within passages of text
  • Embedded descriptive text and graphics

Resource Module

  • Supports display of any electronic content, Word, Powerpoint, Flash, Video, Sounds etc. that are stored locally, or remotely
  • Files can be uploaded and managed (zipped, unzipped, renamed, moved, etc..) on the server
  • Folders can be created and managed on the server and linked to
  • Internal web pages (html formatted) can be created with WYSIWYG editor and linked to
  • Internal text pages (no formatting) can be created and linked to
  • External content on the web can be linked to or seamlessly included within the course interface.
  • External web applications can be linked to with data passed to them
  • Linked MP3 audio files will display with elegant flash player

Survey Module

  • Built-in surveys (COLLES, ATTLS) have been proven as instruments for analysing online classes
  • Online survey reports always available, including many graphs. Data is downloadable as an Excel spreadsheet or CSV text file.
  • Survey interface prevents partly-finished surveys.
  • Feedback is provided to the student of their results compared to the class averages

Workshop Module

  • Allows peer assessement of documents, and the teacher can manage and grade the assessment.
  • Supports a wide range of possible grading scales
  • Teacher can provide sample documents for students to practice grading
  • Very flexible with many options.