Many educators around the world are aware of the education technology wave that’s spreading quickly. Virtually, every document related to education including journal and any course document definitely has some information related to the use of computers and technology for taking teaching and education to the next level. As a result of the exponential advancements in the educational applications an influence has been created on the education sector. These changes require the educators to become cognizant in teaching and learning in new ways. If the educators look forward to make informed decisions about the use of technology in the classrooms then the professional development initiatives are important.
Moodle is a free and open source content management system that is currently used by many universities, schools, colleges, companies and individual educational professionals. Moodle is time-tested and it is continuously improving. This software provides with a great online environment for teachers at all the levels for creating an efficient and learning-friendly environment. The Moodle software claims that the software is an ongoing development project created to support the framework of education. Earlier the word Moodle was just an abbreviation for Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment that is mostly useful to the educational theorists and programmers. Moodle is also a verb that describes the process of thinking about something in leisure, doing things according to you; basically it is a friendly environment that leads to enjoyment and creativity. As such, this applies to both, to the way in which Moodle was created and to the way a student or teacher might approach the studying process or the teaching an online course.
Moodle consists of some easily constructed education environment tools like private discussion boards, journals, assignment, chat rooms, file exchange areas, workshops, quiz and survey support, email integration and much more. In simple words, it consists of everything you need for creating a secure online course or program that can be configured easily. The Moodle software comes with a dozen programmed themes that provide different color schemes, moods and navigation titling. Sufficient guidance is also provided to help the course developers for customizing the course interface by modifying the code for a couple of files.
As Moodle is powered by the open source technology, it provides the educators with the luxury of time, access and a platform where they can experiment and work on the aesthetics and functionalities for any course. This can be done without facing the issues of deadlines, expenses or performance pressure. Moreover, Moodle is backed by a great Moodle community through which information and ideas are shared.
The Moodle software can be easily installed on any server with the support of PHP and MySQL. You can also check the Moodle website (http://moodle.org/doc/) to get more information and the installation guidelines. They also offer a downloadable or web accessed developer and teacher manual along with a coding guide for the people having coding skills. The Moodle CMS is also available in various languages including English, Spanish, French, Polish, Japanese, German etc.
The Moodle CMS is an extremely valuable platform for the advancement of the education technology. This is a CMS that should be used by every educator / teacher who aims at providing technology savvy education. The best thing about Moodle is that you can work at your own leisure and you have the complete control of the Moodle environment.
If you are planning to setup any education based website through Moodle, then it is important to make sure that the website is supported with the best of hosting resources. Have a look at the Moodle hosting packages offered by MilesWeb – https://www.milesweb.co.uk/apps/lms-hosting.
