What is Moodle and Where Do I Start?

Since 1970, the tools of education have been transformed from chalk, paper, and pencil to the Internet and Course Management Systems such as Moodle. Moodle allows classrooms to become portable and facilitates the transformation of teaching and learning into active learning communities.

Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment is a free and open-source e-learning software platform, also known as a Course Management System, Learning Management System, or Virtual Learning Environment.

In this blog, many of the basics, as well as tips and tricks, will be shared.

To begin, choose the right browser for ease of editing. Some browsers on both Mac and Windows computers will not display the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editing tools. Without these tools, the Moodle user will need to know HTML. Below is a chart that summarizes the results for severals browsers on both platforms. This information will be updated with data for Windows 7 at a later time. My favorite browser for use with Moodle is FireFox.

	Windows Vista	Mac OSX
Firefox	Yes	Yes
Chrome	No	No
Safari	No	No
Internet Explorer	Yes	---

See the full-size online slideshow showing the edit mode for the above browsers.