Moodle has already made an impact in the world of education. Millions of schools around the globe trust it and manage to integrate their platforms with it and join the world of e-learning. Many, also, consider the integration with a school information system like Classter, a big advantage too. But what makes Moodle integration, in general, so important?
Intro to Moodle LMS
Moodle is an acronym for “Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment.” In a nutshell, it’s actually an online educational platform that provides custom learning environments for students? Educators and students can use Moodle to create lessons, manage courses, and interact with each other. Students can use Moodle to review the class calendar, submit assignments, take quizzes, and interact with their classmates.
Modular object-oriented dynamic learning environments are a type of learning management system (LMS) or online learning system (OLS). They were initially developed by an educator Martin Dougiamas and are now maintained by Moodle Community and Moodle HQ.
Moodle also manages to provide the ability to create and manage educational courses online. This is pretty much the key to gain access to the world of e-learning. In general, the main point of a Moodle integration is to better work out the organizational aspect of every institution.
The most important features
There are quite a lot of features included when you integrate with Moodle; there are the general features, the administrative features and the course and management features. But what are these features actually that make Moodle integration so special, ideal and quite necessary?
Some of the general features include course development, student enrollment, assignment management, as well as quiz creation, grading, wiki and discussion forums for thousands of virtual students at a time. But let’s look into this further:
- Modern and easy user Interface
Moodle offers an easy experience in order to be accessible to anyone and doesn’t require the user to be tech-savvy in order to easily browse it.
- Collaborative tools and activities
This is a general term for a group of features in Moodle. There are 14 different types of activities in the standard Moodle. There are Activities such as: Assignments where teachers can create assignments, Chat where you can have a real-time conversation, Choice where teachers can offer students multiple responses, Database where users can create several entries, Feedback for creating surveys, Forum where participants can have non-real time discussions, Glossary where participants can create a glossary of terms, Lesson for delivering lessons in flexible ways, LTI external tool which allows participants to interact with each other through the LTI tool on other web sites, Quizzes where you can create and assign your own quizzes, SCORM which enables SCORM packages to be included in the assignment material, Surveys for collecting data on the opinion of the students , Web pages where web pages are included as an addition to the material, Workshops which is a tool that can push forward team working and collaboration in classes.
- All in one calendar
Moodle allows you to keep track of your activities, assignments and in general your academic calendar. With this feature, you can’t lose any event or deadline.
- Tracking progress
Any stakeholder in Moodle can keep track of their learning progress as well as completions with an array of options for tracking individual activities or resources at the course level. Analytics are also available which provides detailed descriptive and prescriptive reports to support learners at risk.
- Secure authentication and mass enrolment
There are over 50 authentication and enrollment options available on Moodle such as email-based self-registration, Moodle Network Authentication, self-enrollment or guest access (where you can view courses but not participate) are some of them.
- Bulk course creation and easy backing them up
Add your material, back them up and restore them easily and with safety.
- High interoperability
This Moodle feature allows you to integrate with any external application you want or content or even create your own plugin to customize your platform.
- Embed external resources
You can easily embed teaching materials and include assignments from other sites and connect to the grade book in Moodle.
- Direct learning paths
Design and manage courses to meet various requirements. Take control of your classes that can be instructor-led, self-paced, blended or entirely online.
- Marking workflow
Conveniently assign different markers to assignments, manage grade moderation and control when marks are released to individual learners.
- Security and privacy
Teach and share in a private space where only you and your class can access. This allows you to be sure of your documents and materials when it comes to theft.
Classter SIS and Moodle LMS
Classter has been fully integrated with Moodle. For any student and teacher enrolled in Classter, an account is automatically generated in Moodle. Moreover, any subject assigned to a student or teacher in Classter is also automatically assigned to each user in Moodle.
Classter offers a unique solution by allowing its users to use the software in combination with Moodle and Office365. Thus, Classter serves as a single sign-on hub among all three platforms that are easily created and maintained. Moodle complements Classter, making it a powerful all-in-one Student & Learning Management System.
