Moodle's philosophy of learning

For those of you who are interested, the underlying learning philosophy of Moodle is that of "connectivism." This means that people learn from one another, and Moodle's framework is structured to maximize interactivity with other students and the content itself. When Moodle first debuted, the philosophy usually involved forums, with some potential for real-time chat. However, with the ability to include webinars using BigBlueButton and other add-ins, the possibilities of synchronous (real-time) and asynchronous interactivity have expanded.

One thing to keep in mind as you develop a course that incorporates connectivism as a learning philosophy is that you'll be working with the affective (the emotional) as well as the cognitive domain. This means that you will be engaging the emotions (which is good for motivation). Connectivism also means that you can encourage the sharing of experiences and allow people to build on prior knowledge and experience. Building courses that allow students to scaffold their knowledge with experiential and prior learning can give rise to a very solid approach. Your students will be able to do more with their knowledge, particularly if the course has to do with applied knowledge and skills.

Keep in mind how you will advance the learning objectives as you develop the course. What kinds of students will you have? Will they be in cohorts or be learning individually? How much interaction will be effective? Now, let's learn how to create a plan for your learning site. Even though Moodle was designed for collaborative interaction, it is a very flexible platform and you can design courses for individual self-guided learning as well.