Learning Management with Sakai

‫سلسلة ك تيبات‬ ‫(( نحو تعليم عالي أفضل في ألعرأق من خالل ألتعليم أاللك تروني ))‬ ‫أعدأد‬

‫معهد ألمعلوماتية للدرأسات ألعليا في جامعة تكنولوجيا ألمعلومات وأالتصاالت‬ ‫وبالتعاون مع أللجنة ألعليا للتعليم أاللك تروني وجامعة ألكوفة‬ ‫الكتيب الثاني – أنظمة إدارة التعلم االلكترونية‬

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‫كتيب تعليمي تعريفي غير مقوم في التعليم االلكتروني وتقنياته معد من‬ ‫قبل مجموعة من طلبة الدراسات العليا في مرحلة الدبلوم العالي في‬ ‫معهد المعلوماتية للدراسات العليا للعام الدراسي ‪ 2016-2015‬في‬ ‫جامعة تكنولوجيا المعلومات واالتصاالت وبأشراف ومراجعة البعض‬ ‫من أعضاء اللجنة العليا للتعليم االلكتروني في العراق والهدف منه هو‬ ‫المحاولة في زيادة الوعي في التعليم االلكتروني ونشر ثقافته في‬ ‫األوساط التربوية والتعليمية وتطوير التعليم وتحسين مخرجاته‬ ‫‪...........‬‬

‫ومن هللا التوفيق والسداد‬

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3

‫خري الصدقات اجلاريات‬

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‫البرنامج الحكومي للحكومة العراقية – أيلول ‪2014‬‬ ‫نص البرنامج الحكومي المقترح على المحاور االساسية لألولويات‬ ‫االستراتيجية والتي توزعت بين ستة محاور اساسية هي "عراق آمن‬ ‫ومستقر ـ االرتقاء بالمستوى الخدمي والمعيشي للمواطن ـ تشجيع‬ ‫التحول نحو القطاع الخاص ـ زيادة انتاج النفط والغاز لتحسين‬ ‫االستدامة المالية ـ االصالح االداري والمالي للمؤسسات الحكومية ـ‬ ‫تنظيم العالقات االتحادية – المحلية"‪.‬‬ ‫وتضمن المحور الثاني الخاص باالرتقاء بالمستوى الخدمي والمعيشي‬ ‫للمواطن جملة من النقاط االساسية في محاور عديدة من بينها " تطوير‬ ‫كفاءة المؤسسات التعليمية والبحثية"‪ ،‬حيث كان النص المورود هو‪:‬‬ ‫يعد التعليم المحرك االساس لالرتقاء بالمجتمع ومن حق كل مواطن‬ ‫الحصول على فرصته في التعليم والتعليم العالي واحتضان البلد البنائه من الكفاءات واستعادة ثقة المجتمع‬ ‫بالمؤسسة التعليمية وضمان تأهيل الطلبة للمشاركة في االنشطة المجتمعية من خالل االرتقاء بمستوى المؤسسات‬ ‫التعليمية والمالكات التدريسية واستخدام التقانات الحديثة في التعليم وسد النقص الحاصل في المدارس واالنتقال‬ ‫نحو التعليم المهني والتقني والمعرفي بما يلبي احتياجات سوق العمل‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 1‬ـ فك االزدواج في المدارس واستيعاب النمو الطبيعي العداد الطلبة وتوفير بيئة مدرسية مالئمة وصحية من‬ ‫خالل بناء وتأهيل مدارس جديدة في عموم المحافظات‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 2‬ـ تطوير البنى التحتية للتعليم العالي والبحث العلمي وذلك الستيعاب طلب المحافظات والزيادة المتدفقة وتحديد‬ ‫الطاقة االستيعابية لكل مؤسسة وااللتزام بالمخطط التصميمي لها‪.‬‬ ‫واستكمال االبنية التعليمية حسب المقرر لها مع ادخال التقنيات ومستجدات المرحلة القادمة مع تطوير كفاءة‬ ‫منظومة التعليم العالي والبحث العلمي في مجال اسداء الخدمة للجميع وصوال الى كفاءة منظومة التعليم العالي‬ ‫والبحث العلمي‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 3‬ـ االرتقاء بالبحث العلمي من خالل بناء قاعدة مادية ومختبرات علمية تخصصية في مجاالت‪ * :‬بحوث الطاقة‬ ‫الشمسية وطاقة الرياح‪.‬‬ ‫* قياسات التراكيز الوطئة جدا لليورانيوم وباعثات الفا وبيتا وكاما‪.‬‬ ‫* تصنيع وتشخيص المواد المتقدمة والنانوية‪.‬‬ ‫* توفير احتياجات ا لوزارة من االبنية االدارية والمختبرات والورش وتأهيل البنى التحتية لتمكين الدوائر العلمية‬ ‫من القيام باعمالها البحثية‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 4‬ـ تزويد الطالب والهيئات التعليمية بالمصادر العلمية للتعليم والتعلم وانشاء المكتبة االلكترونية‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 5‬ـ مواكبة التطورات االلكترونية والتكنولوجية في التعليم والتعلم وادخال مادة الحاسوب ضمن المناهج التعليمية‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 6‬ـ تشجيع مؤسسات التعليم الخاص في المجاالت كافة وتحفيز االستثمار في هذا المجال مع ضمان االرتقاء‬ ‫بمستوى التعليم‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 7‬ـ اعادة هيكلة المؤسسات التربوية التي تخرج المعلمين والمدرسين لضمان جودة العملية التربوية‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 8‬ـ اعادة تفعيل العمل بقانون التعليم االلزامي ورفع مستواه لغاية نهاية الدراسة المتوسطة‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 9‬ـ تفعيل مبادرة محو االمية من اجل التمكين‪.‬‬ ‫‪ 10‬ـ االستمرار ببرنامج المبادرة التعليمية‪.‬‬

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‫‪ -1‬اللجنة العليا للتعليم االلكتروني‬ ‫تحت مظلة وزارة التعليم العالي والبحث العلمي من خالل القيادة واألشراف والدعم ومن خالل دائرة البحث‬ ‫والتطوير الدائرة التخصصية المعنية بالبحث والتطوير في التنفيذ‪ ،‬تم تشكيل اللجنة العليا للتعليم االلكتروني لغرض‬ ‫اعتماد التعلم االلكتروني وتقنياته في التعليم العالي العراقي وليكون فضاء رحبا لتشييد مستقبل واعد متطور من‬ ‫خالل تطوير التعليم العالي في العراق ‪.‬‬ ‫حيث تسعى وزارة التعليم العالي وبكل امكانياتها لتحقيق هذه الرؤية الطموحة بخطى ثابتة وجادة ومتسارعة تتمثل‬ ‫في أعداد خطة استراتيجية العتماد التعليم االلكتروني في جامعاتنا ومؤسساتنا التعليمية‪ ،‬وبالعمل على تحقيق‬ ‫التكامل بين كل القطاعات المختلفة وذات الصلة بالتعليم االلكتروني لمواكبة مستجدات العصر وثورة المعلومات‬ ‫العلمية الرقمية والتي تشهد التطور يوميا‪.‬‬ ‫ان البداية هي استثمار التقنية الرقمية في تطوير التعليم التقليدي‪ ،‬حيث إن التطورات التكنولوجية اليومية المتسارعة‬ ‫والواقع المجتمعي الذي نعيشه االن في العراق ومعطياته تفرض علينا تطوير التعليم العالي في العراق الذي يمكن‬ ‫ان نقول عنه انه تقليدي االن‪ ،‬وان نسعى الى تحويله الى منظومة متكاملة من خالل إثراء العملية التعليمية بالتعليم‬ ‫االلكتروني وتقنياته لننجح في تأسيس نظام تعليمي متكامل يعتمد على التقنيات الحديثة في مجال التعلم االلكتروني‬ ‫ونخطو بخطى ثابته ومتسارعة في بناء مجتمع معرفي متكامل‪.‬‬ ‫ان رسالة اللجنة وفلسفة عملها هي بسيطة جدا وسهلة وهي تسخير كل اإلمكانات المتوافرة لدعم تميز العملية‬ ‫التعليمية وتسهيل التواصل العلمي من خالل التوظيف األمثل لتقنيات المعلومات واالتصاالت والنظم الحديثة‪ ،‬بما‬ ‫يعزز التواصل والتفاعل في هذه العملية‪ ،‬لتحقيق األهداف التعليمية التعلمية ‪.‬‬

‫‪ -2‬ومن اهداف اللجنة ‪:‬‬ ‫‬‫‬‫‬‫‬‫‪-‬‬

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‫نشر تطبيقات وثقافة التعلم االلكتروني في التعليم العالي وضمن معايير الجودة وما يتفق معها‪.‬‬ ‫االسهام في انجاز وتقييم ونشر برامج التعلم االلكتروني‪.‬‬ ‫دعم حركة البحث العلمي والدراسات في التعلم االلكتروني بكافة اشكالها وانواعها‪.‬‬ ‫وضع معايير الجودة لبرامج التعلم االلكتروني وتصاميمها الرقمية التعليمية وانتاجها واعتمادها ونشرها‬ ‫محليا وعالميا‪.‬‬ ‫تقديم االستشارات النوعية والتخصصية للجهات ذات االختصاص حيث سوف يتم أيضا تشكيل لجنة‬ ‫استشارة دولية من مجموعة من الخبراء والعلماء الدوليين والعالميين تكون استشارية الى لجنتنا وتساعدنا‬ ‫في تحقيق اهدافنا‪.‬‬ ‫انشاء مكتبة الكترونية رقمية ومجلة علمية رقمية في االختصاص‪.‬‬ ‫تشجيع المش اريع المميزة والتنسيق بينها في التعلم االلكتروني وتقديم االستشارة التخصصية على مستوى‬ ‫وزارات ومؤسسات الدولة العراقية خدمة للعملية التعليمية التعلمية في التعليم العالي الحكومي او الخاص‪.‬‬ ‫تشجيع بناء البرمجيات التعليمية العراقية وتقويمها وتعميمها ودعم العاملين على إنجازها‪.‬‬ ‫عقد اللقاءات وتنظيم الندوات والمؤتمرات وورش العمل محليا وبما يساهم في خدمة العملية التعليمية‬ ‫التعلمية من خالل بناء القدرات والتدريب واعداد الكوادر المؤهلة علميا وتربويا وتكنولوجيا‬ ‫التعاون مع الجهات والمنظمات الدولية ذات االختصاص وفي االختصاص وعقد اتفاقيات ومذكرات‬ ‫التعاون والتفاهم‪.‬‬

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‫ انشاء بيت الخبرة العراقي والمرجعية في التعليم االلكتروني تحت مسمى المركز العراقي للتعلم االلكتروني‬‫ليكون نموذج للتعليم االلكتروني في التعليم العالي كخطوة أولى ومن ثم على مستوى الدولة العراقية‬ ‫ووزاراتها كافة كخطوة مستقبلية‪ .‬حيث يمتلك هذا المركز هوية وطنية يبني عليها رؤى الوزارة ‪ ،‬ويسطر‬ ‫من خاللها تفاصيل رسالة الحكومة السامية في بناء مجتمع المعلومات واالقتصاد المعرفي ويستصحب‬ ‫وباعتزاز قيما ً أصيلة‪ ،‬باعثها دين قويم ورساالت سماوية تحض على العلم واإلتقان‪ ،‬وتقاليد مجتمعية‬ ‫أعطت وبوأت العلم واصحابه المكانة العالية‪ ،‬وتتحلى باالحترافية والتنوع والعمل بروح الفريق‪ ،‬مع‬ ‫التركيز على المتعلم واحتياجاته وفق ما هو ثابت في النظريات التعليمية الحديثة التي تجعل منه مركز‬ ‫العملية التعليمية التعلمية‪ ،‬في شراكة وتكامل تعزز فرص النهوض بالتعليم العالي وتطور طرق ونظم‬ ‫التعلم وتخرجها من التقليدية والكالسيكية‪ ،‬مع احترام التباين والحفاظ على الحقوق الفكرية والعلمية‬ ‫واألدبية والتكنولوجية‪.‬‬ ‫ وضع ضوابط للتعليم االلكتروني واستخداماته‪.‬‬‫دعم استحداث الدراسات العليا التخصصية في التعلم االلكتروني وتوحيد الجهود واالستفادة من الخبرات الموجودة‬ ‫االن في التعليم العالي العراقي لمحدودية اعدادهم ألعداد جيل من المتخصصين في الموضوع وبأسرع ما‬ ‫يمكن‪.‬‬

‫نحن جميعا ملزمون بتنفيذ برنامج الحكومة العراقية كوننا نعمل‬ ‫في المفاصل التنفيذية للدولة العراقية وان رسم االستراتيجيات في‬ ‫البلد هو قرار مجلس الوزراء وليس قرار العاملين في المفاصل‬ ‫التنفيذية وان دور المؤسسات التنفيذية ينحصر في تنفيذ‬ ‫االستراتيجيات المرسومة لنا من مجلس الوزراء وقد ورد في‬ ‫المحاور االساسية لألولويات االستراتيجية للبرنامج الحكومي‬ ‫المقترح للحكومة العراقية وفي ثانيا ً‪ :‬االرتقاء بالمستوى الخدمي‬ ‫والمعيشي للمواطن وفي ب ‪ : .‬تطوير كفاءة المؤسسات التعليمية‬ ‫والبحثية ((االرتقاء بمستوى المؤسسات التعليمية والمال كات‬ ‫التدريسية واستخدام التقانات الحديثة في التعليم)) وفي النقطة ‪: 5‬‬ ‫((مواكبة التطورات اإللكترونية والتكنولوجية في التعليم والتعلم))‪.‬‬

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‫‪ -3‬الحكومة االلكترونية والتعليم االلكتروني في العراق‬ ‫في أحد مؤتمرات اليونسكو العالمية التي عقدت في العام ‪ ، 2009‬توقف الحاضرين طويال امام العبارة‬ ‫التي أطلقها أحد االساتذة في االدارة التنفيذية لليونسكو عندما قال " علينا ان ننظر للتقنيات التكنولوجية‬ ‫نظرة واقعية وان نعمم تطبيقها بأسرع ما يمكن فانا ابني االن يكتب على الحاسب بأسرع مما اتحدث انا‬ ‫بلساني "‬ ‫وفي ظل التطور المذهل والسريع للتقنيا ت ووصولنا الى شيوع استخدام الهواتف الذكية وشبكات‬ ‫االنترنيت الالسلكية وفوائدها التي يمكن ان تقدمها للعملية التعليمية فهنا علينا ان نتوقف كتربويين طويال‬ ‫ويجب علينا اعادة النظر في كيفية استخدام هذه التقنيات لرفع كفاءة ومستوى العملية التعليمية والتربوية‪.‬‬ ‫ان ال مفاهيم الحديثة كالمجتمعات االلكترونية والقيادة االلكترونية والتي أصبحت االن من مقومات‬ ‫المجتمعات الحديثة والمتطورة ال يمكن لها ان تقوم او تنشئ من دون اعتماد التعليم االلكتروني وهذه‬ ‫أصبحت من المسلمات العلمية الحديثة حيث ال يمكن ان يبدء بناء بيت مثال من دون بناء األساس‬ ‫واالساس في عملنا هو التعليم االلكتروني الذي يعتبر هو البوابة الرئيسية والمدخل للوصول وبناء‬ ‫مجتمعات المعرفة الحديث ان اعتماد التعليم االلكتروني في العراق وخصوصا في التعليم الجامعي‬ ‫مازال في البداية رغم ان البعض من الجامعات قد قامت باعتماد بعض ال تقنيات التكنولوجية الحديثة‬ ‫وكما ان العديد من الجامعات االن تمتلك الحاسبات واجهزة العرض واللوحات االلكترونية في قاعات‬ ‫المحاضرات ورغم انها محاوالت جيدة اال انه ال يمكن باي حال من االحوال اعتباره اعتماد للتعليم‬ ‫االلكتروني وهنا يمكن اعتباره كوسائل مساعدة ال أك ثر بجانب التعليم التقليدي وذلك الن اعتمادها يجب‬ ‫ان يكون في عملية نظمية ال عشوائية‪.‬‬ ‫ان مفهوم التعليم االلكتروني قد تطور وبصورة واضحة وحقق قفزات تكنولوجية ونوعية كبيرة وصوال‬ ‫الى التعليم المزيج ‪ BLENDED LEARNING‬والذي اعتماده في العراق رسميا أصبح حاجة ملحة‬ ‫وس وف لن يقوم مقام التعليم التقليدي ولكنه يطور وسائله في العراق‪ ،‬وهو االن المعتمد رسميا في اغلب‬ ‫الجامعات الرصينة والمتطورة‪.‬‬

‫‪ -4‬التعليم االلكتروني في الحكومة االلكترونية في العراق‬ ‫ان الخطوات التي تم اعتمادها في العراق في لغرض انشاء الحكومة االلكترونية هي‪:‬‬ ‫‪ -1‬تم تشكي ل لجنة مركزية باسم اللجنة الوطنية للحوكمة االلكترونية العراقية برئاسة وزير العلوم‬ ‫والتكنولوجيا وقد ضمت ممثلين عن كل وزارات الحكومة العراقية والتي من ضمنها وزارة التعليم‬ ‫العالي والبحث العلمي‪.‬‬ ‫‪ -2‬في االستراتيجية الوطنية وخطة عمل الحوكمة االلكترونية ‪ 2015-2012‬تم االشارة الى ان تعميم‬ ‫التعليم االلكتروني هو أحد الخطط االستراتيجية للحوكمة االلكترونية في العراق‪.‬‬ ‫‪ -3‬على الرغم من االعتراض العلمي على هذا الموضوع حيث ان التعليم االلكتروني يجب ان تكون‬ ‫له استراتيجية خاصة منفردة لغرض التطبيق والتنفيذ حيث انه من الثابت علميا عدم امكانية بناء‬ ‫مجتمع المعرفة بدون تطبيق وتنفيذ برامج التعليم االلكتروني‪.‬‬ ‫‪ -4‬بمراجعة ما هو مدرج في االستراتيجية نجد انها تنحصر في وزارة التربية فقط وان هذه‬ ‫االستراتيجية التي سوف تنتهي خالل أشهر قليلة هي عامة وهي سرد لبعض الخطوات والتي ال يمكن‬

‫‪9‬‬

‫قبولها باي شكل من االشكال على انها استراتيجية وانا استغرب تماما كيف تم اعتمادها وخصوصا وان‬ ‫هنالك منظمات دولية قد شاركت في الكتابة واالعداد وأنها لم تشير الى التعليم العالي والجامعي في‬ ‫العراق ال من بعيد وال من قريب وهي حقيقة مثار للتساؤل واالستغراب والتعجب‪.‬‬ ‫‪ -5‬ان ما تم تنفيذه ف ي التعليم االلكتروني وخصوصا على مستوى التعليم العالي هو جهود مبذولة من‬ ‫وزارة التعليم العالي وهي جهود فردية للوزارة في تطبيق بعض مبادئ الحكومة االلكترونية وبعيدا عن‬ ‫الحوكمة االلكترونية على مستوى الحكومة العراقية او التعليم االلكتروني بشكله العلمي الصحيح والدقيق‬ ‫حيث ال توجد اصال استراتيجية لتطبيق التعليم االلكتروني في التعليم الجامعي او اعتماد التعليم‬ ‫االلكتروني في المؤسسات الجامعية العراقية على الرغم من كونه معيار رئيسي في قياس كفاءة االداء‬ ‫الجامعي عالميا وان التوجيهات الوزارية للوزارة لم يتم تنفيذها او اتبا عها بالشكل الكامل والصحيح‬ ‫وكما ان جهود لجنة الحوكمة االلكترونية في التعليم ليس لها تأثير واضح او ملموس‪.‬‬ ‫‪ -6‬باالعتماد على تجارب الدول المتطورة والتي سبقتنا في تطبيق التعليم االلكتروني فهنالك نوعين‬ ‫من التطبيق ومسارين فقسم من دول العالم بدء بنشر التعليم االلكتروني قبل الحكومة االلكترونية والقسم‬ ‫االخر نشر الحكومة االلكترونية قبل التعليم االلكتروني او بالتزامن والتوازي‪.‬‬ ‫‪ -7‬من الثابت علميا ان الدول التي اعتمدت التطبيقات االلكترونية التعليمية نجحت في الوصول الى‬ ‫مجتمعات المعرفة سريعا وبنجاح‪.‬‬

‫‪ -5‬المجتمع االلكتروني‬ ‫وبصورة عا مة فان المجتمع االلكتروني يمكن ان يعرف بانه المجتمع الذي يشهد انتشارا وتفعيل حقيقي‬ ‫للخدمات االلكترونية بمختلف أنواعها واشكالها وهو المجتمع الذي انجز بناء وتنفيذ المشروعات‬ ‫االلكترونية وتهيئة الشبكات السلكية والالسلكية وتدريب الكوادر البشرية ونشر األجهزة االلكترونية‬ ‫وخصوصا النقالة وتعزيز وتقوية البنى التحتية لالتصاالت والحاسبات وقبل هذه األمور هو تهيئة المجتمع‬ ‫لتقبل هذه التقنيات المعلوماتية العلمية والتعليمية الحديثة‪.‬‬

‫‪ -6‬أهمية التعليم االلكتروني‬ ‫في البدء اود اإلشارة الى ان التعليم االلكتروني قد سبق ظهور الحكومة االلكترونية والحكم الرشيد والمفاهيم‬ ‫العلمية الحديثة األخرى التي شاعت من خالل اعتماد األساليب الرقمية الحديثة‪.‬‬ ‫وكما ان اعتماد التعليم االلكتروني يعتبر من اهم القضايا الالزمة لتطوير العملية التعليمية في العراق على‬ ‫مختلف مراحلها قبل المرحلة الجامعية وخاللها وبعدها‪ ،‬وبذلك فان التعليم االلكتروني هو نواة تحويل المجتمع‬ ‫العراقي الى مجتمع معرفة ورقمي وحجر األساس فيه‪.‬‬ ‫وعلى الحكومة العراقية ان تولي إصالح العملية التعليمية أهمية قصوى إدرا ًكا منها بأهمية التعليم ودوره في‬ ‫االرتقاء بكافة المجاالت والقطاعات األخرى في الدولة‪ ،‬حيث انه من أهم العناصر الرئيسية الالزمة لتحقيق‬ ‫هذا اإلصالح في وقتنا الحالي هو االستفادة من التطور التكنولوجي في التعليم‪ ،‬حيث يعتبر استخدام تكنولوجيا‬ ‫المعلومات واالتصاالت وتفعيل أدواتها في العملية التعليمية من العوامل الهامة لتطوير العملية التعليمية وزيادة‬ ‫فعاليتها وتحسين مخرجاتها‪ ،‬وبناء نموذج اإلصالح التعليمي الذي يمكن تفعيله في كافة مدارس العراق للتعليم‬ ‫قبل الجامعي‪ ،‬وهو ما يجب على الحكومة ان تقوم على تنفيذه اآلن وذلك من اجل تطوير المهارات الالزمة‬ ‫لخلق مجتمع المعرفة والمجتمع االلكتروني‪.‬‬

‫‪10‬‬

IRAQI GOVERNMENT PROGRAM The suggestive governmental program came with the main aspects of strategic priorities. Which were distributed among six aspects, that include secure and stable country, Improve the services and way of living for every citizen, Encourage the use of the private sectors, increase gas and petrol production to improve the Financial sustainability, Administrative and to reform the government institutions, Organizing the local- federal relations. The second aspects that relate with the Improvement of service and the way of living for the citizen, came with some basic points include "the development of education and research institutions". The second aspects that relate with the Improvement of service and the way of living for the citizen, came with some basic points include "the development of education and research institutions." Education is the most effectual way to improve our society , every citizen had the right to learn and take his chance in education and higher education, support the student with high potential, return the community confidence in the educational institutions, Ensure that the students is qualified to participate in community activities through the improvement in educational institutions and its staffs, the use of the new technologies to improve Education, Provide all the needs of schools, including the staff and equipment, Depend on the Vocational and technical education to meet The needs of the labor market. 1. Provision of appropriate and healthy school environment through the construction of new schools across the provinces to absorb the increasing number of students. 2. Develop the infrastructure for higher education and scientific research to be able to absorb all the coming provinces student and not to overcome the capacity of every institutions. 3. Improving scientific research by building a base material science laboratories specialized in the areas of: * Research in Energy Solar and wind Energy. * Measurements of low concentrations of uranium and alpha beta and gamma radiation.

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* Production and diagnosis the advanced nanomaterial. * Provide the needs of the ministry of administrative buildings, laboratories, workshops and rehabilitation of infrastructure to enable the scientific community to do their research work. 4. Provide students and the institutions with educational and scientific sources also create a Digital Library. 5. Keep up with the electronic and technological developments in learning, make computer science one of the curriculum material. 6. Encourage the use of private institutions in all education fields also make investment in this area while ensuring the efficiency of their education. 7. Restructuring the educational institutions of teaching to ensure the quality of the educational process. 8. Re-activate the compulsory education and raise its level to the end of middle school. 9. Activate Literacy Initiative 10. Continue in the program of educational initiative.

1- e-learning IHE supreme Committee Under the supervision of the ministry of higher education and scientific research, through the support of research and development department the Higher Committee of e-learning was created for the purpose of adopting E-learning and its techniques in the Iraqi Higher Education so it's become the new feature to develop Iraq education system . Where the ministry of higher education seeks to achieve this vision with all the available potential to develop a strategy for the adoption of e-learning in our universities and institutions, unified all the sectors that are related with e-learning to keep up with the scientific revolution and the development of digital information which we witness every day. the first step come with the investment of Digital technology in order to develop the traditional education, the evolving technology and the community in which we live in Iraq Impose a quick development in the educational system which consider very

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traditional, And seek to turn it into an integrated system through enrich the educational process with the new techniques to succeed in establishing an integrated educational system that relies on e-learning. The Commission's message and its philosophy is very simple and easy, is to use all the available Potentials to support Educational process And the scientific communication through the optimal employment of the techniques of information and communication systems, to achieve the educational goals.

2-The Committee's objectives: - Publishing the culture of e-learning and its applications in the higher education according to e-learning quality standards - Contribution in the achievement, evaluation and dissemination of e-learning programs. - Support the scientific research and e-learning studies in all the fields. - Setting quality standards for e-learning programs and its digital educational designs to implement it locally and globally. - Provide consulting to the specialized authorities, it will also be a committee of an international advisory group of experts and scholars to gives their consulting to help us in achieving our goals. -Establish a digital electronic library and digital scientific journal. - Encouraging distinctive projects and to coordinate between them through the use of e-learning and to provide specialized consultation at the level of Ministries and institutions of the Iraqi state as a service of the educational process in higher education. - Encourage the building of Iraqi educational software, evaluate, implement them, and support all the participant programmers.-arrange meetings, conferences and workshops locally to contribute in the educational process through training and preparation to qualify the staff scientifically and educationally. - Cooperate with the concerned international organizations, put contract and agreements to cooperate with them.

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- establish the Iraqi expert house in e-learning under the name of the e-learning Iraqi Center To be a model for e-learning in higher education as a first step and then at the level of the Iraqi state and Its ministries as a future step. This center owns a national identity builds upon the visions of the ministry. And shows professionalism, diversity and a teamwork, with Focus on the learners needs according to the modern educational theories that make it a Center of the Educational process. - set a conditions to control e-learning systems and its uses. Develop a special e-learning department in the higher education of Iraq and take advantage of all the available expertise to prepare the new generation so they become a specialists in this field as soon as possible. We all committed to implement the program of Iraqi government as a Executives workers in the Iraqi state, the decision of making strategies in this country is a matter of Ministers Councils and not the decision of the executive employees the role of Executive institutions confined with the implementation of these strategies, second: Improve the services and way of living for every citizen , B: develop the quality of educational system and research institutions ((Improve The educational institutions and the method of teaching by using new learning techniques)) 5:(( Keep up with electronic and technological developments In the matter of teaching and learning)).

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About the Sakai Project Sakai is a freely available, feature-rich technology solution for learning, teaching, research and collaboration. Sakai is an open source software suite developed by its diverse and global adopter community. Since its initial release in 2005, the java-based Sakai project has offered a flexible alternative to commercial learning systems that is designed, produced and managed by and for educational institutions. Around the world, 350+ colleges, universities, governments and other organizations have deployed Sakai's rich toolset to expand the possibilities for technology-enabled learning across many facets of the educational experience. Sakai serves upwards of 1.25 million students in the U.S. and 4 million students globally. Sakai adopters include

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many of the world’s top-ranked colleges and universities contributing to the solution’s vision, roadmap and sustainable future.

A Vibrant Community Supporting Sakai The community surrounding the Sakai project includes individuals, institutions and organizations worldwide that share a common commitment to enhancing teaching, learning and research. This commitment is reflected in how community members come together to pool knowledge, define the needs of academic users, create and share software tools and support each other adopting and using Sakai. Since December 2012, the Sakai project has been part of the Apereo Foundation, which provides organizational and administrative support for a variety of projects and software communities serving higher education. The Foundation’s core mission is to assist and facilitate educational organizations which collaborate to foster, develop, and sustain open technologies and innovation to support learning, teaching and research.

About Apereo The Apereo Foundation was formed by the merger of Jasig and the Sakai Foundation in late December 2012. Sakai and Jasig had pioneered the production and adoption of open source software for higher education for over ten years. Apereo will take that work further, providing a more rational and improved organizational umbrella for a range of projects and software communities serving higher education. The core mission of the Foundation is to "assist and facilitate educational organizations which collaborate to foster, develop, and sustain open technologies and innovation to support learning, teaching, and research.” Learn more at www.apereo.org.

Overview Used by more than 350 of the world’s great colleges and universities and over 4 million learners worldwide, the Sakai CLE is driven by a community that says, “Yes,” to the transformative possibilities of technology-enabled learning.

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A Feature-Rich Learning Platform The Sakai Environment provides a flexible and feature-rich environment for teaching, learning, research and other collaboration. As an open source software suite developed by its adopter community, Sakai continually evolves in step with the needs of the students, faculty members and organizations it serves. Colleges, universities, governments and other organizations deploy Sakai ’s rich toolset to expand the possibilities for technology-enabled learning across many facets of the educational experience. Learn more about the Sakai ’s capabilities by exploring the tables below:Sakai provides versatile support for teaching and learning, communication, collaboration, eportfolios, content and media integration, and administration. Learning Instructors and learners share knowledge, collaborate and engage in Management a wide spectrum of technology-enabled learning experiences, supported by an intuitive, modern user interface. Research Faculty members and research organizations collaborate with coCollaboration investigators using Sakai to share information, generate findings and work products, and communicate across geographies, organizations and disciplines. Project Student groups, faculty committees and leadership teams use Sakai Collaboration ’s project collaboration spaces to encourage participation and expedite progress on collaborative activities beyond the classroom. ePortfolio Learners use Sakai ePortfolio to showcase their work, instructors capture progress towards educational and professional goals, and institutions document evidence of compelling learning outcomes. Extending Sakai It’s easy to extend Sakai using community-developed tools or by integrating learning tools of choice using common industry standards. Language Support Sakai can be deployed in more than 20 languages, with language preference selectable at both the system and course/project site levels. Accessibility The Sakai community is committed to making all core features of Sakai accessible and usable for all potential users, including those with disabilities.

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Learning Management Instructors and learners share knowledge, collaborate and engage in a wide spectrum of technology-enabled learning experiences, supported by an intuitive, modern user interface.

Learning Management with Sakai Often the most powerful learning experiences involve collaboration between students and instructors. Whether instruction takes place face-to-face, online or in a blended environment, the Sakai project supports teaching and learning that is grounded in collaboration, co-creating and open sharing of knowledge.

A Uniquely Flexible Learning Environment Each Sakai deployment is unique, as every adopter institution creates its own look, feel and configuration within a standardized, well-structured learning environment. For instructors, the Sakai project offers tremendous flexibility to incorporate a wide variety of learning tools and technology-enabled instructional approaches. Most faculty members and students experience a minimal learning curve getting started with standard features: syllabi, course content, lessons, assignments, tests, and so forth. Sakai’s built-in collaboration suite also encourages team-based learning, flipped classrooms, and other modes of instruction that engage students actively and deeply in the learning process. Learn more about how Sakai supports teaching and learning:  Sakai Features and Functionality: Sakai's standard set of “Core Tools” provides versatile support for teaching and learning, communication, collaboration, eportfolios, content and media integration, and administration.  Extending the Sakai project: It’s easy to extend Sakai using contributed tools from the Sakai community or by integrating learning tools of choice using common industry standards.  Language Support: Sakai can be deployed in more than 20 languages, with language preference selectable at both the system and course/project site levels.  Sakai Stories: Organizations around the world are using Sakai to support a variety of different instructional approaches  Who’s Using Sakai for Learning Management? Colleges and universities worldwide rely on Sakai to support world-class teaching and learning.

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Research Collaboration More than a learning system, the Sakai project is designed to support collaborative projects, including effective collaboration between academic researchers. Sakai provides a rich toolset for communication, collaboration and knowledge-sharing within a single environment.

Research Collaboration More than a learning system, the Sakai project is designed to support collaborative projects, including effective collaboration between academic researchers. Sakai provides a rich toolset for communication, collaboration and knowledge-sharing within a single environment. Academically-oriented, Extensible and Intuitive As a software suite developed by and for the higher education community, Sakai is well-suited to the unique needs of academic networks and collaboration across geographies, organizations and disciplines. Researchers can readily extend this environment to include additional tools and capabilities using standards-based integration approaches such as the IMS Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standard. Because project collaboration sites are so easy to set up and operate within Sakai, many researchers establish and use project sites without requiring support from central IT services. A Common Environment for Learning, Teaching and Research For many institutions, Sakai simplifies the digital ecosystem by providing a common environment for learning, teaching, academic research and other types of collaboration. Faculty members and students benefit when instruction and research take place within a familiar collaboration platform that encourages research-informed teaching. At the same time, Sakai’s open design reaffirms the freedom of choice for each institution to select the right tools and capabilities for its needs.  Sakai Features and Functionality: Sakai provides versatile support for research and project-related communication, collaboration, and administration.  Extending the Sakai project: It’s easy to extend Sakai using contributed tools from the Sakai community or by integrating learning tools of choice using common industry standards.  Language Support: Sakai can be deployed in more than 20 languages, with language preference selectable at both the system and course/project site levels.

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 Sakai Stories: Organizations around the world are using the Sakai CLE to facilitate academic research and networking.  Who’s Using Sakai for Research Collaboration? Colleges, universities, research organizations and academic networks use Sakai for research and collaboration.

Languages Complete or majority-complete translations of Sakai are available in more than 20 languages. Languages From its inception, the Sakai project has been envisioned and designed for global use. Complete or majority-complete translations of Sakai are available in more than 20 languages listed below. Within Sakai, language preferences can be set at the system level and at the course or project site level, allowing foreign language instructors to set up course sites in the language they are teaching.

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• Arabic • Basque • Catalan • Chinese (including localized versions for the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan) • German • Dutch • English (including localized versions for Australia, Great Britain, United States, New Zealand) • French (including localized versions for Canada, France) • Indonesian • Italian • Japanese • Korean • Mongolian • Malay • Polish • Portuguese (including localized versions for Brazil, Portugal) • Russian • Spanish (including localized versions for Spain, Mexico) • Swedish • Turkish • Vietnamese Translation, internationalization and localization of the Sakai project are coordinated by the Sakai Internationalization/localization community. This community maintains a publicly-accessible report that tracks what percentage of Sakai has been translated into various global languages and dialects. If the software is not yet available in your language, you can translate it with support from the broader Sakai Community to assist you.

Accessibility The Sakai community is committed to ensuring all core features of the Sakai project are accessible and usable by the greatest number of potential users, including people with disabilities.

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Accessibility We develop Sakai core to meet or exceed all accessibility design principles found in recognized international standards. Our goal is to meet all of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 Level A and AA Success Criteria. We also use emerging standards and best practice design techniques (such as the WAI-ARIA Suite) that support existing and emerging adaptive technologies. Accessibility experts within the Sakai community conduct and document usability and accessibility evaluations on all tools intended for Sakai to ensure the solution meets the accessibility goals set by the community.

Features, Tools & Functionality Sakai includes all the learning, teaching and collaboration tools considered “standard” in learning platforms today, and its flexibility allows you to configure and use this broad tool set however you choose: in courses, individual and group study, research activities, collaborative projects and processes. Over time, the solution has evolved through new development, rigorous communitydriven testing and refinement to become the feature-rich, mature and sophisticated software suite that serves thousands of educational communities and millions of learners around the world.

Sakai’s Core and Expanded Features Sakai’s capabilities are wide-ranging, as reflected in the feature list below. The majority of Sakai's features are considered “Core Tools,” an integrated tool set that is thoroughly tested by the community and packaged together with each new release. Instructors, students, research investigators and project leaders can configure this common tool set to support the success of their courses, projects and other initiatives. The Sakai community also develops and publishes an expanded set of features called “Contrib Tools,” which are Sakai-specific tools and innovations developed and tested by community members and then released for others to use outside of the packaged Sakai release. Some of these tools offer unique functionality to augment Sakai's capabilities. Other Contrib Tools provide similar functionality to Core Tools but offer alternatives in the user interface and other ancillary features. Contrib Tools are generally considered high quality and reliable by community members. In fact, often the expanded features and innovations of Contrib Tools eventually become incorporated into the Core Tools.

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Integrating Sakai with Third Party Tools Using IMS LTI Sakai adopters frequently use the IMS Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) standard to easily and securely integrate third party learning tools and other systems into the Sakai environment. LTI v2 builds upon the widely adopted LTI v1 standard by providing a more sophisticated and extensible platform to enable deeper integrations and greater support for services and events. LTI v2 also provides enhanced outcomes reporting and a full extensions architecture allowing additional services to be added gradually using REST and JSON-LD to deliver this new functionality. Sakai helped drive the development of the IMS LTI specification, and is the first learning and collaboration environment to support the second version of the specification (IMS LTI v 2) fully. The feature list below describes Sakai Core Tools followed by popular Contrib Tools.

Sakai Core Tools Feature List Note: Core Tools are designed, developed and tested by the community, and then packaged with each new Sakai release.

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Description

Instruction Assignments Assignment Tools Gradebook (Core) Gradebook Tool

Create and grade online or offline assignments Calculate, store and distribute grade information to students

Graded Discussions Discussion Forums Tool

Evaluate and grade discussion participation

Grades and Feedback Post 'Em Tool

Post, store and distribute grades as well as nonnumeric feedback and commentary for students; used as an alternative gradebook tool

Lesson Builder Lesson Tool

Organize text, resources, quizzes, tests, assignments, media and other content onto a single page to fit the needs of a given lesson

Syllabus Syllabus Tool

Post a summary outline of course requirements

Tests & Quizzes Tests & Quizzes Tool, a.k.a. "SAMigo"

Create and manage online assessments using robust toolset: closed and open ended questions, matching, question pools, set point value, auto-grading, statistics, timed assessments, high security, audio recording, etc.

Communication and Collaboration Announcements Announcements Tool

Post current, time-critical information to a course or work site

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Description

Calendar Schedule Tool

Schedule and maintain deadlines, activities and events related to a course, project or work site; link to announcements, assignments, assessments, materials, etc.

Calendar Summary Calendar Summary Tool

View a weekly or monthly summary of scheduled events, either for a course or work site or for an individual active in one or more sites

Chat Chat Tool

Engage in real-time conversations with course or project participants

Discussion Forums Discussion Forums Tool

Create, moderate and manage discussion topics and groups within a course and send private messages to participants; options to grade discussions, set word count, permissions, etc.

Drop Box Drop Box Tool

Share files privately with course, project or site participants

Email Participants Mail Sender Tool

Send email messages to individual course or work site participants or course sections

Group Email List Email Archive Tool

Create a mailing list for your course or worksite, allowing for many-to-many broadcasting; access and search an archive of email sent to this address

Messages Messages Tool

Send, receive and reply to messages among course or work site participants

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Description

Podcasts Podcast Tool

Create podcasts from audio or video files, post them to a course or work site and broadcast them to subscribers

Polls Polls Tool

Easily create surveys, distribute and collect data from course or work site participants or groups

Wikis Wiki Tools

Create, share and edit web content collaboratively

User Features Individual Workspace My Workspace Tool

Individual space to organize and manage schedules, content, assignments, work products, etc.

Reset Password Reset Password Tool

Receive and fulfill user request for a new password

Set Preferences Preferences Tool

Customize how you receive notifications, organize tabs, and select time zone and language for your course or work site

Social Profiles Profile 2 Tool

Create a profile and connect with others using a social networking model

Site Features (Course Sites and Work Sites) Groups Group Tools

Define groups for the purposes of communication, grading, permissions, collaboration, assigning work or assessments, etc.

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Description

Homepage Home Tool

Pre-built landing page for any course or work site containing common functionality such as recent announcements, chat messages, discussion forums, shared collaboration spaces and a course site information page.

Manage Resources Resource Tool

Post, store and organize material related to the course or work site

Manage Site Site Info Tool

Manage and update course or work site information such as updating site participants and/or rosters, adding and removing tools, adjusting how tools work, and changing basic site options

Mass Upload WebDAV Tool

Easily upload, download and remove multiple files and resources from a course or work site

Section Management Section Info Tool

Manage multiple sections of the same course from one course site

Site Information Site Info Tool

View and update information about the site including site settings and membership

Site Roster Roster Tool

View a list of course or work site participants and their pictures

Site Statistics Site Stats Tool

View site usage statistics regarding user visits, tool activity, and resource activity

ePortfolio

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Description

Comments Comments Tool

Allow or disable viewer comments on portfolio content and make comments public or private

Evaluations Evaluations Tool

Evaluate ePortfolio content submitted for review and provide ratings and/or comments

Forms Forms Tool

Create forms that collect and store information for use in wizards, matrices, and portfolios

Glossary Glossary Tool

Provide contextual definitions for terms used on a course or work site

Matrices Matrices Tool

Define areas and criteria for which an individual provides evidence of learning, skills, capabilities and achievement in a portfolio

Permissions Permissions Tool

Set public/private permissions for viewing access to portfolios and content within portfolios

Portfolio Portfolio Tool

Create portfolios that present collections of content curated by the portfolio owner, and set permissions for sharing the portfolios with others

Portfolio Layouts Portfolio Layout Tool

Add portfolio layout options that determine how portfolio content is arranged

Portfolio Templates Portfolio Templates Tool

Create and modify templates that define layout, content, style and display for various types of portfolios (e.g., resume; senior project; first-year experience; etc.)

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Description

Reflections Reflections Tool

Provide commentary about the evidence, experiences and learning process associated with a matrix

Reports

Generate aggregate reports about portfolio usage, statistics, grades, etc.

Reviewer Feedback Feedback Tool

Provide reviewer feedback on matrices and/or evidence in a student’s ePortfolio

Administration Admin Workspace Admin Workspace Tool

Use a selection of standard administrative tools to configure Sakai , set administrative preferences, manage access controls, administer the software, and so forth.

Browser Support

Access Sakai from standard web browsers including the latest versions of Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Internet Explorer (IE) as well as IE 9 and IE 8. Further detail is available in our Wiki.

Language Support

Deploy Sakai in more than 20 languages; set language preference at the course and work site level

Mobile Support

Access a number of key Sakai tools via mobile devices through mobile-aware browser support

Scalability

Scale Sakai to support both large and small numbers of users.

Search Search Tool

Search for and find artifacts based on owner or type

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Description

Media, Content and Systems Integration

Authentication

Support authentication using standard single sign-on platforms such as CAS, Kerberos, SAML and Shibboleth

IMS Common Cartridge

Support for IMS Common Cartridge export

IMS LTI

Support for IMS Learning Tool Integration (LTI) for simple, standards-based integration with third party tools running outside Sakai

REST Services

Use REST architecture for open APIs to create interoperability and share data between Sakai and other software

Web

Display custom news content from dynamic, online sources via RSS

RSS Feeds News Tool SOAP Services

Web

Use SOAP architecture for open APIs to create interoperability and share data between Sakai and other software

Why Sakai? Sakai represents a fundamentally different choice compared to other learning systems available today. Sakai is an open, flexible, feature-rich platform for learning, teaching and collaboration that develops organically from within higher education to address dynamic needs of a global community. As an open source solution, Sakai is also a contributory experience, where people come together to make great ideas into a reality for the entire community.

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Top Ten Reasons to Adopt Sakai! While every Sakai deployment is unique, there are common reasons why institutions choose to participate in the Sakai project. If these things are important for your institution, Sakai may also be right for you. With Sakai, you can: a) Deploy a complete system for learning, teaching, research and collaboration. The Sakai project provides a broad feature set you can use for courses, collaborative projects and research, including all the standard LMS capabilities you don’t want to live without. b) Support the kinds of learning and teaching you want to offer. Within a single platform, Sakai can support virtually any type of instructional approach or learning style, including elements of the educational experience that are unique to your institution. c) Tap into global innovation in learning and teaching. Innovative developments from across the worldwide Sakai community come together to align the Sakai project with where learning and teaching are heading in the future. Customize the environment to your needs. The Sakai project’s flexible, open design means you can change the look, feel, functionality and tools to make it work for your institution and the learning experiences your instructors and students want to create. d) Engage with an open, creative, like-minded community. Powerful commitments to openness, transparency and new possibilities in technology-enabled learning are the hallmarks of the higher education community surrounding and producing Sakai. Control the technology. With the Sakai project’s open source software, you always have access to the latest version to download, tweak, modify, integrate and otherwise optimize how it operates in your environment. Choose among flexible deployment and support options. You can deploy Sakai on your own or opt for various levels of services, hosting and support from our Commercial Affiliates, depending on your needs and preferences. e) Achieve scalability without excessive per-user costs. Using Sakai, you can scale up your learning system to very large numbers or extend it to new populations, without concern for escalating licensing costs as you grow. f) Join with 350+ leading institutions supporting millions of learners around the world. The Sakai project serves upwards of 1.25 million students in the U.S. and 4 million students globally. Sakai adopters include many of the world’s top-

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ranked colleges and universities contributing to the solution’s vision, roadmap and sustainable future. g) Influence the future. Unlike commercial LMS alternatives, the Sakai project offers your institution both the opportunity and the responsibility to help shape the future direction of your learning system and how it will support teaching and learning in the future.

What does open source mean for Sakai? Sakai is open source Learning Management System software. Free to download. Free to modify. Free to use. Free to share.

How Open Works: Sakai as a Solution and a Community Sakai is developed and maintained by people who either work in, or serve the Higher Education sector. The community around Sakai works to make the environment more effective and better suited to the needs of their institutions. Community is central to the sustainability of Sakai. Sakai is built, wherever possible, on common specifications and standards. By building Sakai in this way, we can ensure it integrates well with other software used on campus. Standards support also means flexibility, and the ability to plug in external tools. The open nature of Sakai means you don't have to take our word that we're standards conformant – if you need to, you can /see/ it. This stands in sharp contrast to systems that claim to be open, but really retain some “secret sauce” only paying customers can see. Don't be taken in by fauxpen source! Coordinating community effort is a major effort. In Sakai we spread the load. Sakai has a full-time Community Coordinator. It has an active Teaching and Learning Community. A Project Management Committee oversees key developments. Other groups work on accessibility, internationalization, documentation, and specific Sakai tools. We welcome new participants, and there are many ways to get involved. The future of Sakai is in the hands of the community. The instructors, students, researchers and developers of Sakai, by intention, are the ones who chart its path. Come join us and change the future of education, for the better, for ourselves, for freedom, control, and community. For the greater good.

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An Open, Community-Driven Solution As open source software, the Sakai code is freely available for anyone to download. It carries a license that grants users the right to deploy, modify and distribute the software at no cost and for any purpose. The Sakai is also considered “community source” software because much of the investment for producing the software comes from the contributions of institutional community members as well as individuals. Many colleges, universities and some commercial firms commit resources to help design, build, test and refine the software on an ongoing, voluntary basis. Support from the community lends stability and direction as community members identify priorities and shepherd product management over time.

Pathways to Adoption Unlike most LMS alternatives, Sakai is a freely available, open source solution you can deploy, use and contribute to in many ways. You can download Sakai and set up your own installation at any time. Alternatively, you can contract with one of our Commercial Affiliates to help you plan, deploy, host and/or support the Sakai project for your institution. The links below provide more detailed information about the Sakai community, the Sakai project, and flexible options for adopting and deploying the solution. • The Sakai Community: Learn more about the role of the community in designing, building, testing, supporting and improving the Sakai over time • Connect with the Sakai Community: Find common interest groups, join email lists, send an inquiry or start a conversation • Ways to Contribute: Explore the many ways you can participate in making the Sakai project even better, with or without a technical skill set • The Software Development Process: Understand the community-driven process for developing and releasing Sakai • Licensing: Find out about Sakai’s open license and how it empowers adopters from the Apereo Foundation website • Deployment Options: Consider flexible options and financial considerations for deploying Sakai • Commercial Affiliates: Identify trusted partners who help you learn more about Sakai and help support a deployment designed to make your institution successful

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The Community The Sakai community is comprised of individuals and institutions that share a common commitment to enhancing teaching, learning and research.

Community

The Sakai community is comprised of individuals and institutions that share a common commitment to enhancing teaching, learning and research. This commitment is reflected in how community members come together to pool knowledge, define the needs of academic users, create and share software tools, and support adoption of the Sakai project. Participation from more than 350 of the world’s leading institutions lends creativity, stability and longevity to this effort.

A Network of Experts, Colleagues and Mentors Sakai isn’t just about software. As you reach into the community for partnership, it becomes a tremendous experience in networking, interaction and professional development. Smart, diverse thinkers from both technical and non-technical backgrounds combine expertise and find ways to create and implement great ideas. Sakai adopters participate in the Apereo Foundation’s Regional Communities and Communities of Interest to facilitate collaboration within geographic and professional interest areas. Sakai is both a platform for collaboration and an enriching experience in global collaboration with peers to produce ongoing value for the community.

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Community Support for Collective Success As a community-source solution, Sakai evolves to keep pace with the organic needs of its higher education community. Each day, community members share thousands of interactions to build and improve software, post and respond to help requests, and collaborate on projects. A community-driven quality assurance process means Sakai adopters don’t have to wait on vendor release cycles to fix bugs or make enhancements. The community offers technical assistance through email lists, wiki sites and a network of peers who are willing and able to assist. Transparency is a particular strength of the Sakai Community. Frank discussions in open forums mean community members know what is happening with core systems and tools, from bug tracking to enhancement design. A spirit of joint ownership pervades everything we do, along with the recognition that we are all in this together as Sakai adopters.

Ways to Contribute Sakai is the sum of the exceptional contributions of its community members and volunteers. Many individuals around the world are working every day to strengthen the Sakai project.

As an open community, we welcome individuals with diverse backgrounds and viewpoints. You don’t have to possess any particular technical expertise in order to be a valued contributor. Here is a sampling of the ways you can contribute:  Adopt Sakai: Become part of the community using and extending Sakai, either deploying it yourself or with the help of a Commercial Affiliate

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 Share Best Practices: Contribute best practices, lessons learned and success stories when you participate in community forums, email lists, websites and events.  Provide User Feedback: Provide feedback and suggestions about usability, what works, how to improve the Sakai project based on user input.  Update Documentation: Write, contribute to or improve on Sakai documentation for technical or non-technical users.  Write Code: Help write and contribute code to advance Sakai, including core tools, extensions, integrations and so forth. Java coding experience is a plus.  Engage in the Quality Assurance Process: Log bugs and problems you run into, to help the community diagnose issues and improve the software.  Participate in the Community-driven Support Process: Share advice and expertise through the email lists and other forums that provide support for community members and adopters.  Join the Maintenance Team: Help address post-release issues when they arise.  Conduct Accessibility Reviews: Review Sakai tools and capabilities for compliance with accessibility standards.  Become a Community Member: Join the Apereo Foundation and engage in the collaborative process that shapes the future of the Sakai project.  Advocate for Great Ideas: When you come across a great idea, bring it to the community’s attention so we can help marshal the resources to make it a reality.

Deployment Sakai is capable of both small-scale and massive deployments, all without any licensing costs to extend the solution to new populations or educational communities. In fact, several community members are exploring the potential of Sakai as a MOOC platform.

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Among the Sakai project’s great strengths are the flexible deployment options available to adopters, including:  Deploy and support Sakai yourself: Deploy the software on your own and draw on the support of an active global community comprised of 350+ institutions.  Deploy Sakai yourself and purchase commercial support: Install and deploy the software yourself, and engage a Commercial Affiliate to provide additional support services.  Deploy and support Sakai using a Commercial Affiliate: Contract with a trusted partner to implement and support your Sakai installation.  Use Sakai in a hosted environment: Contract with a Commercial Affiliate to host, deploy, maintain and support your institution’s installation of Sakai.  Select some combination of the options above: Between the diversity of the Sakai community and the flexibility of the Sakai, adopter institutions are using a variety of approaches deploy Sakai successfully.  For institutions with sufficient internal resources and technical expertise to maintain an open source software environment like Sakai, deploying Sakai themselves may be attractive because of the inherent creativity and almost limitless flexibility of this approach. Other institutions choose to draw on commercial support options to augment their capabilities or provide a solution tailored to their specific needs.

Financial Planning for a Sakai Deployment Compared to proprietary solutions, Sakai requires a different approach to financial planning and total cost of ownership. Because the software has no license fees, Sakai can be extended to any number of individuals or educational communities without increasing licensing costs. Adopter institutions must plan for hardware and other infrastructure costs, as well as the people, skill sets and time required to deploy, administer and support Sakai, whether these things are handled in-house, or by an external partner. Adopter institutions are also encouraged to join the Apereo Foundation and contribute modest annual membership fees to sustain the Sakai project. These fees provide for technical and community coordination and enable Apereo to be a safe haven for Sakai IPR and licensing.

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Sakai Video Help Repository Repository of help videos on many Sakai related topics. The Sakai Video Help Repository is a simple community repository of links pointing to "help videos."

Videos will be minimally screened to remove from our database any inappropriate and irrelevant content. To suggest videos to the community: The Sakai Video Repository Entry Form is the place to add links to Sakai help videos your institution has created and wants to share. To contribute, fill out the form. You will be asked what version of Sakai the video is demonstrating, how long it is, and other basic information that will help others discover your video. We do not accept video uploads, only links to videos.

Sakai Video Repository Entry Form To search for videos in the Sakai Video Help Repository: The Sakai Video Help Spreadsheet is the place to find help videos for Sakai. We have pre-created filters to quickly distinguish between videos created for Sakai 2.9, Sakai 10 or Sakai 11. In the future, as the repository grows and needs change, we can easily add more filters. Or you can add your own temporary filter to search for exactly what you need!

Sakai Video Help Spreadsheet Steps for finding a video: 1. Go to the spreadsheet 2. Use the filter to help you more quickly find what you are looking for 3. Click the link for the help video

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To use the filters in the Sakai Video Help Database, simply select the filter. See example screenshot:

Community Driven Tech Support Every day, Sakai community members share expert advice and provide mutual support for each other. Institutions using Sakai can lean on the broader Sakai community for technical support to answer questions and increase their expertise with the software.

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The Sakai Community uses three primary forums for technical support and sharing expertise: 1. Email lists managed by Sakai’s project leadership in support of community collaboration activities. For technical questions, the Development discussion group (Sakai-Dev) is the most active, in use by designers, programmers, developers and people engaged in quality assurance. Many other topical lists are also available, ranging from teaching and learning to user experience and regional discussion groups for Sakai users around the world. 2. The Sakai Community wiki, used by community members for many purposes including collaborative development of documentation, design ideas, project management, and sharing of notes and other materials. This site also contains extensive online technical documentation for Sakai. 3. Sakai’s issue tracking system, used by community members to log feature requests, generate requirements, track and resolve bugs. While you don’t need an account to view most support issues or wiki pages, an account is required to add content and participate actively in both the wiki and the issue tracking system. To create a Jira account for this purpose, visit the Sakai Jira. If you forget your Jira account user name or password, visit this link and follow the instructions: Forgot Login Details What other Says of Sakai

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Another open source solution, Sakai differs from Moodle in a few key elements. It is built on Java, as opposed to LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) and while it is open source, only certain key stakeholders and commercial affiliates are allowed to contribute to the source code. It is aimed at academic institutions as opposed to corporate training.

Tests and quizzes within Sakai Differentiating Features Sakai integrates with Google Docs, and includes tools like a wiki, online testing, presentation slides and the ability to use Dropbox as well. Pros/Cons Sakai enjoys the support of a well-endowed educational foundation which oversees the strategic development of the software. This means that significant resources ($6 million compared to Moodle’s $12,000 per year) can be brought to bear should any major issues arise. That said, because Sakai is Java-based as opposed to LAMP, some have argued this increases the total cost of ownership for users. Java servers and developers are typically more expensive than PHP ones. Additionally Sakai serves a narrower clientele and so there is not as broad a community of support, plugins and add-ons as there is with Moodle, for instance.

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IBM Joins the Sakai Project For those of you who aren’t familiar with Sakai, it’s an open source collaboration and learning environment (CLE) geared for higher education. The origins of the project come from the University of Michigan and Indiana University, but now involves over 70 schools around the world. Well now it looks like IBM has become a corporate sponsor of the project. While I always have mixed feelings about a large corporate entity coming in to support open products, institutions that have been resisting the adoption of open products such as Sakai may be able to reconsider. And IBM has a few nice things to say about open source software: “IBM believes the open-source movement is leading to the next major paradigm shift in the software industry. We think it is important to view the role of open source in the more holistic form of an ‘open approach’ overall. Together, open source, open standards and open architecture form a powerful combination for the creation of the next generation of applications.”

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Sakai Stories See what amazing things Sakai institutions are doing through their own stories. Hear from institutions around the world who are using Sakai. Here are a few examples of what powerful things can be accomplished using Sakai.

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HOW TO USE MOODLE AS A TEACHER Abstract - Moodle is the name of a program that allows the classroom to extend onto the web. This program allows a common place for students to go for many classroom resources. Using Moodle, you can post news items, assign and collect assignments, post electronic journals and resources, and more. Moodle is a course management system (CMS) – a software package designed to help educators create quality online courses and manage learner outcomes. Such e-learning systems are sometimes also cal led Learning Management Systems (LMS), Virtual Learning Environments (VLE) and Learning Content Management Systems (LCMS). Students need only a browser (e.g., IE, Firefox, Safari) to participate in a Moodle course. Keywords : Moodle as a teacher , program , classroom , course management system , e-learning

Introduction Moodle is an online Learning Management System (LMS) enabling educators to create dynamic courses that extend learning, anytime, anywhere. The heart of Moodle is courses that contain activities and resources. The main power of this activity-based model comes in combining the activities into sequences and groups .

Creating a New User Account Before you can do anything in Moodle you must create a New Account. By default this is done via e-mail confirmation. A message is sent from Moodle after completing the New Account registration form (Fig. 2), accessible from the main Login screen (Fig. 1). Other forms of user authentication are supported in Moodle (e.g. manual accounts only, external database, POP3, LDAP etc.), and these are explained in the Administration section of this manual. Once a user account is established the primary Moodle administrator can change an account login permissions. Following are types of user accounts that can be assigned to a Moodle user: • Student (default - can interact with course content only) • Teacher with Editing Permissions (can populate a course with activities and provide learner feedback - e.g. grades, assignment comments etc.) • Teacher without Editing Permissions (can provide learner feedback only - e.g. grades, assignment comments etc.)

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• Course Creator (can create new courses, teach within them and assign teachers) • Administrator (can do anything and go anywhere within Moodle )

Participants complete the process of creating a New Account by clicking the link sent by Moodle in an e-mail message they receive. This step should not be omitted when using the default e-mail authentication method. E-mail link will login new user to Moodle site front page (Fig. 3). Once you have created a New Account ask the Moodle administrator to change your accounts login permissions

Moodle Screen Elements Learners can access a Moodle course using almost any browser, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Firefox and Safari for the Macintosh. It is important that learners have a familiarity with using their browser and that Moodle basic screen elements (Fig. 4) are explained, including:

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• The Navigation bar (breadcrumbs trail) • Side blocks • Course content area • Turn editing on button (seen by course creators only)

The Navigation bar or “breadcrumbs trail” in Moodle displays hyperlinks, showing where the student is at in relation to the course or site main page. This allow the user to easily return to a previous screen, and should be used over the back/forward buttons on the browser.

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Course Setup - Side Blocks If this is the first time you are entering a new course created for you by an administrator, it will be mostly blank (see Fig. 4). Course templates have block areas on the left and right sides, with course content activities being added in the middle of the screen. Side blocks can be added, removed and moved around on the course homepage to fit your needs. To reveal Moodle's features for adding content and arranging side blocks in your course, click the “Turn editing on” button located in the top right corner of the screen (Fig. 5). This action will reveal features for adding activities and resources in the content area of the course, and allow you to work with side blocks. The following is a description of Moodle side blocks included during installation, and their functions.

People This block has three selections, including: • Participants (shows list view of everyone enrolled in course) • Groups (see Learner Management section in manual) • Edit profile (allows a user to add personal information to their profile - Fig. 6)

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Activities Whenever you add a different activity or resource to your course, an icon will appear in this block representing the specific Moodle “module” (e.g. Forum, Journal, Assignment etc.). These icons will link to a list of all instances of that modules activity that appear throughout the course. For students this provides a quick way to access a specific learning activity, teacher feedback or grade. For teachers they can access Learner Management features covered in that section of the manual.

Calendar This block allows a user to post significant events, relative to their account permissions: • Site (event viewable in all courses - created by admin users) • Course (event viewable only to course members - created by teachers) • Groups (event viewable only by members of a group - created by teachers) • User (personal event a student user can create - viewable only by the user)

Upcoming Events This block displays upcoming Calendar events in an abbreviated list, with links to the actual event so all details can be viewed. If this event is an Assignment, Forum, Quiz or Chat closing date the participant can link directly to this activity.

Search Allows participants to do a Google like search of all Forums, for the occurrence of their search value.

Administration These features are discussed in the Learner Management section of the manual.

Courses This block will display a list of all courses (only) that a participant is enrolled in, allowing one-click access to another course home page.

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Latest News The News forum (default) within your course provides a why in which you can post course news you want participants to receive. Any posting made in this forum will display as a listed item in the Latest News block.

Recent Activity This block displays two types of information for a participant; an abbreviated list of what they have done since their last login (displayed within the block), and a more detailed “Full report of recent activity”. This latter features provides the participant with a Normal view displaying a list of recent activity by module, or an Advanced view where report criteria can be set.  Recent Activity is a great way to quickly spot check course participation of a specific learner, using the Advanced search feature.

Online User Displays name and image of everyone logged in to the course within the past 5 minutes.

Course Setup - Settings In the simpliest of terms, a Moodle course is comprised of learning activities presented to participants within a specific format. This format can be open-ended consisting of a number of topics, or it can be more formal such as structured around a beginning and ending date (like Fig. 1), or it can be formatted to encourage informal learning. Moodle allows you to select one of these three formats while setting up your course: • Topic (for open-ended or ongoing enrollment - self paced learning) • Weekly (structured, with a beginning and ending time period - e.g. school environments) • Social (Forums that encourage informal modes of learning - peer interaction) All features available from the Administration block will be covered in the Learner Management section of the manual, except for the Settings selection. This selection is central to course management in that this is where you will structure the online learning experience for your participants. When you click the Settings link in the Administration

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block the “Edit course settings screen (Fig. 7 ) appears, allowing you to make the following selections:

The course “Settings” screen is where the online learning experience is structured for your students. Moodle allows a course creator to selectdifferent formats for their course including Topic, Weekly or Social format.

Category: It is likely that your course may be one of several selections available at the Moodle site front page. Courses are typically assigned to a category (e.g. Language Arts, Workplace Safety etc.), and your Moodle administrator may have done this when the

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course template was created. If not, make a selection from the Category value list that places your course in the correct category for your organization.

Full name: Give your course a full name, as it will appear in the header area of the home page (e.g. Moodle 101), and in the site front page category.

Short name: This is the name that will appear in the Navigation bar “breadcrumbs” are (e.g. M101)

ID Number: If you have an official code name for this course then use it here. Otherwise, leave blank.

Summary: Enter a brief description for your course; about a paragraph of information that describes it to someone visiting the site front page.

Format: Select a display format for the course (Topic, Weekly or Social) .

Course start date: If you selected Weekly format, assign a date for when the course will go live.

Enrollment period: If you would like to set a time limit for how long a participant can be enrolled in your course, make a selection here. If you do not wish to set an enrollment period limit, select Unlimited. When you set enrollment period limits, a participant will be automatically unenrolled from the course on the specified number of days after they have first entered the course.

Number of weeks/topics: If you chose either Topic or Weekly format, select the number of topics or weeks your course will be comprised of.

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Group mode: Group mode allows you to segment participants into either Separate or Visible groups. Groups are discussed in the Learner Management section of the manual.

Force (Group mode): If the group mode is "forced" at a course-level, then the course group mode is applied to every activity in that course. Individual group settings in each activity are then ignored. This is useful when, for example, one wants to set up a course for a number of completely separate cohorts.

Availability: This option allows you to "hide" your course completely. It will not appear on any course listings, except to teachers of the course and administrators. Even if students try to access the course URL directly, they will not be allowed to enter.

Enrollment key: A course enrolment key is what keeps unwanted people out of your course. If you leave this blank, then anyone who has created a Moodle username on this site will be able to enrol in your course simply by going in to it. If you put something here, then students who are trying to get in for the FIRST TIME ONLY will be asked to supply this word or phrase.

Guest access: You have the choice of allowing "guests" into your course. People can log in as guests using the "Login as a guest" button on the login screen. Guests ALWAYS have "readonly" access meaning they can't leave posts or otherwise mess up the course for real students. This can be useful when you want to let a colleague in to look around at your work, or to let students see a course before they have decided to enroll. You have a choice between two types of guest access: with the enrolment key or without. If you choose to allow guests who have the key, then the guest will need to provide the current enrolment key EVERY TIME they log in (unlike students who only need to do it once). This lets you restrict your guests. If you choose to allow guests without a key, then anyone can enter into your course.

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Hidden sections: This option allows you to decide how the hidden sections in your course are displayed to students. By default, a small area is shown (in collapsed form, usually gray) to indicate where the hidden section is, though they still can not actually see the hidden activities and texts. This is particularly useful in the Weekly format, so that non-class weeks are clear. If you choose, these can be completely hidden, so that students don't even know sections of the course are hidden.

News items to show: A special forum called "News" appears in the "Weekly" and "Topics" course formats. It's a good place to post notices for all students to see. (By default, all students are subscribed to this forum, and will receive your notices by email.) This setting determines how many recent items appear on your course home page, in the Latest News block or News forum. If you set it to "0 news items" then the Latest News block won't appear on the home page.

Show grades: Many Moodle activities allow grades to be set. By default, the results of all grades within the course can be seen in the Grades page, available to students from the course home page "Administration" block. If a teacher is not interested in using grades in a course, or just wants to hide grades from students, then they can disable the display of grades using this setting. This does not prevent individual activities from using or setting grades, it just disables the results being displayed to students.

Show activity reports: Activity reports are available for each participant that show their activity in the current course. As well as listings of their contributions, these reports include detailed access logs.

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Teachers always have access to these reports, using the “Activity” link visible on each participants profile page. Student access to their own reports is controlled by the teacher via this course setting. For some courses these reports can be a useful tool for a student to reflect on their involvement and appearance within the online environment, but for some courses this may not be necessary. Another reason for turning it off is that the report can place a bit of load on the server while being generated. For large or long classes it may be more efficient to keep it off (default).

Maximum upload size: This setting defines the largest size of file that can be uploaded by students in this course, limited by the site wide setting created by the administrator. It is possible to further restrict this size through settings within each Moodle activity module. Your word for….: These four fields allow you define what names will appear within the course for teachers and students.

Force language: Allows you to set course language setting to a default, which will override a students settings. Moodle has language packs for over 50 languages, which change all screen information and help files to the language selected. Course content which is added is in the language in which it was created, Moodle does not automatically interpret such content.

Course Setup - Design Tools This section will discuss Moodle design tools (editing symbols and the HTML editor), used during course creation. A good way to become familiar with these basic features is to add a summary description in the Top section of the course home page for your participants (Fig. 10). Begin by clicking the “Turn editing on” button. This action will reveal:

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• Block side block for adding, removing and moving side blocks • Add an activity and Add a resource lists (Fig. 8) • Activity/Resource editing symbols

Fig.8

Editing Symbols Each time you add an instance of an activity or resource to your course, a series of editing symbols will appear alongside the link. For example, notice in Fig. 8 these symbols appear to the right of the “News forum”, added by default when the course shell was created. The following is an explanation for these editing symbols:

Course Home Page Summary Description

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To add comments in the Top section of the course home page that describes your course to participants, click the Edit icon link for the Top section area. This action will bring up the sections Summary of week/topic property screen (Fig. 9). You can add an image with your description, and when complete simply click “Save Changes” to see your summary appearon the course home page (Fig. 10 ). Each topic/week in your course can have a Summary description.

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HTML Editor When you are creating your course you will frequently use Moodle’s built in HTML editor (Fig. 11). Your students will use this tool when responding to Forum posts, making Journal entries, creating a Dialogue response and when they use a Wiki. The HTML editor can be disabled by the Moodle administrator, but is a useful tool for enriching course content. The HTML editor is not as feature rich as a commercial application like Dreamweaver or FrontPage, but you can do almost anything these tools can. A button on the tool bar allows you to expand the editor to full screen and you can also work directly with code.

Fig.11 Images stored in the course “Files” area can be easily inserted and you can create links to resources stored on another server. Hyperlinks and anchor points can also be easily inserted into a document. Moodle has built in media filters, discussed in the Administration section of the manual, that allow you to embed Flash, QuickTime, MP3 and Windows Media files into the HTML editor so they play directly within the page you create.

Course Setup - Adding Activities and Resources A Moodle course is populated with activities in one of two ways; by adding a “module” instance from the Activities drop-down menu (Fig. 12), or by adding an internal or external Resouce (Fig. 13). An internal resouce is defined as a file you create within Moodle using say the HTML editor, and an external resource is typically a file stored elsewhere on the Internet, on another server or elsewhere within Moodle. This section of the manual will explain both activity modules and resources. The following activity modules are discussed:

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Assignment Module In a bricks & mortar classroom an instructor may provide learners with an assignment that typically gets assessed (or graded) for completion. Adding an instance of an Assignment module activity allows you to do this. An assessment can be made from either a participants online submission of an electronic file (Word, PowerPoint etc.), or from an offline submission of the project in an actual classroom. In either case the instructor can provide an assessment/grade or written feedback to the participant on their assignment, using Moodle’s Learner Management features (see that section of the manual). When you select Assignment from the drop-down menu a property screen appears with the following values to be completed:

Assignment name: Give your assignment a name (e.g. “Report on Topic Content) Description: You can be as brief or expanded as you want when adding details of the assignment. If your are adding rich content, tables etc. to your description, expand the HTML editor into full screen mode so you can make your webpage document look nice when participants view it.

Assignment type: Select whether participants will complete the assignment as an Offline activity, or Upload a single file. If the latter, participants will have an option at the bottom of the screen to upload a file (not viewable during teacher login). Allow resubmitting: Select whether course participants can submit the assignment more than once.

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Grade: If this assignment is graded, select a value for the grade or select a scale that is being used. In the Learner Management section of the manual you will learn how to create custom grade scales and assessment of your own.

Maximum size: If you selected Upload a single file for Assignment type, set this value for the maximum size file (Word, Excel PowerPoint etc.) a participant can upload. This is typically only a few megabytes in size, unless the assignment is a multimedia file submission.

Due date: When the course is running in a “Weekly” format there is an option to set a date for when this assignment is due by. This date will appear in the course Calendar as a reminder for participants. If you are using Topic format, set this date for say a few years in advance so the assignment activity will never become unavailable to students. Chat Module The Chat module allows participants to have a real-time synchronous discussion via the web.This is a useful way to get a different understanding of each other and the topic being discussed – the mode of using a chat room is quite different from the asynchronous Forums. The Chat module contains a number of features for managing and reviewing chat discussions. Setup properties include the ability to establish a Chat session date/time (displayed on course calendar), schedule repeating chat sessions, a period for saving past chat sessions for students to review and whether or not these past sessions can be viewed. Choice Module A choice activity is very simple - the teacher asks a question and specifies a choice of multiple responses. It can be useful as a quick poll to stimulate thinking about a topic; to allow the class to vote on a direction for the course; or to gather research feedback. The Choice properties window allows you to select whether results from the actitivy are published for participants to view (anonymously or known) and whether a participant can modify their original selection. You can also set whether the results page will display a column showing unanswered participants.

Dialogue Module (non-standard) This module provides a simple communication method between pairs of users. A teacher can open an dialogue with a student, a student can open a dialogue with a teacher, and (optionally) a student can open a dialogue with another student. A teacher or student can be involved in many on-going dialogues at

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any time. If you were a teacher, you might think of this as an after school personal meeting. If you were a mentor, this could be a one-to-one session. Students can use a dialogue to help each other in a private manner. Setup properties allow you to select whether a dialogue is deleted a certain number of days after it has been closed, the type of dialogue instance being created (i.e., teacher to student, student to student or everybody) whether more than one dialogue per person is permitted and whether Moodle will automatically send out an e-mail notifying each party that a comment has been added to the dialogue. Forum Module This activity can be most important in terms of helping learners construct new knowledge - it is here that discussion among participants and teachers takes place. Forums can be structured in different ways, and can include peer rating of each posting. The postings can be viewed in a variety for formats, and can include attachments. By subscribing to a forum, participants will receive copies of each new posting in their email. A teacher can impose subscription on everyone if they want to. Forum setup properties include:    

How students are allowed to post to a forum Whether subscription is forced Maximum size of attachment upload Whether posts can be rated and by whom, the type of rating scale used and how students can view these ratings, and a time period in which ratings can be applied.

Lesson Module A lesson delivers content in an interesting and flexible way. It consists of a number of pages. Each page normally ends with a question and a number of possible answers (Fig. 14 ). Depending on the student's choice of answer they either progress to the next page or are taken back to a previous page. Navigation through the lesson can be straight forward or complex, depending largely on the structure of the material being presented. Lessons are a great way to assess practical knowledge of a subject, and with creative use of Moodle’s HTML editor very effective simulations can be built Lesson

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Lesson module allows you to add entire lessons that guide the student based on the student’s answers. It might be helpful to think of a Lesson activity as a kind of flowchart. The student reads some content. After the content, you ask the student some questions. Based on the answers the student gives, the system sends the student to another page in the Lesson. For example, if a student chooses question one, then the system might go to page 3. If the student chooses answer two, the system goes to page 1. If the student answers question 3, the system goes to page 5 etc. Lessons are very flexible, but do require some set-up. To add a Lesson, select Lesson from the Add an activity menu on the course homepage. This action will take you to the Lesson editing properties page (Fig. 14 a). Fill in the Name of the lesson. Next, select the maximum grade to be given for the whole lesson (a number from 0-100).

How grading works: If the system sends the student ahead to any later page, the question is marked correct. If the system sends the student back to any page, the question is marked incorrect. The “Maximum number of answers” sets how many questions can be asked on each page. If you leave the number at say 4, you can still ask 2 questions on one page if you wish. You can even have a page where you do not ask a question – in those cases the student automatically continues on to the next page.

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Next, set if the students can retake the lesson or not, and set the dates that the lesson is available. When you are done, click on “Save changes.” The new Lesson activity now appears on the course homepage in the content area where it was originated. You must still define all of the pages in the lesson. To do that, click on the Lesson link on your class homepage in the section area where you created it. This will take you to the first page (Fig. 14b), where you can start to define all the Fig. 22b pages that make up the Lesson.

The items on the first page are:  Page title: title of this page only. If you have multiple pages for your lesson, each one will have a title.  Page contents: this is where you put the information you are trying to convey. It may be a story, a problem to solve, a poem, or anything that you want to ask questions about. You should usually end the section with a question that will be answered by the students.  Answer 1 (or Answer #): this is where you type one answer to the question you asked. You fill in one answer per Answer #, up to the maximum you defined. You do not have to fill them all in.  Response #: after each Answer # section, there is a Response #. This is an explanation that the student will see after picking one of the possible answers and before being redirected to another page (or staying on the same page).  Jump to: after each Response # there is a field that tells the system what to do if the student picks that number. You can tell the system to end the lesson, to stay on the current page, or to jump to any page that already exists (forward or back). For example, if I pick Answer 1 and the “Jump to” field is set to go to the next page, then I will be sent to the next page of the lesson. Grading is determined by the navigation. That is, if a student stays on the same page or is sent to a previous page, then the answer is counted as wrong. If the student picks an answer and is

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sent to a later page, then the answer is counted as correct. By default, Answer 1 sends the student to the next page, and all the other Answers keep the student on the same page, but that can be changed. The students will see the order of the Answers mixed up (Answer 1 may actually be the fourth question asked). Once you have all of the fields in your Lesson set up, click “Save page.” This will take you to a summary page like Fig. 14c. From the summary page you can add another page, using the link in the upper right or the lower right.

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Quiz Module Quiz module allows the teacher to design and set quiz tests, consisting of multiple choice, true-false, short answer questions etc. (Fig. 15). These questions are kept in a categorized database, and can be re-used within courses and even between courses. Quizzes can allow multiple attempts. Each attempt is automatically marked, and the teacher can choose whether to give feedback or to show correct answers. Quiz module includes grading facilities. Working with Quiz module involves a simple step-by-step process, which includes: • Step 1 - Create a quiz activity on the course home page using the “Add an activity” dropo down list, and set all properties for the Quiz. Properties can include: o a.) an opening and close date for the quiz o b.) a time limit o c.) whether answers and questions are shuf fled when a new attempt is made o d.) whether more than one attempt is allowed o e.) whether attempts build on previous attempt o f .) a grading method or curve o g.) how quiz gives feedback o h.) whether students can view past attempts o i.) a maximum grade given for the quiz o j.) an optional password to access the quiz  Step 2 -Select a category to create your quiz questions in. I f no categories exist, click the “Edit categories” button

and add a new category (Fig. 16).

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Fig.15

 Step 3 - From the Create new questions list select a type of question to create (Fig. 15). Moodle allows you to import questions from a file or other learning management system such as Blackboard, WebCT and IMS QTI formats. Step 4 - Once you have added questions to the category (Fig. 17), you will publish these question to the Quiz activity. Select each one and click the “