Progress on the Implementation of the Moodle Learning Management System
- Introduction
- WebCT-to-Moodle Migration
- Moodle Training Courses for Teachers and Support Staff
- “Train the Trainers” Moodle Training Program
1. Introduction
As reported in the earlier issue of ITS News (No.
152),
the University has adopted Moodle as the centrally-supported Learning Management System
(LMS) and Moodle version 2.1 system went live on August 29, 2011.
To implement this important initiative, we are busy working out the migration
exercise for WebCT courses, conducting series of training courses and supporting teachers and
students in the use of Moodle intensively. The implementation is now in
full momentum with good progress as described in the following sections.
2. WebCT-to-Moodle Migration
To facilitate a smooth transition of the LMS from WebCT (version Vista 8) to Moodle (version 2.1),
we have engaged an official Moodle partner, NetSpot to assist us in
migrating the WebCT courses to the Moodle platform. The migration
exercise is being conducted in 3 phases as tabulated in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Schedule for WebCT Course Migration
Migration Phase |
Time period |
Details |
Phase 1: courses
offered in the second & summer semesters |
1 Dec 2011 – 31 Dec 2011 |
Migration work to be carried out in
3 batches:
1 - 10 Dec: Batch 1 (courses of small sizes)
11-20 Dec: Batch 2 (courses of medium sizes)
21-31 Dec: Batch 3 (courses of sizes > 1GB) |
Phase 2: courses offered in the
first semester |
1 Feb 2012 – 30 June 2012 |
Contractor to convert WebCT courses
to Moodle
|
Phase 3: All remaining courses |
1 July 2012 – 31 July 2012 |
Contractor to convert WebCT courses
to Moodle
|
The migration exercise commenced in December 2011 and we are working
closely with teachers/instructors holding WebCT courses to pick up and
check their courses after migration to Moodle.
The
migration of courses under Batch 1 and 2 of Phase 1 has already been
completed.
The following chart illustrates the current progress of WebCT course migration and
the target ahead:
For teachers who have not yet registered to migrate their WebCT courses
to the Moodle platform, they can register for migration under Phase 2 or
Phase 3 till June 2012.
3. Moodle Training Courses for Teachers and Support Staff
To enable teachers, instructors and their support staff to acquire hands-on skills in
building and using Moodle courses, regular Moodle training courses are
being conducted by our staff which cover different areas of interest. They are
- [MOD-000] Re-building a Moodle Course from a Migrated WebCT Course (1 hour)
- [MOD-001] Moodle Training Course on Setting up a Moodle Course Website (1 hour)
- [MOD-002] Moodle Training Course on Assignments, Choices and Quizzes (1 hour)
- [MOD-003] Moodle Training Course on Grades (1 hour)
- [MOD-004] Moodle Training Course on Collaboration Tools (1 hour)
Details of the training courses can be found at http://www.itservices.hku.hk/lms/moodle/training/.
4. “Train the Trainers” Moodle Training Program
The 10 Faculties of the University had been invited to nominate their eLearning support colleagues to attend a “Train the Trainers” Moodle
Training Program, a three-day training program conducted
from December 19 to 21, 2011 by Pukunui Technology, an official Moodle Partner
to provide in-depth Moodle training through the "train the trainers” approach.
The topics covered under the Program include the essential components of Moodle
fundamentals, course authoring, assessment tasks, collaboration tools
and site management. Participants are trained to be the “trainers”
in their Faculty so that they can help to support their Faculty members and course instructors in
the use of Moodle.
Apart from the migration exercise and training program, we have also
set up a designated resources website on the central Moodle system at
http://www.itservices.hku.hk/lms/moodle/ to
provide handy and useful information to staff and students on the use of
Moodle. Staff and students are encouraged to visit this website
from time to time to check out the latest information on Moodle.
For other information or questions on using Moodle, please feel free
to contact us by eLearningTeam@hku.hk.
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