Moodle Gets Thumbs Up from Students

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Moodle (Learn@UKZN) is a helpful online platform – that’s the consensus of students interviewed in a recent survey by the College of Health Sciences (CHS).

Moodle is the official eLearning management system used at UKZN to communicate with students by uploading lecture notes, library resources, study tips and other educational resources on the site.

The CHS students, who say they would recommend the eLearning system to other higher learning institutions, generally agreed that they found Moodle to be very helpful as they accessed it almost every day for most of their modules.

One of the challenges mentioned was that accessing Moodle required data or wi-fi which was not always available off campus.

Moodle allows registered students and academics to view and upload lecture notes and to submit assignments as well as access library resources. Students are exposed to links that help with preparing for examinations, including exam and study tips.

‘You can access it anywhere, you just need a computer, internet access - no software is required,’ said Ms Fiona Walters, a Senior Technician in the CHS.

‘It allows management of student learning. We are able to administer online tutorials, quizzes and give online assistance. I actually prefer using the website as a means of communication to students thus making anatomy part of “open learning” similar to what occurs at Harvard,’ said Anatomy academic, Ms Pamela Pillay.

Said Professor Fatima Suleman of the Discipline of Pharmaceutical Sciences who has been using Moodle since 2010: ‘It enables me to reach students in other parts of the country and the world and therefore there is a richer sharing of experiences. It also allows for discussion beyond the allocated in-class timetabled slot.’

Dr Jane Kerr of the Discipline of Nursing agreed saying: ‘It is a good place to store resources and roll them over into subsequent years. I upload student presentations for access to all students in the module. I mark online and have used an online tests/quizzes which makes marking easy. I upload PowerPoint presentations with my voice over for students to hear the lecture later.  Video clips from YouTube are also uploaded when needed.’

Sinenhlanhla Ngubane