Humanities Staff Undergo Moodle Training

BY: .

Staff from the School of Built Environment and Development Studies (BEDS) recently participated in a Moodle Training workshop in an effort to better assist their students. This comes in the wake of the University adopting Moodle as its on-line learning management system which is currently being utilised by some staff and students.

To maximise the teaching and learning potential of this system, Moodle will be phased in for all modules progressively over the next 3 years.

Interim Dean and Head of the School Professor Betty Mubangizi  urged her staff to undergo the training. She said: ‘Having used Moodle for the past three years myself, I am aware of its benefits in teaching and learning. This is particularly mindful of the fact that our students are techno savvy.

‘I thus wanted the staff of BEDS to derive the benefits that Moodle offers.  I encourage, and will continue to encourage all academics to use Moodle in their teaching. It saves time, saves paper and increases interaction between students and lecturers – all of which enhances both the learning and teaching experience.’

Mrs Priya Konan from Research and Higher Degrees at the School stated that Moodle is a powerful teaching and learning tool for academics and students and is a platform to make the educational environment more interesting. 

‘As support staff we must be familiar with software that can improve our working environment and since support staff support students and academics we must learn these programmes to keep up with the changing technical environment.’

Ms Bridget Horner, a lecturer in Architecture further added, ‘Moodle is a lot more user friendly than originally thought. It saves time in uploading info each year as it can be saved and reused and added to and in printing saving costs and time. Next semester watch this space.’

Another Architecture Lecturer Mr Sibusiso Sithole believes that the Moodle platform is also very popular with the younger and more technologically savvy generation and is a powerful and effective program if utilized accordingly, thereby encouraging student engagement and peer learning through group chats and the ability to receive submissions remotely, ‘This makes a sustainable contribution tothe decrease of printed media, saving paper and ink.’

‘In Architecture, the platform is more suited to the theoretical courses where there are set reading lists, tutorials and the modules that do not require as much contact time as the design courses. When setting the course outline and the readings, the entire module for the semester could be uploaded on to the system and the information released to students as needs be.’

‘There can be group discussions on critical matters the students did not grasp and the chats could be used as an extension of the class teaching time. This adds to the whole concept of peer learning, as the platform could be used to debate and further elaborate on certain material prescribed in their module at that particular time.’

Melissa Mungroo