Since its inception in 2012, the Moodlemoot UK and Ireland conference has established itself as an unmissable event in educational technology. Moodle is the leading learning management system (LMS) worldwide and is used by Hibernia College in the delivery of our online and blended learning courses.
The annual conference brings together a knowledgeable and supportive community of Moodle users who are developers and experts from diverse areas of online and blended education.
Moodlemoot 2021 took place online over three days in May and was attended by members of the College’s Digital Learning Department (DLD).
Digital Learning Department
The DLD works with academic staff to produce Hibernia College’s online instructional content and to develop and design the College’s digital architecture to support teaching and learning — including its Moodle virtual learning environment (VLE), MyHELMS.
VLE Redesign and Upgrade
Last month, the College launched a redesign and upgrade of MyHELMS. The focus of the redesign included improving collaborative ways of teaching and learning, greater use of video and more personalised support for students.
‘Our new students are now experiencing an online environment that is modern, friendly and state of the art for higher level colleges in Ireland’, says Fran McKeagney, Head of Digital Learning.
Fran and DLD members showcased the major redesign and recent upgrade of MyHELMS at Moodlemoot. Fran presented the philosophy that informed the redesign while UX Designer Lovro Boljat demonstrated how user-centred design methodologies were employed to enhance our understanding of student interaction with MyHELMS and ways to improve their online learning experience.
Learning Technologist Justin Staunton provided input during the Q&A on how the VLE redesign also responded to faculty and administrator needs.
New App Integration
The College also recently launched a new collaboration app for students, Hibernia College Cohort. The app enables Hibernia College students to collaborate with each other on their learning and research in shared workspaces, on all their devices, wherever they are. It also brings students and educators together by allowing for more personalised, private and secure interactions between staff, tutors and students in shared learning contexts.
John Lenehan, DLD’s Research and Development Lead, presented his work of integrating Moodle academic calendar events into Cohort. John coordinated the development effort between Enovation and Moxtra on the Moodle calendar integration.
Thank you to the Moodlemoot 2021 organisers for creating an inclusive, engaging and stimulating event entirely online. The event provided an ideal forum for Hibernia College, a long-standing Moodle user, to share our experience of reimagining our VLE to meet the needs of present and future students.
