LMS at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman.
Sultan Qaboos University
(SQU) uses both WebCT and Moodle as the Learning Management Systems. There are
9 colleges and a teaching hospital at SQU. Each college, depending on what
management system they are comfortable with, SQU supports both LMS. The College
of Medicine & Health Sciences prefers Moodle though there are instructors
who use WebCT.
Moodle:
The Modular Object- Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment (Moodle) is an open source management system to which universities use to post their course content. It is one of the ways to transfer from face to face classes to online classes. With Moodle, an instructor is able to post content to the website, create quizzes and display the grades. Like other LMS, in Moodle you can create quizzes by randomized questions, setting the timer, and set a password so that students use it to access the quiz during the test. The network authentication is used by instructors to share information in Moodle by using a single log in. The no authentication option is only used when setting a quiz. This protects students from accessing the quiz outside the classroom.
According to the research done by Nouman and Zuhoor in the College of Science at SQU concluded that most of students were happy in the use of the Moodle. In additional to the LMS, students preferred lectures to be both blended and online. Majority of them opted for face to face (Nouman and Zuhoor, 2011).
Schultz demonstrates that one needs to have knowledge on authentication, permission, attacks and the configuration in order to understand the security issues in Moodle. Combination of these issues should be taken into account to protect security while using this LMS. Users are encouraged to use difficult passwords as a way of protection. The passwords should be changed frequently. Training to be done for instructors on how to handle security issues in using the management system for assessment. The training should address that security of course content is in the hands of course directors. There are other open source management system available on line but do not address the issue of security like Moodle. For any management system there are always issues. It is best to understand how to handle such issues especially when dealing with sensitive data like students’ assessments and grades (Schultz, C. 2012).
College of Medicine has about 114 courses, which are uploaded in Moodle. This LMS provides the following benefits:
WebCT
Applying on-line assessment has been widely used in conducting in-course assessments for medical students. Each course conducts about 3-5 in-course assessments either as quizzes or midterm exams. Previously, students had claimed that on-line assessment was not favorable. They thought that using on-line assessment would affect their final grades because they were not familiar with WebCT environment and had never done an exam on a PC. The more students practiced the online assessment; the more familiar they were with the online assessment.
Online assessment using WebCT has the following benefits:
1. Assessment part in WebCT provides tutors with the ability of creating Question Database Bank with different types of questions such as MCQ, True/False, Short Answer, Matching and Essay.
2. Randomizing both the questions and alternatives. These tools enable the tutor to have different versions of exam that minimizes the ability of cheating. These tools enable us to come over the problem of making different versions of exams. Previously, tutors had to create different versions of exam manually. Moreover, tutors took time in organizing and marking the exams. With randomizing tool in WebCT, tutors saved a lot of their time and effort.
3. With on-line assessment, students are examined using different types of questions that include colored and animated images, videos and audio.
4. The exam is secured by a password and making sure that all students start at the same time.
5. To limit accessibility from outside SQU, the exam is delivered in specific PCs. students cannot take the exam unless they are using that specific PC which has been given access.
6. As long as the students saved their answers, they can retrieve them if the system crash or the PC has frozen.
7. It saves a lot of effort marking the exams. The grades are available within seconds.
8. No photocopying of exam papers as the assessment is online.
Security Issues
This issue is always there when it comes to assessment. The drawbacks of using WebCT for assessment in our college includes:
1. Browser security is not secure: If the exam is still ongoing, students can cheat by allowing their colleagues to use their user name and password. If a good student has finished his/her exam early, he can review and submit the exam of another one by having his/her username and password.
2. The blocking of other browser is not available therefore; students can easily navigate away from the exam browser.
3. The selection tool, copy and paste are not disabled. This allows students to copy and paste.
4. Once the exam has started you cannot allow more time for completing the exam. If by any chance you need to add extra time, you have to reset the exam from the beginning.
5. WebCT supports only limited file extensions of audio and video like WAV, WMV and SWF.
Based on the above facts, Moodle was the first preference followed by WebCT. Though both LMS have different issues when it comes to assessment, Moodle proved to be better than WebCT.
Recommendations:
· Browser security: Third party security software should be purchased / leased to be linked to the WebCT. Examples: Respondus or secure exam browser like ExamSoft.
· NetSupport software to be installed for blocking the navigation of the browser while students are doing the exam.
· JavaScript code. This code prohibits candidates from copying, selecting, right-click and print screen options. The code has been used for on-line assessments and it works perfectly.
· A new audio-video server is required for streaming audio and videos.
· Question Bank Server – The current WebCT server does not support transfer of the question bank from the IDEAL to WebCT. The solution is either to have an updated WebCT that has the capability of transferring questions from the question bank. If that is not possible then a new server to be purchased with the capability of hosting the software for assessments and linked to WebCT.
Reference
http://moodle.squ.edu.om/mod/resource/view.php?id=24070
www.squ.edu.om
Nauman Ahmad and Dr. Zuhoor Al-Khanjari: Effect of Moodle on Learning: An Oman Perception. International Journal of Digital Information and Wireless Communications (IJDIWC) 1(4): 746-752, 2011.
Schultz, C. (2012). Information Security Trends and Issues in the Moodle E-Learning Platform: An Ethnographic Content Analysis. Journal Of Information Systems Education, 23(4), 359-371.
The Modular Object- Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment (Moodle) is an open source management system to which universities use to post their course content. It is one of the ways to transfer from face to face classes to online classes. With Moodle, an instructor is able to post content to the website, create quizzes and display the grades. Like other LMS, in Moodle you can create quizzes by randomized questions, setting the timer, and set a password so that students use it to access the quiz during the test. The network authentication is used by instructors to share information in Moodle by using a single log in. The no authentication option is only used when setting a quiz. This protects students from accessing the quiz outside the classroom.
According to the research done by Nouman and Zuhoor in the College of Science at SQU concluded that most of students were happy in the use of the Moodle. In additional to the LMS, students preferred lectures to be both blended and online. Majority of them opted for face to face (Nouman and Zuhoor, 2011).
Schultz demonstrates that one needs to have knowledge on authentication, permission, attacks and the configuration in order to understand the security issues in Moodle. Combination of these issues should be taken into account to protect security while using this LMS. Users are encouraged to use difficult passwords as a way of protection. The passwords should be changed frequently. Training to be done for instructors on how to handle security issues in using the management system for assessment. The training should address that security of course content is in the hands of course directors. There are other open source management system available on line but do not address the issue of security like Moodle. For any management system there are always issues. It is best to understand how to handle such issues especially when dealing with sensitive data like students’ assessments and grades (Schultz, C. 2012).
College of Medicine has about 114 courses, which are uploaded in Moodle. This LMS provides the following benefits:
- Create and organize course web pages with full multimedia functionality.
- Communicate with students via online discussion groups and chat rooms.
- Administer online assessment.
- Manage online grade books and class lists.
- Administer online surveys and exams.
- Track student web site use, and
- Manage online course calendars.
WebCT
Applying on-line assessment has been widely used in conducting in-course assessments for medical students. Each course conducts about 3-5 in-course assessments either as quizzes or midterm exams. Previously, students had claimed that on-line assessment was not favorable. They thought that using on-line assessment would affect their final grades because they were not familiar with WebCT environment and had never done an exam on a PC. The more students practiced the online assessment; the more familiar they were with the online assessment.
Online assessment using WebCT has the following benefits:
1. Assessment part in WebCT provides tutors with the ability of creating Question Database Bank with different types of questions such as MCQ, True/False, Short Answer, Matching and Essay.
2. Randomizing both the questions and alternatives. These tools enable the tutor to have different versions of exam that minimizes the ability of cheating. These tools enable us to come over the problem of making different versions of exams. Previously, tutors had to create different versions of exam manually. Moreover, tutors took time in organizing and marking the exams. With randomizing tool in WebCT, tutors saved a lot of their time and effort.
3. With on-line assessment, students are examined using different types of questions that include colored and animated images, videos and audio.
4. The exam is secured by a password and making sure that all students start at the same time.
5. To limit accessibility from outside SQU, the exam is delivered in specific PCs. students cannot take the exam unless they are using that specific PC which has been given access.
6. As long as the students saved their answers, they can retrieve them if the system crash or the PC has frozen.
7. It saves a lot of effort marking the exams. The grades are available within seconds.
8. No photocopying of exam papers as the assessment is online.
Security Issues
This issue is always there when it comes to assessment. The drawbacks of using WebCT for assessment in our college includes:
1. Browser security is not secure: If the exam is still ongoing, students can cheat by allowing their colleagues to use their user name and password. If a good student has finished his/her exam early, he can review and submit the exam of another one by having his/her username and password.
2. The blocking of other browser is not available therefore; students can easily navigate away from the exam browser.
3. The selection tool, copy and paste are not disabled. This allows students to copy and paste.
4. Once the exam has started you cannot allow more time for completing the exam. If by any chance you need to add extra time, you have to reset the exam from the beginning.
5. WebCT supports only limited file extensions of audio and video like WAV, WMV and SWF.
Based on the above facts, Moodle was the first preference followed by WebCT. Though both LMS have different issues when it comes to assessment, Moodle proved to be better than WebCT.
Recommendations:
· Browser security: Third party security software should be purchased / leased to be linked to the WebCT. Examples: Respondus or secure exam browser like ExamSoft.
· NetSupport software to be installed for blocking the navigation of the browser while students are doing the exam.
· JavaScript code. This code prohibits candidates from copying, selecting, right-click and print screen options. The code has been used for on-line assessments and it works perfectly.
· A new audio-video server is required for streaming audio and videos.
· Question Bank Server – The current WebCT server does not support transfer of the question bank from the IDEAL to WebCT. The solution is either to have an updated WebCT that has the capability of transferring questions from the question bank. If that is not possible then a new server to be purchased with the capability of hosting the software for assessments and linked to WebCT.
Reference
http://moodle.squ.edu.om/mod/resource/view.php?id=24070
www.squ.edu.om
Nauman Ahmad and Dr. Zuhoor Al-Khanjari: Effect of Moodle on Learning: An Oman Perception. International Journal of Digital Information and Wireless Communications (IJDIWC) 1(4): 746-752, 2011.
Schultz, C. (2012). Information Security Trends and Issues in the Moodle E-Learning Platform: An Ethnographic Content Analysis. Journal Of Information Systems Education, 23(4), 359-371.