Using Moodle for MOOCs with researchers
in Low and Middle Income Countries
Andy Nobes,
Project Manager, AuthorAID
MoodleMoot Africa 2019
AuthorAID:
A global network
supporting researchers
in lower and
middle income
countries to
publish and
communicate
their research
For more information:
Low bandwidth, mobile friendly
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Research Writing MOOCs
• Moodle 3.5
• Text-based, interactive lessons
• Weekly quizzes
• Active discussion forums
• Peer assessment activities.
• Pop up downloadable lessons created
using eXe Learning (HTML)
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Upscaling to a MOOC
• Can Moodle handle 1000s of
participants?
• How do you provide a learning
experience and deal with technical/
content questions?
• Team of guest facilitators needed to
answer questions and moderate forums
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Online course ‘pinboard’
Congo, Dem.
Nigeria 1931 48% Rep. 13 8%
Kenya 628 52% Mozambique 13 69%
Ghana 380 39% Mauritius 11 82%
Sudan 349 63% Morocco 10 20%
Uganda 227 39% Togo 10 20%
Tanzania 226 46% Gambia 9 33%
Ethiopia 219 21% Lesotho 9 56%
Zimbabwe 123 52% South Sudan 8 63%
Zambia 116 53% Eritrea 7 0%
Somalia 114 14% Guinea 5 0%
Rwanda 98 34% Libya 4 50%
Cameroon 96 39% Namibia 5 60%
Malawi 79 30% Niger 5 20%
South Africa 61 90% Tunisia 5 60%
Burundi 25 12% Algeria 4 75%
Benin 17 18% Côte d’Ivoire 4 25%
Burkina
Faso 17 29% Chad 2 50%
Liberia 16 25% Djibouti 2 50%
Senegal 16 56% Angola 1 100%
Sierra
Leone 16 44% Congo, Rep. 1 100%
Botswana
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Mali 14 0%
Feedback - what were the most useful parts of the course?
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Peer assessment
• Moodle ‘workshop’ activity
• Positive feedback (higher level learning through co-learning)
• Almost all participants receive feedback on their work
• Hard deadlines can be difficult for some users.
• Often some confusion about how the exercise works
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Other important elements
• Weekly quizzes
• Structured discussion forums
• ‘Database’ activity for collaborative sharing and
introduction
Alternative approach:
• Moodle ‘book’ activities, with embedded exercises
• H5P and javascript additional interaction
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Interaction in
Moodle ‘Book’
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Key stats
• Over 16,000 participants trained from
LMICs across 8 MOOCs
• 50% completion rate
• Women more likely to complete than men
• Those who participated in the forums were
more likely to complete the course
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Sustainability
• Our courses are Creative Commons (CC-BY) and
shareable
• Courses adapted and run successfully by Yaba
College of Technology, Nigeria, Open University of
Tanzania, Tanzanian Fisheries Institute (TAFIRI),
University of Beua, Cameroon, Colombo
University Faculty of Medicine (Sri Lanka)
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Find out more
• AuthorAID www.authoraid.info
• INASP www.inasp.info
• eMerge Africa webinar on AuthorAID MOOCs https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=4nRVdQIUdZk
• A MOOC approach for training researchers in developing countries (open
access paper) https://openpraxis.org/index.php/OpenPraxis/article/view/476
• Driving knowledge and supporting researchers through online courses -
Funmilayo Doherty (Yaba Tech, Nigeria)
• http://www.authoraid.info/en/news/details/1215/
Andy Nobes anobes@inasp.info
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