Elab Moodle

Department of  E-business in teaching is using Moodle learning management system as a key component to implement the concept of Bledned-learning, ie. combining traditional and distance learning. Moodle portal of the Department can be accessed at http://moodle.elab.fon.bg.ac.rs/.

Moodle (Modular Object Oriented Developmental Learning Environment) is an open-source system for  learning management that involves a number of activities such as forums, chat, quizzes, wikis, workshops, etc… By using Moodle, students are provided with a central point to access learning materials, interacting with teachers and other students, adding assignments , having tests, and other activities.

Moodle in research work of the Department of e-business

Besides being an essential element of infrastructure for work of students and teachers at the Department of E-business, Moodle learning management system is also used as a basis for carrying out a number of scientific researches in the field of e-education, mobile education, adaptive learning and learning through play, as well as the basis for students’ final works.

Semantic enrichment and visualization

Semantic Web provides opportunities for the use of different sources of information in a simple way. Massive amounts of information requires new methods of presentation and interaction. Visual methods, graphs and trees provide a simple focus on the topic, as well as abstracting the details. As part of department of e-business research it has been developed a module for Moodle LMS that enables semantic enrichment of educational materials, their connecting to external sources, as well as an effective visualization of the hierarchy and relationships between materials, lectures and field studies.

Learning through play and social networks

One of the modern trends in education is focusing on methods for motivating students. One approach to this is the application of the concepts of edutainment, and learning through play. With the aim of making educational materials more understandable to students, the Department of e-business had tested Moodle integration and social networks in the form of educational Facebook game called “Elab game.” Besides edutainment, the Department is exploring other methods of using social media in education with the aim of adapting educational materials from Moodle courses to interests of students.

Mobile learning and Moodle

Mobile learning in general, and its integration with Moodle learning system is one of the most important objects of research of the Department of e-business. Integration of Moodle and mobile learning have been tested even before the widespread smartphones, through the application of the first forms of mobile web connectivity, and later research had exploited more advanced capabilities of the Android platform. The most important papers of the Department in this area have been published in the British Journal of Educational Technology and Multimedia Tools and Applications.

Adaptivity in LMS Moodle courses

The aim of the study was to improve the existing Learning Management Systems to ensure the adaptability of available courses. There have been identified certain groups of students based on their approach to learning, and the students are divided into groups to which are provided customized courses. Students who used the adapted materials have shown greater interest and better results at the end of the semester. The research results were published in the leading international journal Educational Technology & Society.