What makes a successful school Moodle implementation?
Quite simply: consistency.
A typical school will contain a number of different departments (English, Maths, Science, French, Art etc). Teaching staff are notorious for their enthusiasm, they are capable of populating a Moodle implementation with any number of courses within a matter of weeks. …and that’s when the trouble starts.
Left unchecked, there will be as many types of course as there are teachers. More, in fact. Moodle beginners seem to have a fondness for making a course for every eventuality, so I’ve seen lists of courses something like the following
GCSE Chemistry Year 10 Molecules
GCSE Chemistry Year 10 Reactions (Ms Jones)
GCSE Chemistry Year 10 Reactions (Mr Smith)
GCSE Chemistry
GCSE Chemistry Year 10
The courses are invariably unused. No surprise, the students don’t know where they’re supposed to be looking.
It’s far better, of course, to set up one course called GCSE Chemistry and put all the resources there. That may be obvious to you, it won’t be obvious to teachers.
If you want a clear, consistent structure you have to work for it. You need to give examples of good structure and to constantly monitor what’s going on Moodle and to (politely) ask for changes when they’re needed.
If you don’t, you’ll end up with loads of resources that aren’t actually being visited. Great for showing off to headteachers and governors, no real use otherwise.
Tony Ballantyne Tech 