Moodle

A learning management system (LMS) provides instructors and students a platform for digital communications especially suited to an educational setting. Prominent applications in the LMS class include Moodle, Blackboard, Sakai and Canvas, among many others. Smith College uses Moodle as its sole LMS.

In a typical semester 400+ courses will use Moodle, but the intensity of usage varies considerably. Light usage might involve no more than posting a syllabus or emailing students. Intensive usage can include digital assignments, quizzes, discussions, grade reporting, group-based collaborations and a variety of online activities that can complement face-to-face instruction.

“Best” usage is whatever best serves an instructor’s particular pedagogy, but some ways to take good advantage of an LMS include: interactive quizzing to encourage student engagement with course material outside class, delivery of rich media such as videos or pronunciations of words in a target language, automated evaluation of student-written computer programs, conditional release of contents to deliver material to an individual student at the right moment, and more.

Instructors who are new to Moodle or who have not used Moodle in a while can get a quick video orientation to Moodle basics at: 
http://moodle.smith.edu/mod/page/view.php?id=109472

Related resources

Office of Disability Services
Accessibility Conversion Tool
Photocopying and Scanning
Electronic Reserves (for faculty)
Center for Media Production

Revised March 3, 2015