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MOODLE PLATFORM' SUPPORT IN DIGITIZING THE ACADEMIC PROCESS. CASE STUDY WEST UNIVERSITY OF TIMIȘOARA

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Abstract

The West University of Timișoara implemented the E-learning Moodle platform 15 years ago. During this time, several other platforms integrated onto it to allow digital resources and activities flexibility. The university sought to identify the best solutions for efficient transmission, grading, feedback, recording of the students' work, and the examination process. For this purpose, at the level of our university, we developed the Learning Management System (LMS) through plugins and customized reports to design and develop academic processes more efficiently. This paper presents the main academic processes carried out on the Moodle platform, which led to the inclusion of this platform in the future digitization strategy of the university.
Moodle platform’ support in digitizing the academic process. Case study West University of Timișoara
Atti del MoodleMoot Italia 2021 – ISBN
978-88-907493-7-7
81
MOODLE PLATFORM’ SUPPORT IN DIGITIZING THE ACADEMIC
PROCESS. CASE STUDY WEST UNIVERSITY OF TIMIȘOARA
Marinel IORDAN, PhD
1
, Gabriel BÎZOI, PhD
2
, Alexandra BÎZOI, PhD
3
, Cosmin
HERMAN
4
1,2,3 West University of Timisoara
marinel.iordan@e-uvt.ro, gabi.bizoi@e-uvt.ro, alexandra.bizoi@e-uvt.ro
4eLearning & Software srl, Moodle Partner
cosmin.herman@elearningsoftware.ro
— FULL PAPER —
TOPIC: University Education
Abstract
The West University of Timișoara implemented the E-learning Moodle platform 15 years
ago. During this time, several other platforms integrated onto it to allow digital resources
and activities flexibility. The university sought to identify the best solutions for efficient
transmission, grading, feedback, recording of the students' work, and the examination
process. For this purpose, at the level of our university, we developed the Learning
Management System (LMS) through plugins and customized reports to design and develop
academic processes more efficiently. This paper presents the main academic processes
carried out on the Moodle platform, which led to the inclusion of this platform in the future
digitization strategy of the university.
Keywords – Moodle, e-learning, digitizing, academic process design
INTRODUCTION
Like most universities, the West University of Timișoara uses several IT solutions to handle large
databases and information regarding students, professors, learning plans, payments, registry books,
study documents, certifications, and individual student status. The integration of the Moodle platform as
an LMS in the Management Information System (MIS) of the university was a necessity for data
synchronization, for the development of the digital learning environment, the improvement of digital
student feedback, the development of digital skills for students, and the digital assessment process.
The development of the online format educational process required a consistent technology that allows
the development of learning materials, the achievement of face-to-face workshops, assessments, and
support sessions for exams and dissertations. For this purpose, the LMS was developed through plugins
and customized reports to monitor and support the educational process.
This diversity of solutions and platforms used in the educational process, ensuring a system of protection
and security of data and users of these platforms to ensure quality standards in the teaching process,
led to the development of a digitization strategy at the university level.
The Moodle e-learning platform has been an essential pillar in this strategy, aiming to simplify using new
digital technologies and working methods. It ensures compliance with common standards throughout
the university and digitizes academic processes according to assessment requirements required by
quality standards.
Moodle platform’ support in digitizing the academic process. Case study West University of Timișoara
82 Atti del MoodleMoot Italia 2021 – ISBN
978-88-907493-7-7
USING MOODLE IN THE TEACHING PROCESS
2.1 Bachelor and Master Study Programs
The flexible and student-centered approach of the educational process, regarding time, place, and
individual rhythm of study in all levels of university studies, led to the introduction of Moodle LMS as the
online education platform for the distance learning study programs at the level of the West University of
Timișoara's educational offer, for the past more than 15 years. In the beginning, the implementation of
the platform was available for the development of university study programs offered in the forms of
Distance Learning (DL) and Low-Frequency Education (LFE). The development of the educational
process and teaching-learning-assessment methods required consistent technology to develop learning
materials and student outcomes, achievement of face-to-face workshops, assessments, and support
sessions for exams and dissertations. This process led to the Moodle platform for all study programs as
a primary tool or a blended learning teaching method.
The 2020 lockdown determined the university's study programs to switch to the online format. It incurred
a lot of challenges generated by the diversity of programs in a comprehensive university with STEM-
type fields, like business education, sociology, psychology, and vocational fields (arts, music, sports).
The challenges included creating teaching resources for supporting a digital curriculum and adapting
professors' teaching strategies to manage the online educational process.
Professors' workshops and tutoring on the presentation of models used today to design learning
contributed to achieving the targeted result, namely the increased number of professionally developed
courses.
The Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEBA) uses only the LMS platform, and during
the pandemic context, we witnessed increased usage of the e-learning Moodle platform (Table 1):
2019-2020 2020-2021 Variance
Number of courses 292 454 55,48
percen
t
Total accesses 40.313 972.045 2311,24
percen
t
Average accesses/course 138 2.141 1450,84
percen
t
Max. no. of unique users/ course 107 184 71,96
percen
t
Max average of user accesses/course 34 189 455,88
percent
Table 1 – Usage of the LMS platform for the last two Academic Years
Statistics provide a significantly increased dimension of professor-student interaction in the first
semester of the academic year 2020-2021 versus the first semester of 2019-2020 for online format
activities [1].
2.2 e-learning UVT - customized Moodle App
The need for communication and access to educational resources from anywhere led to the
implementation of the personalized mobile application. The university's strategy for digitization and
accessibility of the educational process includes this app. Students and professors mainly use the
application for communication and to monitor the course activities (Figure 1).
The customized application for the West University of Timisoara is "eLearning UVT". It is available in
Google Play and the App Store from the beginning of this academic year (September 2021). Table 2
shows the number of devices that downloaded the app in the first two months after it was available and
the number of notifications sent through Moodle Apps.
Moodle platform’ support in digitizing the academic process. Case study West University of Timișoara
Atti del MoodleMoot Italia 2021 – ISBN
978-88-907493-7-7
83
Figure 1: UVT customized Moodle app (eLearning UVT)
Year Month Notification Sent Active Devices New Devices
2021 10 36.820 2.087 2.927
2021 9 1.102 228 458
2021 8 0 0 0
Table 2 - Devices receiving notifications on eLearning UVT
2.3 Transfer of Good Practices by Postgraduate Programs
Knowledge, experience, and good practices in carrying out teaching activities in the online environment
based on the university LMS Moodle made possible the realization of a postgraduate study program for
middle school teachers. Thus, in June 2020, the first series of the postgraduate program "Educational
and Digital Resources for Online Training" began, and since, it has had three groups of graduates. The
aim of including LMS Moodle in the curricula of this postgraduate program was to offer skills
development opportunities for the teachers' community. During the program, learners acquired the skills
to use digital resources and tools in teaching-learning activities efficiently. They improved their
communication and collaboration skills using and implementing good practices to create digital content
and teach.
2.4 Management Reports for the Teaching Process
We use reports with filters regarding the faculty, the form of education, and the academic year, to monitor
and manage the teaching process. These reports also contain:
Moodle platform’ support in digitizing the academic process. Case study West University of Timișoara
84 Atti del MoodleMoot Italia 2021 – ISBN
978-88-907493-7-7
The total number of professors who accessed the platform
The total number of teaching assistants who accessed the platform
The total number of professors who accessed the platform
The total number of active courses on the platform
Total resources added to courses
Total activities added to courses
Total posts on course forums
Total tests / questions
Total accessed resources
Total accessed activities
Course size
The top 10 most accessed courses
Top 10 most active professor
Top 10 most active students
The management of the registration process, the writing, and defending of the bachelor and dissertation
papers (which includes the Turnitin anti-plagiarism checking of all papers) required the release of the
following reports:
Reports of Turnitin Enrolled Users
o Each time the page is loaded, the report generates a CSV file with all users enrolled in
Turnitin activity in all academic years.
o The file contains the following columns:
Academic year
Faculty
Study cycle
Specialization
Coordinating professor
Activity
Student name
Admitted / Rejected
Turnitin User Works Reports
o The report displays a hierarchical list sorted by academic years, with all the users'
papers uploaded in the Turnitin activity from all the faculties. This report provides an
overview of the number of papers uploaded by students and submitted for verification
in TurnItIn, the students' names, and the submitted papers. The information displays a
tree structure format: Academic year, Faculty, Specialization.
Turnitin Reports (are sent 5 working days before bachelor / dissertation exam to each faculty
management for validate students who uploaded their graduate paper in the final version of
Turnitin section):
o Each time the page is accessed, all the papers uploaded in the final version of the
Turnitin activity are saved by the location/date / local / turnitin_files / on the server
o The generated report contains:
Total papers in Turnitin
Total new jobs copied to location / date / local / turnitin_files /
Occupied server space in GB format.
INTEGRATING MOODLE WITH THE UNIVERSITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
3.1 The Need for Integration
The West University of Timișoara platform runs on Moodle version 3.11.2 (Build: 20210729), bringing
many new valuable functionalities and solving security and stability issues.
From a technical perspective, the platform's components, the plugins, are all updated and compatible
with the current version of Moodle. A total number of plugins: 676, and additional plugins: 240. Keeping
the platform up to date is a perpetual activity that requires constant monitoring, consisting of the platform
and server logs analysis and professors' and students' feedback.
Moodle platform’ support in digitizing the academic process. Case study West University of Timișoara
Atti del MoodleMoot Italia 2021 – ISBN
978-88-907493-7-7
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The main modules available in the current structure of the platform are:
Interface and navigation
Authentication modules
Functional blocks
Evaluation and feedback modules
Data synchronization and analysis modules
The synchronization of the standard data used determined the integration of the Moodle platform with
the University Management System (UMS):
The academic structure of the university
o Faculties
o Study cycle (bachelor, master, doctorate, postgraduate)
o Form of education (frequency, DL, LFE)
o Years of study
Curricula on each academic structure
Students and the current context/status in the academic structure
Professors and their role in the current curriculum
These data are imported from UMS at the beginning of the academic year and automatically create the
structure available on the Moodle platform. The course's structure categories are arborescent: Academic
year, Faculty, Study cycle, Specialization, Form of education, Year of Study, Courses. The import file
form for creating the structure will retrieve the data from the CSV file and generate the complete
structure.
According to the context and related rights - for students and their roles in the curriculum – for teachers,
automatic provision of appropriate accesses to roles is achieved based on information from UMS.
Professors can use the operational Moodle instance (PROD) on which all current academic activities
and processes take place and the Moodle instance created for content development and testing (DEV).
The third Moodle instance created (TEST) is made to develop and test new functionalities on the
platform, integrations, and new software versions.
3.2 Authentication using SAML (Single-Sign-On)
Conducting digital education at quality standards in a comprehensive university with STEM fields, like
business education, sociology, psychology, and vocational fields (arts, music, sports), is a real
challenge, given the need to create teaching resources and activities to support a digital curriculum. The
need to adapt professors' teaching strategies to manage the online educational process is another
challenge. These requirements led to various technologies in the university: Google Workspace, Office
365, h5p, Cisco Webex, and the anti-plagiarism platform Turnitin, integrated with the Moodle platform.
Integrating these technologies was possible by using the Security Assertion Mark-up Language
(SAML)[2] authentication system that allows Single-Sign-On (SSO), and users can log in once. The
credentials confer login access to other service providers.
The credentials associated with the created institutional accounts for all professors and employees of
the university respect the following structure: firstname.lastname@e-uvt.ro. For students, the
institutional accounts respect the firstname.lastnameyy@e-uvt.ro format, ensuring access to all
Software as Services available in the university.
EFFICIENTLY DESIGN AND DELIVER THE ACADEMIC PROCESS
4.1 Bachelor and Dissertation Papers' Management
The LMS includes a similarity checking system for the students' papers, both bachelor/ master level
from all university study programs.
At WUT, the Moodle-type e-learning platform supports the coordination of students' papers after
completing their studies (bachelor and dissertation) and the final exams for university studies. The
Turnitin similarity verification software integrated on the Moodle type platform ensures original students'
papers.
Moodle platform’ support in digitizing the academic process. Case study West University of Timișoara
86 Atti del MoodleMoot Italia 2021 – ISBN 978-88-907493-7-7
Professors coordinate within a coordination course (page) the students' papers after completing
university studies. Each professor from the level of each bachelor/master level program has such a
course. Within this coordination activity, both the student and the coordinating professor have some
responsibilities and obligations. Thus, the student is obliged:
to authenticate on the UVT e-learning platform (http://elearning.e-uvt.ro/), using the e-uvt
account;
to submit the coordination request to the coordinating professor, using the e-learning platform
(fill in the corresponding form - Figure 3, Figure 4 and Figure 5);
To see the list of coordinators for the program, access (click on) the "Enroll" button from the
appropriate bachelor/master program (Figure 2), visible on the first page after logging in to "My
Page". The student will select the coordinator from the visible list after accessing the Enrollment
button for the bachelor/dissertation program; if the coordinator does not exist in that list, the
student will notify the coordinator regarding this issue.
Figure 2: Initial page (dashboard), with Enroll to bachelor dissertation coordination paper
button
Figure 3: Coordination request form
Moodle platform’ support in digitizing the academic process. Case study West University of Timișoara
Atti del MoodleMoot Italia 2021 – ISBN 978-88-907493-7-7 87
Figure 4: Coordination request form completion
Figure 5: Confirmation of request sending to the coordinating teacher
The coordinating teacher is obliged to validate on the e-learning platform the coordination requests of
the students for whom he/she gave his/her written consent due on a given date, set by the management
of each faculty in the UVT. The requests can be validated as follows:
The professor receives per mail (on the institutional address – e-uvt) the coordination request
sent by the student through the e-learning platform (from the e-mail address
support.platforma@e-uvt.ro - name Admin User) <
The professor accesses the link ("Accept/Reject student enrollment") at the end of the e-mail,
ticks the student's name, and chooses Confirm. At that time, the student has enrolled access to
the coordination course for the bachelor/master thesis.
The coordination of the final papers after completing university studies takes place mainly on the
Moodle platform. For example, the coordinating professor:
advises the student through the e-learning platform (Figure 5) and face-to-face meetings or a
videoconferencing system; scheduling and accessing video conferences is directly from the
coordination page;
ensures that the student has uploaded the paper both in the section dedicated to coordination
(Figure 6) and in the section dedicated to the originality check (through a Turnitin assignment -
Figure 6), the student can have access to the Similarity Report on the platform after verification
of originality;
Moodle platform’ support in digitizing the academic process. Case study West University of Timișoara
88 Atti del MoodleMoot Italia 2021 – ISBN
978-88-907493-7-7
ensures the student uploads the final paper upon approval. He/she can upload it in the final
section if the content and the similarity report respect the university rules (from the pre-final
section). The Turnitin add-in checks the content originality. Upload in this section is unique, as
papers remain in the Turnitin repository for future papers references. The professor fills in the
sub-section "Admitted / Rejected" (in fact, a Moodle Presence activity). If the professor does not
check a student's "Admitted / Rejected" box, the student cannot upload the paper in the final
section.
Assess the quality of the elaborated content and the paper's originality and make observations
and suggestions both through the e-learning platform and in face-to-face meetings.
Figure 6: The content of coordination of bachelor’s / dissertation paper page
The flow specific to coordination of bachelor’s / dissertation paper and the final university studies
exams process is present in Figure 7:
Figure 7: The flow specific to coordination of bachelor’s / dissertation paper and the final
university studies exams process
Moodle platform’ support in digitizing the academic process. Case study West University of Timișoara
Atti del MoodleMoot Italia 2021 – ISBN 978-88-907493-7-7 89
4.2 Bachelor and Dissertation Exams
To defend the undergraduate and master's degree studies thesis, we create a support page at each
WUT faculty level and examination commission (a course on the Moodle type platform). On this page,
we enroll the members of the examination commission, conferring them teachers' roles. The commission
secretary has the Teacher-Secretary role, and the students who defend their thesis to complete
university studies with the student roles. The Teacher-Secretary role has the same role as a Teacher,
having, in addition, the attributes of uploading documents, like a student in an assignment.
On this page, the commission members will find in an assignment-type activity (not available to students)
the candidates' papers (to evaluate), the papers' similarity reports, and the reports of the coordinating
professors.
These documents are uploaded for each student by the commission secretary.
To ensure a coherent flow between the final papers (submitted in their final version within a Turnitin
assignment) on the coordination page and their availability on the commission's page before their public
presentation, we integrated the Google Drive facility on the Moodle platform. Thus, this flow involves the
following steps:
The coordinating professor downloads the paper and the similarity report from the final section
of the coordination page in a .pdf format and saves this file, mentioning the acronym of the
specialization, the student's first name, and last name.
The professor uploads the file to Google Drive, on a particular account created at the faculty
level, in a special folder shared only with the respective professor.
The secretary transfers directly to the Moodle platform, within the assignment created for the
uploading of the papers, the paper from the folder shared with the coordinating professor on the
faculty gDrive (the secretary of the commission knows the credentials of the account created at
the faculty level).
On the final exam page, the student will be able to upload his/her presentation and will access the
videoconference for the bachelor/dissertation exam, according to an appointment also displayed on this
page. The final exam page will also include the students' results for their final exam.
4.3 Teachers' Evaluation by Students
For the academic semester professors' evaluation by their students, there is a separate developed
platform module, which allows all students to answer a questionnaire designed at the request of the
Quality Management Department. The individual evaluation form is a result of the questionnaire answers
associated with each professor. The questionnaire contains a set of 12 indicators for each taught
subject, evaluated on a scale from 1 to 10. The evaluation form contains the average of the points
received per indicator and a graph with the evolution of the general average of the teacher over the last
four semesters.
The student can make a free comment to the subject of the discipline holder.
The synthesis reports on the faculties and on the entire university will be generated at the end of each
academic semester by the Quality Management Department and the evaluation will be generated
automatically with the follow components:
number of evaluating students,
valid evaluations performed (grades awarded),
number of evaluated teachers,
graphical representation of the average values obtained from the practice of teaching activity.
The flow specific to Teachers’ Evaluation by Students process is present in Figure 8:
Moodle platform’ support in digitizing the academic process. Case study West University of Timișoara
90 Atti del MoodleMoot Italia 2021 – ISBN
978-88-907493-7-7
Figure 8: The flow specific to Teachers' Evaluation by Students process
CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
The West University of Timișoara implemented the Moodle platform to support Distance Learning (DL)
and Low-Frequency Education (LFE) from the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
teaching activities. Over time, the platform has been expanded and scaled across the university for all
cycles and forms of education. Connecting the different technologies developed for education with
Moodle and integrating the platform with the university students' management information system was
the next step of the platform's development.
The platform's development allowed the creation of procedures and the implementation of flows for
teaching activities and related processes to streamline the entire academic process. The Moodle
eLearning UVT platform is developing continuously to reduce response time and system security with
an ever-growing number of users. It adds new functionalities to allow students to connect with university
partners from the socio-economic environment (internships, topics for undergraduate and dissertation
papers, job offers, etc.).
The platform will provide a consistent presentation medium for analytics and reporting. The platform will
need to include a detailed review of the information needed at the university level and how it can be
shared and accessed as a single point of trust. Therefore, the platform will undoubtedly remain
fundamental at the level of the West University of Timișoara's future digitization strategy.
References
[1] Iordan M., Bîzoi G., Towards the Maturity of Distance Learning Under the Restrictions Imposed by
COVID-19, Education Technology Insight, Distance and Remote Learning 2021, July 2021
[2] Wilson Y, Hingnikar A., Solving Identity Management in Modern Applications: Demystifying OAuth
2.0, OpenID Connect, and SAML 2.0, Apress, 2019
... Kategori security berlaku untuk service terkait data penelitian dan nilai mahasiswa, sedangkan kategori usability berlaku untuk layanan email dan wireless LAN [8]. SAML juga digunakan untuk berbagi akses antarinstitusi (kolaborasi) terhadap data, instrumen penelitian, kluster komputasi [9], mengintegrasikan layanan online meeting seperti Zoom, layanan LMS seperti Moodle [10], dan teknologi pendukung pengajaran lainnya [11]. Integrasi menggunakan SSO SAML memungkinkan user login sekali menggunakan akun resmi perguruan tinggi untuk mengakses semua teknologi yang tersedia dan diizinkan. ...
... Universitas Aristotle sudah menggunakan SSO berbasis SAML untuk mengautentikasi user pada berbagai aplikasi web, seperti Moodle dan Zoom [10]. West University of Timișoara juga mengintegrasikan teknologi SaaS yang terdiri dari Google Workspace, Office 365, h5p, Cisco Webex, anti-plagiarism platform Turnitin, dan Moodle untuk mendukung kurikulum digital [11]. ...
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Towards the Maturity of Distance Learning Under the Restrictions Imposed by COVID-19, Education Technology Insight, Distance and Remote Learning 2021
  • M Iordan
  • G Bîzoi
Iordan M., Bîzoi G., Towards the Maturity of Distance Learning Under the Restrictions Imposed by COVID-19, Education Technology Insight, Distance and Remote Learning 2021, July 2021