LABORATORY WORK №14

Theme: Development of structure and the maintenance of a lesson in the

environment of remote learning: Moodle, eDX, etc.
Purpose: Learn to design structures and accompany a lesson in the
environment of distance learning: Moodle, eDX.
Plan practical work:
1. Moodle.
2. eDX.

1. Moodle
Moodle is a free and open-source software learning management system
written in PHP and distributed under the GNU General Public License.
Developed on pedagogical principles, Moodle is used for blended learning,
distance education, flipped classroom and other e-learning projects in schools,
universities, workplaces and other sectors.
With customizable management features, it is used to create private
websites with online courses for educators and trainers to achieve learning goals.
Moodle (acronym for modular object-oriented dynamic learning
environment) allows for extending and tailoring learning environments using
community sourced plugins.
Website: www.moodle.org

Figure 14.1.1 - Screenshot of a Student's My home page from the Mount

Orange demo site moodle.org/demo
 Moodle as a learning platform can enhance existing learning environments.
As an E-learning tool, Moodle has a wide range of standard and innovative
features such as calendar and Gradebook. Moodle is a leading virtual learning
environment and can be used in many types of environments such as education,
training and development and in business settings.
Moodle has been translated in over 100 languages, available for any site
administrator to install. People in various countries maintain and contribute to
the various language packs.

General principles of work in Moodle.

The only condition for the user is the availability of Internet access,
Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher browser or the Mozilla family browser. It is not
recommended to use Internet Explorer 5.0 and below, as well as Opera of any
version, because Then a number of opportunities for working with Moodle will
be limited.
The system starts with initialization. You can access the "Login to the
Distance Learning System" dialog using the "Log in" link located in the " You
are currently using guest access (Log in)" line, located in the upper right corner
of the window.

Figure 14.1.2 – Home page Moodle

To enter the system, you must enter your login and password received from
the Administrator.
 Figure 14.1.3 – Log in

Structure of Moodle.
In the Moodle system, there are 3 types of course formats: forum,
structure (training modules without a calendar reference), calendar (training
modules linked to the calendar). The course can contain an arbitrary number of
resources (web pages, books, links to files, directories) and an arbitrary number
of interactive elements of the course.
When preparing and conducting classes in the Moodle system, the teacher
uses a set of course elements, which includes:
 The lesson (lecture) presents the educational material in an interesting
and flexible form. It consists of a set of pages. Each page usually ends with a
question that the student must answer. Depending on the correctness of the
answer, the student moves to the next page or returns to the previous page.
 Glossary. With it, a basic vocabulary of concepts used by the program is
created, as well as a dictionary of the main terms of each lecture.
 Tasks allow the teacher to set a task that requires students to prepare an
answer in electronic form (in any format) and upload it to the server.
 Wiki, which allows you to create a document with several people at once
using a simple markup language directly in the browser window, that is, with its
help students can work together, adding, expanding and changing the content.
Previous versions of the document are not deleted and can be restored at any
time.
 Tests. This element allows the teacher to create a set of test questions.
Questions can be in closed form (multiple choice), with a choice of true / not
true, for compliance, suggesting a short text response, as well as numeric or
computed. All questions are stored in a database and can be subsequently used
again in the same course (or in others).
 Questionnaires. This element provides several survey methods that can
be useful in assessing and stimulating learning in distance courses.
 Interview. One of its applications is to conduct a vote among students.
This can be useful as a quick survey to stimulate thinking or to find a common
opinion in the process of researching the problem.
 Explanation. This element allows you to place text and graphics on the
main page of the course. With the help of such an inscription, you can explain
the purpose of a topic, a week or a used instrument.

Let's consider in more detail the development of the course element

"Lecture". "Lecture": allows you to present the educational material in an
interesting and flexible form. It consists of a set of pages. Each page may end
with a question that the student must answer. Depending on the correctness of
the answer, you can organize the transfer of the student to any of the pages of
the course.

Adding a new course in Moodle.

By default a regular teacher can't add a new course. To add a new course to
Moodle, you need to have either Administrator, Course Creator or Manager
rights.
To add a course:
 From the Site administration link, click Courses>Manage courses and
categories

Figure 14.1.4 – Add a cource

 Click New course in the category page on the right.

 Click on the category where you want your course to be.
  Click the "New course" link
 Enter the course settings, and then choose either to "Save and return" to
go back to your course, or "Save and display" to go to the next screen.

 On the next screen,if you have chosen "Save and display", choose your
students/teachers to assign to the course.

To upload one or more courses

1. Go to Administration > Site administration > Courses > Upload courses

2. Either drag and drop the CSV file or click the 'Choose a file' button and
select the file in the file picker
3. Select appropriate import options carefully, then click the preview button.

Figure 14.1.5 - Upload courses admin screen

 Figure 14.1.6 -Courses successfully uploaded

Course homepage
A Moodle course can look very different according to the theme and
course format (layout). Here are blank course page using the Boost theme and
the Clean theme, both with standard weekly format:
1. Navigation block. Normally visible on all pages, this block helps you find
your way around the course and site.
2. Administration block. Again, normally visible on all pages, this block gives
different levels of access to teachers and students.
3. Course sections. Here is where the learning materials are displayed. This
element may be arranged in one or multiple weeks, topics, forums or other (non-
standard) layouts.
4. Side blocks. Which blocks you see depend on what the administrator has
selected and what you as teacher choose to add.
5. Navigation drawer. This replaces the Navigation block and Administration
block in the Boost theme.
6. Gear menu. This replaces the course administration settings in the Boost
theme
 Figure 14.1.6 - Empty course with Clean theme

Figure 14.1.7– Empty course with Boost theme

To edit a course section

Turn editing on
Click the pencil icon (1 in screenshot below) to quickly rename the
section
 Click the Edit menu (2 in screenshot below) to edit the description and
other settings.

Figure 14.1.8 -Section editing menu

2. eDX.
edX is a massive open online course (MOOC)
provider. It hosts online university-level courses in
a wide range of disciplines to a worldwide student
body, including some courses at no charge. It also
conducts research into learning based on how
people use its platform. EdX differs from other MOOC providers, such as
Coursera and Udacity, in that it is a nonprofit organization and runs on the Open
edX open-source software. Website: www.edx.org

Figure 14.2.1 - Website: www.edx.org

 Functionality
EdX courses consist of weekly learning sequences. Each learning sequence
is composed of short videos interspersed with interactive learning exercises,
where students can immediately practice the concepts from the videos. The
courses often include tutorial videos that are similar to small on-campus
discussion groups, an online textbook, and an online discussion forum where
students can post and review questions and comments to each other and teaching
assistants.
EdX offers certificates of successful completion and some courses are
credit-eligible. Whether or not a college or university offers credit for an online
course is within the sole discretion of the school. EdX offers a variety of ways to
take courses, including verified courses where students have the option to audit
the course (no cost) or to work toward an edX Verified Certificate (fees vary by
course).

The edX Partner Portal

The edX Partner Portal is the destination for partners to learn, connect, and
collaborate with one another. Partners can explore rich resources and share
success stories and best practices while staying up-to-date with important news
and updates.
To use the edX Partner Portal, you must register and request verification as
an edX partner. If you are an edX partner and have not used the edX Partner
Portal, follow these steps.
1. Visit partners.edx.org, and select Create New Account.
2. Select Request Partner Access, then fill in your personal details.
3. Select Create New Account. You will receive a confirmation email with
your account access within 24 hours.
After you create an account, you can sign up to receive email updates about
edX releases, news from the product team, and other announcements. For more
information, see Release Announcements by Email.

Figure 14.2.2 - edX Partner Portal

 The Open edX Portal
The Open edX Portal is the destination for all edX users to learn about the
edX roadmap, as well as hosting, extending
the edX platform, and contributing to Open edX. In addition, the Open edX
Portal provides product announcements,
the Open edX blog, and other rich community resources.
All users can view content on the Open edX Portal without creating an
account and logging in.
To comment on blog posts or the edX roadmap, or subscribe to email
updates, you must create an account and log in.
If you do not have an account, follow these steps.
1. Visit open.edx.org/user/register.
2. Fill in your personal details.
3. Select Create New Account. You are then logged in to the Open edX
Portal.

Figure 14.2.3 – Create New Account

Resources for Course Teams
Course teams include faculty, instructional designers, course staff, discussion
moderators, and others who contribute to the creation and delivery of courses on
edx.org or edX Edge.

The edX Learning Series

The courses in the edX Learning Series provide foundational knowledge about
using the edX platform. These courses are available on edx.org.
edX101: Overview of Creating a Course
The edX101 course is designed to provide a high-level overview of the course
creation and delivery process using
Studio and the edX LMS. It also highlights the extensive capabilities of the edX
platform.
StudioX: Creating a Course with edX Studio
After you complete edX101, StudioX provides more detail about using Studio to
create a course, add different types of content, and configure your course to
provide an optimal on-line learning experience.
VideoX: Creating Video for the edX Platform
VideoX presents strategies for creating videos for course content and course
marketing. The course provides stepby-step instructions for every stage of video
creation, and includes links to exemplary sample videos created by edX partner
institutions.

Documentation
Documentation for course teams is available on the docs.edx.org web page.
• Building and Running an edX Course is a comprehensive guide with
concepts and procedures to help you build a course in edX Studio, and then use
the Learning Management System (LMS) to run a course.
When you are working in edX Studio, you can access relevant sections of this
guide by selecting Help on any page.
• Using edX Insights describes the metrics, visualizations, and downloadable
.csv files that course teams can use to gain information about student
background and activity.
• The edX Release Notes summarize the changes in each new version of
deployed software.

Email
To receive and share information by email, course team members can:
• Subscribe to announcements and other new topics in the edX Partner
Portal or the Open edX Portal. For information about how to subscribe,
see Release Announcements through the Open edX Portal.
• Join the openedx-studio Google group to ask questions and participate
in discussions with peers at other edX partner organizations and edX
staffers.

Wikis and Web Sites

The edX product team maintains public product roadmaps on the Open
edX Portal and the edX Partner Portal.
The edX Partner Support site for edX partners hosts discussions that are
monitored by edX staff.