This document presents a toolkit for designing Moodle courses. It introduces several tools to support the design process, including:
1. The Ladder of Ambition tool which helps set realistic individual and group goals.
2. The Global Course Design tool which uses stickers on a storyboard to plan didactic activities and map them to learning technologies.
3. The Detail Course Design tool which uses mind mapping to maintain overview while organizing content, resources, and tasks.
4. Course Templates to implement house style and improve building efficiency.
5. The House of Courses tool to improve site navigation and easily restructure course categories.
The toolkit is intended to provide support throughout the entire
1. Toolkit for
Moodle course
development
Presentation at Moodlemoot
Edinburgh UK, April 2014
Pieter van der Hijden msc
(pvdh@sofos.nl)
Centre of Expertise in Education & ICTs Suriname
Paramaribo, Suriname
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
1
2. Background
Pieter van der Hijden
Consultant e-learning, Fab Lab, gaming/simulation
The Netherlands (Sofos) and Suriname (ECOIS)
Toolkit for Moodle course development
Design is important step in course development
(quality and efficiency)
Tools are welcome to support design (& realization)
Let’s build a toolkit
2
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
11. 3. Global course design
11
Input: Story board
with empty stickers
Step 1: Didactic
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
Color Meaning Examples
(from student point of
view)
Red Individual
activities
Reading, working
individually, being tested
individually.
Yellow Synchronous
group
activities
Offline, e.g. (face-to-
face meeting; online,
e.g. chat.
Green Asynchronous
group
activities
Working collectively,
communicating,
presenting, receiving
feedback, testing.
12. Learning map
3. Global course design
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
12
Step 2: learning
technology
Output: didactic &
technology plan
Global course design by nine teachers
13. 3. Global course design
Benefits
Helicopter view
Paradigm shift
Synchronous, asynchronous, individual, group
Separation didactics and technology
Didactical problem versus Moodle solution
13
Inputs Mechanics Outputs Benefits
• Storyboard
• Stickers
• Legend
• Learning map
1. Didactic plan
2. Technical plan
3. Group
reflection
• Global course
design
• Shared vision
• Helicopter
view
• Paradigm shift
• Separation
didactics and
learning
technology
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
19. 4. Detail course design
Benefits
Maintain overview
Watch course content consistency
Organize the building process
Enable a division of labour
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
19
Inputs Mechanics Outputs Benefits
• Global course
design
• Mindmap tool
1. Mindmap
2. Refs to
resources
3. Monitor tool
Mindmap plus refs
and task info
• Maintain
overview &
consistency
• Organize
building
process
• Enable labour
division
23. 5. Course templates
Benefits
Implement a house style
Build faster and better
23
Inputs Mechanics Outputs Benefits
Template
requirements
1. Develop
template
2. Copy
template
Template
Copies
• House style
• Building
efficiency
and
effectiveness
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
24. 6. House of courses
24
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
25. 6. House of courses
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
25
Inputs
Current course
categories
Spreadsheet with
filters
Mechanics
Set-up course list in
spreadsheet
Copy to CSV
Upload/update
courses
shortname fullname category_idnumber summary
MERSD-A01 (A01) Sustainable development: educational theories and international policymersd-sem1 Program: MERSD<br />Module code: A
MERSD-A02 (A02) Political planning and institutional policy analysis mersd-sem3 Program: MERSD<br />Module code: A
MERSD-A03 (A03) Law and sustainable society mersd-sem1 Program: MERSD<br />Module code: A
MERSD-A04 (A04) Education and law mersd-sem4 Program: MERSD<br />Module code: A
26. 6. House of courses
Benefits
Improve site navigation
Restructure easily
26
Inputs Mechanics Outputs Benefits
Current house
of courses
1. Spread-
sheet with
filters
2. CSV file
Updated house
of courses
• Improved site
navigation
• Easy
restructuring
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
29. 29
Tool Inputs Mechanics Outputs Benefits
Ladder of
ambition
Simple score form
(choice)
1. Individual
score
2. Common
future
• Score
frequency
• Simple
roadmap
• Realistic
targets
• Shared
roadmap
Global course
design
Storyboard
Stickers
Legend
Learning map
1. Didactic
plan
2. Technical
plan
3. Group
reflection
• Global course
design
• Shared vision
• Helicopter
view
• Paradigm shift
• Separation
didactics and
learning
technology
Detail course
design
Global course
design
Mindmapping
tool
1. Mindmap
2. Refs to
resources
3. Monitor tool
Mindmap plus
refs and task info
• Maintain
overview &
consistency
• Organize
building
process
• Enable labour
division
Course templates Template
requirements
Develop
template
Copy template
Template Copies • House style
• Building
efficiency and
effectiveness
House of courses Current house of
courses
1. Spread-
sheet with
filters
2. CSV file
Updated house
of courses
• Improved site
navigation
• Easy
restructuring
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
31. References
Design thinking for educators; toolkit;
Riverdale Country School & IDEO; 2012
Gaming, the future’s language; Richard
Duke; Sage Publications, 1974
Instructables;
http://www.instructables.com
31
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org
32. Thank you for your attention!
Pieter van der Hijden msc (pvdh@sofos.nl)
32
2014 – Pieter van der Hijden (pvdh@sofos.nl) – 2014 - This work is
licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported
License.
www.sofos.nl
www.ecoisonline.org