Where do I start?

Whether you are faced with developing a Moodle page from scratch, or whether you have inherited one from a colleague, development of online course spaces can be daunting if you have not done it before. 

The best Moodle courses are often hives of activity - regularly updated and visited,with students taking a central role in the construction of their learning.

Reflect for a moment:

• Why would your learners currently access your course page?
• What reason are you giving them to look at the page?
• How do you promote your page in class?
• What can learners get on your page that Google does not provide them with?
• What could you add to your course to motivate students to use VLE content for homework, assignments and revision?
• How do you encourage and foster peer support/peer learning outside of contact hours?

Careful consideration of the needs and expectations of your students is essential when developing your Moodle course, you do not need to do everything at once however - courses can develop over time.

Why not identify one or two challenges that you (or your students) face and then consider whether Moodle has the tools to help overcome them.  You may also find it helpful to try out this interactive tool to help you reflect upon your needs and to map them to the range of tools available in Moodle.  Further inspiration may come from looking at what colleagues have been doing with their own courses, or through discussing your needs with a member of the Technology Enhanced Learning team    

If you have the option of developing an online or blended course from the ground up, you may find it useful to adopt a 'backward design process' (as as described by Wiggins & McTighe in their book 'Understanding by Design'). For fully online courses you may also find it helpful to include course evaluation processes as part of the developmental cycle.