Individual Assessment Cover Sheet

Assessment Title:

VLE Report

Programme Title:

BACHELOR OF ICT

Course No.:

ECHNOLOGY
ELB5901

Course Title:

English Communication for ICT 3

Student Name:

Zahra Abdulhasan

Student ID:

201100559

By submitting this assessment for marking, either electronically or as hard copy, I confirm the
following:

This assignment is my own work

Any information used has been properly referenced.
I understand that a copy of my work may be used for moderation.
I have kept a copy of this assignment

Student Name : Zahra Abdlhasan

Assignment Title: VLE Report
Tutor: Jeremy Solomatenko
Due Date: 10/12/13
Word Count: 940words

Contents
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Moodle .................................................................................................................................................... 3
The Effectiveness of Moodle at Bahrain Polytechnic ............................................................................. 4
An Alternative VLE ................................................................................................................................ 4
Moodle vs. Alternative VLE ................................................................................................................... 5
Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................. 5
Reference List ......................................................................................................................................... 6
Appendix ................................................................................................................................................. 7

Page 2 of 8

Student Name : Zahra Abdlhasan

Assignment Title: VLE Report
Tutor: Jeremy Solomatenko
Due Date: 10/12/13
Word Count: 940words

Introduction
In the 21st century, Virtual Learning Environments have a massive impact on education
institutions. Bahrain Polytechnic is using Moodle as a learning platform. This report contains
general information about Moodle which was collected from a research. Also, a discussion
will illustrate the effectiveness of Moodle at Bahrain Polytechnic based on a survey result
gathered from tutors and students. A part of this report is to search for an alternative VLE to
compare it against Moodle to certify which VLE is more suitable to be used at Bahrain
Polytechnic.

Moodle
Nowadays VLEs has become a necessary tool in education organizations around the world
particularly Moodle. Moodle was originally developed by the computer scientist Martin
Dougiamas at the age of thirty three. When he was doing his masters degree and PHD
he came up with the core idea of Moodle which was to develop online tools with the intention
to support Internet-based education. As being an educator himself he reached out to assist
others in the educational institutions by launching his primary version of Moodle on 20
August 2002 for free ("About Moodle," 2013). Moodle is Bahrain Polytechnics Learning
Management System. Moodle is an Open Source Course Management System which allows
educators to establish online courses to make learning process easier for students and teachers
("Learn about virtual," 2013). Moreover, this software has the typical features of a VLE such
as: upload or download materials, post grades, submit assessment, discussion forums, send
and receive instant messages, wiki. As well as having the ability to organize online quizzes,
calendar, news and announcement ("About Moodle," 2013).However, developers created an
extend version of Moodle which contains functions of type plug-ins. This new main features
allows tutors to create activities, add graphical themes and attach resources. Also, Moodle has
a mobile application to cope with technological advancement ("Online learning history,"
2013).

Page 3 of 8

Student Name : Zahra Abdlhasan

Assignment Title: VLE Report
Tutor: Jeremy Solomatenko
Due Date: 10/12/13
Word Count: 940words

The Effectiveness of Moodle at Bahrain Polytechnic

In this section the efficiency of Moodle at Bahrain Polytechnic will be discussed based on a
survey (see figure 1). First, in general students and teachers attest that Moodle is a necessary
tool to be used at Bahrain polytechnic. Indeed, the majority prefers using it as a part of their
educational process. Also, the responses indicated that Moodle is very useful and it is needed
to fulfill the studying cycle from home and campus. Secondly, the survey shows that CAP
teachers use Moodle for more than four hours per day, which suggests that CAP tutors need
to access Moodle more often than others. Thirdly, most of the replies indicated that the main
used features of Moodle are: downloading materials, online learning and to submit
assessment. Yet, an Engineering tutor faced a severe problem with Moodle. He said that
Moodle is very slow and consume valuable class time when students wait to it to become
functional (see figure 2). As a result he minimized the use of it in the class. Also, he disliked
using Moodle and certifies using it to be difficult. Overall, Moodle users did not experience
any dramatic problem when using the website.

An Alternative VLE
Studywiz is a learning platform which invaded the VLE market recently. It was initially
created by an Australian company called Etech group. This group designed Studywiz
platform with a new technology and features as well as including the basics features of VLE
("A key tool," 2013). For instance, Studywiz allows tutors to embed audio and video to share
them with students. In addition, it has an advanced mobile interface for handheld devices and
iPods interoperability. Also, it has a major feature which is e-Locker that allows students and
teachers to store materials online and access them from anywhere. Students can have an
individual blog which allows them to share ideas and thoughts. Moreover, parents have a
great advantage by using parents login for mentoring their children academic progress and
observing their grades. Besides that, this software enables students and parents to track
attendance and communicate via massages ("What is Studywiz" 2013). Studywiz has a Data
Channel App which is an efficient way to access important school announcements and news.
However, this application is only for iOS devices. Back in 2007, Studywiz became involved
in an experiment in a high school to help investigate whether students can score higher grades
using iPods and Phones ("Studywiz," 2013).

Page 4 of 8

Student Name : Zahra Abdlhasan

Assignment Title: VLE Report
Tutor: Jeremy Solomatenko
Due Date: 10/12/13
Word Count: 940words

Moodle vs. Alternative VLE

Previously information about Moodle and Studywiz has been mentioned and accordantly a
comparison will be made to determine which one is better. On one hand, Moodle and
Studywiz share some similarities. In particular, they both have the ability to allow tutors to
post grades, news and announcement. In addition, they have instant messaging and likewise
they have capacity to allow tutors to upload and download materials. Also, they both allow
students to submit assessment.
Nevertheless, these VLEs have a lot of differences. To be praises, Studywiz has a feature
called MarkBook which is an assessment marking system while Moodle do not have an
automatic grading system ("Studywiz," 2013). The e-locker in Studywiz allows students and
tutors to store files in different format while Moodle storage space is more limited. Also,
Moodle is only accessible by tutors and students whereas Studywiz has a parent login. In
addition, Studywiz Graphical User Interface is easier to use and it looks more appealing than
Moodle. Also, students can use Studywiz from any handheld devices but Moodle do not have
this ability yet.

Conclusion
To summarize based on the previous discussion it shows that Studywiz has more advantages
over Moodle. Even though Moodle has been used at Bahrain Polytechnic since 2008,
Studywiz has proved itself. Studywiz is coping up with the technological improvements and
it has more verities of features. Studywiz will enable students and teachers to access their
information from any devices which will improve the learning and teaching environment.
Besides, Studywiz will introduce a lot of functions and features for just a little amount of
money.

Page 5 of 8

Student Name : Zahra Abdlhasan

Assignment Title: VLE Report
Tutor: Jeremy Solomatenko
Due Date: 10/12/13
Word Count: 940words

Reference List
About Moodle. (2013, October 20). Retrieved from
http://docs.moodle.org/25/en/About_Moodle
Online learning history. (2013, October 15). Retrieved from
http://docs.moodle.org/24/en/Online_Learning_History
Studywiz. (2013, October 30). Retrieved from
https://sites.google.com/a/gapps.uwcsea.edu.sg/eastech/learn/studywiz
What is studywiz. (2013, October 22). Retrieved from
https://southampton.studywiz.com
A key Tool. (2013, October 19). Retrieved from
http://www.apac.studywiz.com/?page_id=3482

Page 6 of 8

Student Name : Zahra Abdlhasan

Assignment Title: VLE Report
Tutor: Jeremy Solomatenko
Due Date: 10/12/13
Word Count: 940words

Appendix

Figure 1

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Student Name : Zahra Abdlhasan

Assignment Title: VLE Report
Tutor: Jeremy Solomatenko
Due Date: 10/12/13
Word Count: 940words

Figure 2

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