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J. Casillas et al. (Eds.): Management Intelligent Systems, AISC 220, pp. 75–81.
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-00569-0_10 © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2013
The Utilization of the Moodle E-Learning
System in Isra University*
Mohammad Ali Eljinini, Zahraa Muhsen, Adi Maaita, Ayman Alnsour,
Mohammad Ali Azzam, and Khalil Ali Barhoum
Abstract. The Moodle e-learning system has been adopted by several universities
and organizations for the large accessible set of e-learning tools. Isra University
has adopted and utilized the Moodle e-learning system in many classes throughout
all of its colleges. Moodle has solved many course management problems such as
finding the appropriate time that suits all students to carry out tests and quizzes;
marking and providing feedback to the students within a short period of time; reg-
istration for tutorial sessions; and providing lecture materials and general faculty
announcements. Our study focuses on student survey to shed some light on the
perceptions of using Moodle in Isra University. The evaluation results of using
Moodle platform shows promising opportunities to support and improve upon this
platform in Isra University classes. This study helps introducing the e-learning
system to the entire students in Isra University and to support the understanding of
the overall learning process, learning motivation, legitimatize application of
knowledge, and a challenge for improving the teaching behaviors.
Keywords: Moodle, Open Source Software, Learning Management System,
E-learning, Virtual Learning Environment, Course Management System, Virtual
Learning comparison Environment.
1 Introduction
Online interactions provide a large knowledge exchange on variety kinds of in-
formation exchanged between users. There are many software systems available
that serve as online learning systems. These systems are expressed by forms,
commercial and Open Source Software (OSS). Moodle has been adopted by sev-
eral universities and organizations in the entire world because it offers a large ac-
cessibly set of tools, it does have many components that was developed without a
specific design documentation including its security services [8][11].
Mohammad Ali Eljinini · Zahraa Muhsen · Adi Maaita · Ayman Alnsour ·
Mohammad Ali Azzam · Khalil Ali Barhoum
Faculty of Information Technology, Isra University, Amman, Jordan
e-mail: Z_muhsin@ipu.edu.jo
76 M.A. Eljinini et al.
Computer based learning is a way of learning in which knowledge delivered
electronically to remote learners via computer networks. All LMS must provide a
major functionality which must be helpful and useful for the user to access these
systems such as introducing an online forums and message boards, online testing,
email, chat rooms, picture languages, instant messaging, remote screen sharing or
multilayer online games. In 1960 the Plato learning system (Programmed Logic
for Automated Teaching Operation), was introduced by Illinois University. In
1997 an important change appears when the WbCt 1.0 and Blackboard were
released; these two systems affected the LMSs concept. In 1998 Moodle was in-
troduced as Modular Object- Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment soon it be-
came one of the most common used systems among LMS and finally released in
2001. Moodle has an ability of tracking the learner's progress, which can be moni-
tored by both teachers and learners. This fact implicitly includes both security and
privacy threats and makes Moodle vulnerable system [10].
Moodle has a good architecture, implementation, interoperability, and interna-
tionalization, and also has a high strength of the community. Moodle is released as a
free software licensed under the general public license (GPL). The cost of owner-
ship is free and its accessibility is average. On the other hand, it has limitations,
notably the lack of SCORM support, and its roles and permissions system is li-
mited. It does not support document transformation. However, these limitations
are going to be fixed, which are parts of the project road-map [5].
Nowadays, many higher education institutions use course management system
(CMS), as a tool to assist delivering course materials to students, either as a sup-
plement to courses delivered traditionally or as an entire course offered online
[8][11]. A CMS system is an alternative teaching method that reduces methodolo-
gy problems associated with managing large classes. Initiative to implement
Moodle as an e-learning platform in IU, was first started during 2007, as part of
the development program for entrancing the teaching and learning process.
Isra University offers computer skills course for undergraduates to be taken at
the first semester of their four years study. Figure 1 illustrates the diagram of
students enrolled in IU with the computer skills course. The students attend two
hours of theoretical lectures and one hour of tutorial per week. Moodle was intro-
duced to IU in early 2007. Although Moodle has not been utilized to its full poten-
tial yet, it is found that e-learning platform is able to assist the assigned course.
Students are distributed over selected sections, and hence there are more than 10
classes of 20-45 students each with its own timetable. A team of instructors in-
cluding a course coordinator are allocated to teach computer skills course. Manag-
ing such a course in this particular setting is rather cumbersome. The common
problems experienced by the team includes: handing out course materials, student-
instructor communications, and registration for tutorial sessions, scheduling and
conducting common quizzes/tests. Furthermore, the manual grading adds an extra
burden to the instructors and it is almost impossible to provide immediate results
and feedback.
The Utilization of the Moodle E-Learning System in Isra University 77
Fig. 1 Computer skill course in Isra University
This paper describes the experience in managing the CSC. A Moodle survey
activity was conducted for the students' course to obtain feedback relating to the
features used in Moodle and the management of the course. The paper is orga-
nized as follows: Firstly in section 2, the features of e-learning are explained brief-
ly. Evaluating the impact of e-learning is shown in section 3. Section 4 presents
the results of the survey. Finally, the conclusions are presented in section 5.
2 Feature of the E-Learning System
LMSs have many features and abilities expected from an e-learning system, such
as forums, content management, quizzes with different kinds of questions, and a
number of activity modules [16]. Table 1 shows, the features and capabilities pro-
vided by the Moodle system. Al-Ajlan and Zedan [1] have divided these features
and capabilities into three parts, which are Learner Tools, Support Tools and
Technical Tools, as in Table 1 [5][6][10], each kind of these tools holds minor
tools as shown in Table 1.
Table 1 Features and capabilities hold in Moodle system
Major Tools Minor Tools holds Product name Tools
Learning Communication,
Productivity and
Student Involvement
Discussion Forums, Discussion Management,
File exchange, Internet Email, Online Journal,
Real Time Chat, Video Services, Whiteboard,
Bookmarks, Calendar, Orientation, Searching
Course, Work off line, Group Work, Communi-
ty, Student Portfolios.
Support Administration,
Course Delivery, and
Content Development
Authentication, authorization, file exchange,
re
g
istration inte
g
ration, Test T
yp
es, Automated
support, course management, online grading,
student trackin
g
, accessibilit
y
, Content Sharin
g
,
Course templates, Look and Feel, Design, In-
structional Standards
Technical Spe-
cification
Hardware/Software and Pric-
ing/Licensing
Client request, database requirements, Unix
server, Windows, Costs, Open source, Optional
extras
Isra University
22-disciplines
Information
Technology Facul ty
Computer
Skill course
300-450students
enrolled
78 M.A. Eljinini et al.
Moodle is a tool that is used all over the world by over 400,000 registered us-
ers, it is an Open Source Software (OSS) e-learning platform, which also features
a community web site that provides developer information, roadmap, coding guide
and Concurrent Versioning System (CVS) guide to access its source code, and it
has a long list of developers. It does not provide a formal model for future devel-
opment [10]. It is a tool that teachers can use to facilitate student collaboration in
many ways, it is a platform to save and provide teaching material easily and a col-
laborative online platform for teachers and students to undertake the learning
process together. Many modules can easily be found in the Moodle.org communi-
ty website that is very useful to enrich the Moodle e-learning system with video il-
lustrative materials. These tools help making the teaching process more effective.
There are thousands of Moodle systems worldwide ranging from a single-teacher
site to a 40,000-student university site [8][9][12][2][4][3][7][15]. Nevertheless,
many Universities in Jordan that has adopted commercial CSM (WebCT or
Blackboard) have considered using Moodle as an alternative.
3 Evaluating the Impacts of E-Learning
The most evaluating impacts for e-learning are both exploring issues related to the
evaluation of the e-learning process and the teaching activities, and propos a com-
prehensive plan for the evaluation of e-learning and teaching. The key tendency of
any evaluation activity is to influence decision making. This task can be com-
pleted by, a comprehensive evaluation strategy for ascertaining the impact of its
various teaching; learning and research related activities are crucial. Any strategy
required to gather different types of data and feedback and it also crucial to ensur-
ing a high quality of service, and effective utilization of information and commu-
nications technology in teaching and learning [13][14].
The main difference of various types of educational evaluation activities are
drawn between formative, and monitoring or integrative evaluation. Evaluation
methodology depends on the data gathering process which should be simple and
as less intrusive as possible, and they should be gathered from all students and
staff regularly. The variety data gathering process also optional data from the fol-
lowing evaluation:
Front-end evaluation: this type of evaluation requires a surveys to ensure the
desired and preferences in relation to teaching and learning online. Formative
evaluation: this type of evaluation focuses on the feedback from users and other
relevant groups during the implementation process. Summative evaluation: en-
sures the impact and outcomes of the e-learning process on teaching and learning
at any university. Monitoring or integrative evaluation: this type of evaluation in-
cludes attempts to ensure the extent to which the use of e-learning or online learn-
ing is integrated into regular teaching and learning activities at any University.
The Utilization of the Moodle E-Learning System in Isra University 79
4 Student Survey Result and Discussion
Moodle has great potential for creating a successful e-learning experience by pro-
viding a set of excellent tools that can be used to enhance the conventional class-
room experience and turns it into an e-learning experience. In previous years
many universities in Jordan have used Blackboard and Claroline as a LMS in their
education, but many of them have replaced these two LMS with the Moodle e-
learning system and mostly in 2011.
In order to evaluate and analyze the effects of Moodle, the students were asked
to complete a small survey near the end of the course. The survey was conducted
by 86 undergraduate, and 57% of student is female. Students were asked to identify
the following questions as explained and showed in tables 2,3,4.
Table 2 Question Survey and Results
Question Result
Do you like using computers? 85% of student listed it as
They like the use of computer
What is the main purpose of using computer? 3% fun, 55% education, and
42% information collection
Do you find the e-learning process useful? 77% agree, 5% not
Sure and 18% disagreed
Do you see that the use of the e-learning system affected the
style of your study?
56%agree, 8% not sure, 36% disa-
greed
Do you need a training for using e-learning system? 36% agree, 18% not sure and 46%
disagreed
Do you find it difficult to download lectures from e-learning
site?
25% agree, 19% not sure, 56% dis-
agreed
Table 3 Elaborations on the positive feedbacks
Percent Discussion Resound
97% Used computer for learning and collecting in-
formation
Many courses in the University re-
quire the use of computer in educa-
tion.
77% First time using Moodle Some students are transferred from
other universities
56% E-learning system have changed the study style Many courses use the tradition tech-
niques blended with the e-learning
system
46% Moodle is a simple to deal with Moodle is usually explained in the
first lecture of the course
80 M.A. Eljinini et al.
Table 4 Elaborations on the negative feedbacks
Student
percent
Description Resound
18% Do not like to exchange the traditional teaching style
with the e-learning system
Some students are not keen into
changing their learning style.
36% Do not agree that the e-learning system did change
their style of studying
This type of student face diffi-
culty in their learning
36% Find that e-learning system in IU needs a training tu-
torials
Do not have any computer skill
25% Face certain difficulties to download lectures from
the e-learning system.
Mostly face download problems
5 Conclusion
Many researchers conclusions clearly indicated the advantages of the Moodle
system over many other related systems. The questioner conducted indicating the
importance of the presence of the Moodle system as an e-learning tool in Isra Uni-
versity. The uses of LMS in courses save a lot of time, also organize and manage
different concurrent sections for a particular course. The Moodle LMS contributed
to change the study style amongst students. Students believe that the e-learning
system is a useful tool and an open class for the entire time; where an online inte-
raction with teachers and perform live discussions anywhere and any time is poss-
ible to easily find the missing class materials. The classes materials can fully be
loaded to the system and hence can be reached by students.
The survey covers a range of issues in an attempt to capture the important informa-
tion of the use of the e-learning system in IU in order to analyze the impact of using
the e-learning system. The students were asked to complete a small survey near the
end of the course. The survey was conducted for 86 undergraduate students enrolled
in pre-computer skill courses; it was setup using the Moodle platform survey.
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