Moodle Smarter: An Advanced Course on Using Moodle
Next course dates: 01 October 2008 - 30 November 2008
Term: 30 hours over 6 weeks
Fee: € 595

* We also offer face-to-face Moodle training workshops and Moodle hosting packages

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Future course dates:
09 January 2009 - 12 March 2009
01 May 2009 - 30 June 2009

CONTENT
The MOODLE SMARTER training course teaches you to use some of the more complex Moodle tools and functions, which are not covered in our Moodle Starter course. The course is hand-on and experiential – from the first week of the course itself you will be working in a Moodle installation which is either already hosted by your institution, or hosted by us for you (preferable). You will add new elements to your Moodle course as you learn about them each week, via tutor support, peer discussion, documentation, and a range of online videos. For the duration of the course you will be provided with your own webspace with your own Moodle installation if you do not already have one. At the end of this time you will be shown how to export your course so that it can be used in your own installation. We use the latest stable version of Moodle.

AUDIENCE
This course is aimed at teachers, trainers, tutors, facilitators, lecturers and mentors from any discipline and any level of education, who are interested in developing more advanced skills in how to set up and use Moodle to offer online courses. The course is run entirely online, in Moodle itself. Previous experience of Moodle or of any other online learning environment as an administrator is required for this course.

The Moodle Smarter (advanced) course is for you if :

1. you already have experience of Moodle as an administrator
2. you know how to work with the Moodle functions covered in the Moodle Starter course – see the Course Outline – or have done the Moodle Starter course with us in the past
3. you are using an older version of Moodle, and would like to update your skills to use the latest stable version
4. you already have a Moodle course that you can work on, or you are able to set up the basics of a course with no extra help, so as to work on advanced feature with us during the course
5. you would like to lean about some of the more complex Moodle functions such as Lesson, Workshop, IMS Packages, SCORM, LAMS and Databases, or how to customise Moodle themes*

*Please note that the Moodle Smarter course does NOT cover installing Moodle on a server – you either need to work on an existing Moodle installation on your institution’s server, or we will install the course for you on our own server (preferable).

TIMETABLE
Our online Moodle Smarter training course runs over 8 weeks from 01 October 2008, and participants are expected to spend approx. 5 hours per week on online individual and collaborative group work, including offline reading and reflection. Deadlines for task completion are weekly, and participants can log on at any point during the week to work on the course. There are no 'fixed' times to be online - apart from regular timetabled online chats - these are negotiated to suit everyone. There is a one-week break in the middle of the course. You will receive a detailed study timetable to help you organise your workload effectively once you have enrolled on the course.

You will use our online video conferencing platform for your course chats several times during the course (the exact times for these are negotiated with the group, but will take place in Weeks 2, 5 and 8). To take part in the video conferencing sessions you will need a headset with microphone (headsets with a USB plug are the best option), or a stand-alone microphone and speakers. If you have a webcam, you may want to connect that during the video conferencing session, but this is optional — you will be able to see and hear your tutor even if you only have a headset. Video conferencing sessions are always recorded which means that even if you can’t attend, you will be able to watch the recording later online, in your own time. Our video conferencing platform is accessed via a web page — you do not need to download or install anything to use it during the course [see also What you need below].

SKILLS
Experience of email and Web use is required. Some prior experience or knowledge of online tutoring would be useful. Prior experience of using Moodle or an equivalent VLE, with full admin permissions, or having completed our Moodle Starter course, is necessary. Competence in written and spoken English, whether English is the applicants’ first, second or foreign language: applicants’ levels of competence in English must be of a standard sufficient to enable them to fully understand and complete the course work.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
During the course, you will:

• Review the basic functions covered in our Moodle Starter course
• Learn how to use more advanced default Moodle features and activities, such as Database, Lesson, Workshop etc. (see COURSE OUTLINE below)
• Learn how to customise headers and upload themes
• Cover some html basics
• Explore backups, restoring and duplicating courses
• Learn how to evaluate and monitor learners (gradebook, reports and logs, scales and rating)
• Install and work with a number of Moodle plug-ins
• Experience collaborative group work online and take part in a number of video conferencing sessions with your tutor and course colleagues
• Work on a sample course for your own learners in Moodle

You will follow the course entirely online, working individually, in pairs, and in small collaborative online groups, and with constant and timely tutor support and feedback. There is a limit of 15 participants per course.

COURSE OUTLINE

• Week 1: Moodle Basics Review
• Week 2: Themes and HTML basics
• Week 3: Database and Users
• Week 4: Lesson; Backup and recovery
• Week 5: Workshop and Moodle installation
• Week 6: Plug ins
• Week 7: Evaluating and monitoring
• Week 8: Clinic and review
  Project work finished (a sample Moodle course for your learners)

WHAT YOU NEED

• An Internet connection, preferably broadband
• A headset (best is with a USB connection) or stand-alone microphone and speakers
• A webcam is optional
   
• An up-to-date browser
• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• An up-to-date media player (e.g. Windows Media Player or similar)
• A word processing package (e.g. Microsoft Word or similar)

You will use our video conferencing platform several times during the course; before taking part  in the first session, we advise you to run the online system check here to ensure that you can take part fully in the session.

CERTIFICATION
The Consultants-E will issue you with a Certificate on successful completion of the course. Successful completion of the course is defined as completing 80% of the course work, and especially the final course project, where applicable.

ENROLMENT/FEES
You can enrol online. The fee for the course is € 595 and covers all tutorials, ongoing tutor support, and feedback on your final project work (a sample course for your learners in Moodle)