Speakers
Description
This presentation aims to summarize and highlight research findings from an online homework course using the Moodle learning management system. Students were tasked to complete 50 homework activities from a pool of 64 over a semester. Research data compares the performance and completion rates of students assigned 8 activities biweekly against those with unrestricted access to all 64 quizzes throughout the semester. Initial findings suggest that the biweekly group engaged with activities more consistently and frequently over the semester when compared to the unrestricted group. The implication of these findings for online learning and student engagement will be summarized and discussed.
The presentation also addresses the considerable time and effort required for creating and editing settings for such a large number of activities. To remedy this, the researchers secured a Kaken fund to develop the Moodle plugin DripRelease. This freely available plugin enables users to streamline the assignment of a desired number of activities to students over a desired timeframe (e.g. 8 activities every two weeks over the course of a semester). Through a single interface, users can efficiently bulk assign the frequency of activities, availability, group access, and clearance of all settings on a large number of activities in only a few clicks, thus offering significant time-saving benefits for educators. The presentation will include a live demonstration of the main features of the plugin, an update on the current status of the project, and an opportunity for audience members to have some hands-on experience. It is hoped that the plugin can be applied beyond its initial research context and aid in student engagement in wider areas. Audience feedback and suggestions will be most welcome.
| Keywords | Moodle, Engagement, Technology |
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