Moving to MoodleExperiences of an academic

institution

Laura Widger, Cathal O’Riordan,

lwidger@wit.ie, coriordan@wit.ie

Agenda

Agenda

Agenda

Background Will we move? Planning the move

– Where, when, what and how? Getting the movers in Making the move The new location Looking back

Background

Background

Background

2008

Will we move?

Will we move?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/clagnut/252185030/

Planning the move

Planning the move

Where?

When?

What?

How?

Planning the move – Where?

Evaluated alternative VLE’s Open Source versus Proprietary gained “buy in” from users through

staff consultation & information seminars

obtained commitment from senior management

piloted Moodle

Planning the move – When?

WebCT license due to expire May 2009 Joint systems run in parallel Sept 2009

Planning the move – What?

What to Move? 3 years of module content in WebCT Over 60,000 module spaces in WebCT Module data on servers in WIT computer

services

Servers Support Data/module structure Module content – needed to filter the data Users

Planning the move – How?

Servers –HEANet: charity run by the Higher Education Authority

Support - ????? Data/module structure - automate the

process of moving data Module content – staff requested to

have data moved Users – hold hands

Getting the movers in

Getting the movers in

eLearning Coordinator

Phase 1: Summer 2008: 4th year computing student

Phase 2 : March 2009: eLearning Support Officer eLearning Development Officer

Making the move

Making the move: Phase 1 2008

Set up Moodle running in parallel with WebCT,

Opt in: launched with 2 schools Integrated with LDAP & registration

system

Making the Move: Phase 2 2009

Servers – HEANet: charity run by the Higher

Education Authority Support – new team in place

Developed and delivered Moodle training

Partnered with official Moodle partner Data/module structure - refining based on

Phase 1 Module content – staff requested data to

be moved Users – opt in so some already migrated

Making the Move: Phase 2 2009

Making the Move: What really happened?

8.5 GB data moved on over 500 modules Some wanted fresh start – not all data

moved

The LDAP issue!!!!!!!!

Positive reaction

Not as stressful as we thought it would be!

The new location

The new location

The new location

The new location

tightly integrated Moodle with internal systems to reduce administrative work Internal student registration system for

generation of student user accounts and course areas in Moodle,

internal servers for authentication & login

incorporated open source solutions (Redmine & RT) to build a support framework to track and manage project team activities, and manage user support queries

The new location

customized development of stand alone Moodle instances,

increase flexibility in content delivery, innovative course development,

provision of “living prospectus” for programme advertisement and marketing

The new location

Looking back

Not as stressful as we thought it would be

The more you do, the more you realise you have to do…

Attitude is a small thing that makes a big difference…. the right team

Questions

Waterford Institute of TechnologyLaura Widger, Cathal

O’Riordan,lwidger@wit.ie, coriordan@wit.ie