Why integrate? 5 benefits of Moodle integration

Moodle opens the door to a whole world of learning. It’s easy to use, easy to work with provides countless ways to engage students and enhance the learning experience.

However, using Moodle in isolation means you’re not getting the full benefit of a learning platform designed to be as flexible and as intuitive as you need it to be. Your Moodle will deliver most value when you integrate it with other systems and services – like your school website, your school e-portfolio system, or a student data system – like SIMS.

If you’re about to take the plunge into the world of Moodle – or, if you’re using Moodle but are yet to integrate it with other systems in your school, here are five reasons why Moodle integration gets the big thumbs up from us.

(Also, as a Moodle integration starting point, why not integrate your Moodle with your Word, Excel and Powerpoint docs? Read our post on Moodle integration with Office 365).

Single Sign On (SSO)

Using different systems in isolation means lots of credentials to memorise. Integrate your systems and you can have one sign on for your Moodle and everything else connected with it.

One username and one password for everything means less user frustration, less time spent logging in and more time doing the important stuff – learning.

A better user experience

It’s likely many students will be using Moodle for the first time when they start at your school. But that’s not to say they’ve never used some of the systems your Moodle is integrated with, like Microsoft Office or Mahara.

If your students are working with systems that they are already familiar with, it can increase the rate and ease of user adoption. The same goes for staff – for example, those that have used Edulink or WordPress in the past (both of which can be integrated with Moodle) but are new to your learning platform will hit the ground running a little easier if your Moodle is connected to a system they’re adept at using.

With this in mind, your Moodle will be delivering a much better user experience.

No more duplication

Having everything interconnected means you can do away with duplication of documents. No longer will there be the need to have one set of documents on one system, and another on your Moodle.

Depending on the integration and how it is set up, documents can automatically pull through from one system to the other. Plus, with Moodle viewable on desktop, tablet or mobile, those documents are accessible from anywhere at anytime…

Easier access

…which means, of course, easier access to calendars, documents, messages and more.

Students can access diaries from Office 365 in their Moodle log in, teachers can access resources and update the school’s WordPress website directly from their Moodle log in, and Powerpoint, Excel and Word documents are much more easily accessible via Moodle from any device.

Building Moodle courses is easier than ever!

Finally, a big bonus for the teacher is that Moodle integration makes building courses even easier!

You can access documents and resources via integrated services, and build your courses wherever you are. On the train, in the staffroom, at home on the sofa – you can be building interactive courses via your Moodle log in, from your tablet or smartphone!

Plus, go for SIMS/MIS integration (more on that here) and you’ll have all the student data you need at your fingertips too – from attendance records to achievements records and parental contacts. All accessible via your single Moodle log in, whenever and wherever you need it.

In our next blog post about Moodle integration, we’ll take a look at five key services to integrate your Moodle with.

For now, if you’d like any help, advice or information about integrating your Moodle platform with other systems or services within your school, just speak to the Titus team here.

Technology trends to watch in the new term

With the start of the new term fast approaching, shops and websites are fully stocked with new products for the “back-to-school” market. However, beyond new pens and pencils, or even laptops and tablets, this year’s returning students will have a host of novel ways to experience and direct their learning via technology.

We’ve put together a list of some of the ways we think educational technology will change learning in the coming academic year.

Virtual and augmented reality

Looking at the meteoric rise of Pokemon Go over the past month, you might imagine there can’t be many teenagers who don’t have some experience of augmented reality. Products like Google Cardboard and Samsung’s Gear are also making immersive, 3D virtual reality affordable at an entry level, as long as you have a smartphone.

The applications for learning across the curriculum are almost limitless, from storytelling to virtual world building, visualisation of micro- and macro-structures to exploring historical sites.

We think that schools around the world will increasingly experiment with these technologies to deliver a new level of immersion in learning. Over the next academic year we expect to see virtual and augmented realities become a niche but growing part of the learning mix.

Wearable technology

With wearable technology such as smartwatches, step counters and fitness trackers emerging from the tech blogs and early adopters into the mainstream, the idea of using on-body devices to collect and present data is gaining wider acceptance.

Whether it’s tracking sporting activity to encourage well being, presenting bitesize learning via smartwatch apps, or even keeping track of revision schedules or exam timetables, wearable tech is sure to create new and exciting learning opportunities as its prevalence grows and costs fall.

BYOD/mobile learning

BYOD, or “bring your own device” is hardly a new idea, but over the coming terms we see it forming a much more central part of the learning experience for many students, whether that’s in terms of personal or school-sponsored usage.

Mobile devices are increasingly viewed as the primary method for accessing the web, and in the last couple of years we’ve certainly seen a significant increase in the number of our clients using mobile applications to access their LMS, as well as systems like Edulink to push key data to teachers, students and parents on the move.

As well as a tool for accessing learning information, smartphones and tablets also function as an important primary research tool, and a gateway to “just in time” learning. With the facility to take pictures, scan documents and record video or audio, they are also invaluable for building up e-learning portfolios and collating project data.

Joined up learning: teacher-parent-student

Finally, we think there’s an important cultural shift, which is the increasing frequency and depth of communication between teachers, parents and students. Whilst not an example of technology in itself, this can certainly be seen as the result of using technology more in learning.

The opportunity to share more data more quickly between the administration office, classroom and home means that traditional roles will break down, and what emerges is a split responsibility for the direction of learning.

This can be viewed both positively and negatively, but in our opinion there’s a lot of reasons to be optimistic. It seems likely to us that as teachers are able to take a more facilitative role, helped by the automation of administrative tasks, and better supported by parents who are more “in the know” that the quality of students’ learning will improve.

If you’d like to talk to us about any of these technologies, or about how your school can use technology to forge stronger links between teachers, students and parents, then please get in touch here.