Critique of Moodle

Kym Toporowski
OLTD 502- Week 4 assignment
The following rubric has been adapted from the Michigan Community College Association Virtual
Learning Collaborative. I have modified some of the categories and add in others.
Online Course Development Guidelines and Rubric
http://www.mccvlc.org/~staff/content.cfm?ID=108

Course
Outcomes

Beginning
1

Developing
2

Accomplished
3

Exemplary
4

Learning
outcomes
(competencies)
are clearly stated.

Competencies do
not convey the
intended
outcomes of the
learning
experience in
clear terms.

Some of the
competencies are clearly
stated but focus more on
facts rather than what the
learner will be able to do
upon successful
completion of the learning
experience.

All competencies are

All competencies are clearly
clearly stated, yet all of the stated; written at
competencies may lack
the application level or above;
certain skill, and/or
and emphasize application of
attitudes.
major knowledge, skills, and/or
attitudes

Learning
outcomes
(competencies)
are closely
correlated with
real world
performance
expectations.

Competencies do
not correlate with
real world
performance
expectations, but
rather relate only
to specific inclass
performance.

Some of the
competencies represent
knowledge, skills, or
attitudes/values that the
learner would use outside
the context of the course.
Some competencies relate
only to specific in-class
performance.

All competencies represent

skills that the learner would
use outside of the
classroom, but could be
improved upon to better
correlate with real world
performance expectations

All competencies clearly

represent knowledge, skills, or
attitudes/values that the learner
would use outside the context
of the course.

Course materials
are presented to
accommodate
multiple learning
styles.

Presentation of
materials uses
primarily one
methodology
(e.g. print)

Presentation of materials
uses more than one
method (e.g. print, visual,
experiential). Applications
to real-life situations may
be presented.

Course materials are

presented in a variety of
ways.
Applications to real-life
situations are presented;
student tasks sometimes
require application.

Course uses powerful visuals

and well-organized print; direct,
vicarious, and virtual
experiences; and tasks
requiring applications to real-life
situations.

Presentation of
content
fosters active
learning
opportunities.

Course requires
students to read
materials and
respond to
instructor's
posted questions.

Material is chunked
[divided, organized] into
appropriate sections for
learning audience;
includes basic recall
exercises and practice.

Material is appropriately
chunked, interspersed with
activities that require both
recall and some application

Material is
appropriately chunked with
frequent required practices and
learning strategies that involve
both recall and application.

Course
instructions,
navigation and
definitions are
clear.

Course contains
a list of
prerequisite skills
and learning
objectives .

Course contains a list of

prerequisite skills, a
description of each
activity, grading criteria
and a general description
of course requirements.

Course contains a list of

the prerequisite skills and
knowledge, expectations of
each activity, the expected
level of participation and
time commitment.

In addition to overall
expectations and directions,
each activity, assignment,
exercise, clearly indicates what
students need to do, how they
should submit results

Course
Construction:

Course
Interaction:
A variety of
opportunities are
designed for
interaction
between
instructorstudent.

Course is
designed so that
students are
encouraged to
ask questions
and the
instructor to
respond using
one or two
methods of
interaction.

Course is designed so
students are required
answer questions about or
apply what was learned
for the most important
learning objectives. The
method of interaction
varies depending on what
is most effective for the
learning objective.

Course is designed so
students are required to
answer questions about or
apply what was learned for
all learning objectives. The
method of interaction
varies depending on what
is most effective for the
learning objective

Course is designed so students

are required to answer
questions about or apply what
was learned for all learning
objectives. Multiple methods of
interaction are available for the
most important learning
objectives.

Learning activities
are developed to
foster instructorstudent, studentcontent and,
where appropriate
studentinteraction.

Learning
activities are in
place that foster
student to
content
interaction but
do not support
student to
student, or
instructor to
student
interaction

Learning activities are in

place to support student
to content interaction,
and it is suggested that
students interact with
each other to complete
the learning activities.

Learning activities are

developed that support
instructor to student
interaction, (instructor
participates in discussion
with students via a
discussion board or virtual
chat room), student to
content interaction, and
where appropriate student
-to-student interaction is
encouraged.

Learning activities are

developed that support
instructor to student interaction,
student to content interaction,
and student-to-student
interaction is supported, where
appropriate, and required as
part of the course (collaborative
projects, group assignments,
discussion board and/or virtual
chat assignments).

Assessment
Assessment
methods are
methods are not
appropriate to the appropriate
outcomes,
measurements
activities and
for those
technologies.
outcomes/
competencies
stated in the
course.

Assessment methods are

designed to reflect the
stated course outcomes,
but do not correlate well
with learning activities.

Assessment methods are

designed to include the
appropriate measurements
for those competencies
stated in course outcomes,
to reinforce the learning
activities and but do not
address the available
technologies.

Assessment methods are

designed to include the
appropriate measurements for
those competencies stated
in course outcomes, to reinforce
the learning activities and are
considerate of the available
technologies.

Course resources are

accessible to the learner
in a limited manner, with
some downloads not
available to dial-up
modems due to their
complex structure.

Course resources are

accessible to the learner
with the majority of the
downloads available to dialup modems.

Course resources are accessible

with all of the downloads
identified and made available to
the student.

Course
Assessment:

Course
Resources:
Course resources
are accessible to
the learners (all
downloads are
identified and
made available to
student)

Course resources
are part of the
learning in a
static manner
with none
identified or
made available
to the student.

Comments:
Overall, I thought the course looked great. The expectations were clearly set out at the beginning
and it was easy to navigate through the site to see what was necessary or optional to complete the
course. While navigating from page to page, I tried several of the links and not one of them led to a
dead end. I thought there was a large variety of different formats of the way information was
presented (slideshow, YouTube videos, videos created by you in multiple formats) This helps with

keeping the student engaged while at the same time, it models the different ways media can be
posted when the time comes for the student to develop his/her own Moodle site. I also thought the
assignments (optional and required) were purposeful, practical and lead the student down to path to
make useful choices while transferring theory into practice. The rubrics aligned with the projects and
gave clear expectations of what the need to be accomplished. I particularly liked the Participant
Learning Plan section for this course. What a great way monitor progress and time management skills
for your students. My general impressions of this online course for adults wishing to become online
instructors was well organized, had meaningful and varied assignments within a very comprehensive
course which was easy to navigate.

Within the rubric above, there were a couple of areas that I saw might need some adjustments. First,
when I logged onto the site, I noticed that the name of the course was not at the top of the page and
there was no quick, overall objective/purpose to the course. I noticed as I went through the
introduction that that information was included later, but I think it would be useful to have this
information bulleted at the very top. I also noted that the images and layout of the pages was
attractive, but it did not find the images to be powerful as indicated in the rubric. In some cases,
there were assignments that had no images at all. I also would suggest color coding the font and/or
backgrounds of the assignments so students could easily identify them as required or optional. I think
that this would help keep the student organized and prioritize his/her work. Finally, I noticed that
there were some student-teacher and students-content interactions but that there were only a few
instances where the students were interacting with each other. I did notice that they could connect by
responding to blogs. However, from my personal experience, I enjoy meeting synchronously every
week and speaking to each other using Blackboard Collaborative. I know that many of the people in
this Moodle are taking the course asynchronously, but I was wondering if it would be possible to build
some more student-student interaction into the course. As mentioned above, I find this site useful,
informative and very practical for anyone interested in teaching on online. Some minor changes
would make it even better.