Why Choose Moodle?

CLEO began trials of the opensource virtual learning environment Moodle early in 2006.
A number of schools in Lancashire and the Cumbria 14-19 Pathfinder had tried various
VLEs and as a result had recommended to CLEO, through the two Local Authorities, that
it should consider offering hosting for Moodle.
Since the early trials the service has grown to nearly 100 schools, by June 2006. Moodle
has proved popular with teachers across the two counties, as a good way to get started
with implementing a VLE in their schools.
Each school in the CLEO region can have its own 'instance' of Moodle, which can be
adapted in look and feel. CLEO will help apply your own school logo and colours. Moodle
is highly adaptable, being built from 'blocks' which can be chosen and structured in
whichever way best suits your institution. Each school's Moodle can be very different yet
all are based on a master Moodle that CLEO looks after in the CLEO core, so that
backups, servers, updates and modifications are centrally managed.
CLEO continues to work with schools to develop the service and functionality further,
with school reprsentatives as active members on CLEO's Moodle advisory groups.

What is MOODLE?
'Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, Open Source software package
designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online
learning communities'. It is distributed under the GNU General Public License and is an
active and evolving work in progress, subject to a roadmap.
Moodle can also be called a 'Virtual Learning Environment' (VLE) or 'Learning Platform'.
It provides a range of functionality covering content creation and delivery,
communication and collaboration and management, including tracking and assessment
tools.
Here are some of the key 'building blocks' of Moodle:

Assignments - for managing homework including the ability for pupils to

download/upload homework and for teachers to mark it online
Resource links - to webpages and files to help teachers build topics or
courses or units of work
Forums and chat for interactive discussion of ideas and concepts
Quizzes and choices
Questionnaire
Wikis
Content - commercial content can be uploaded (SCORM packages)
Calendars
Comprehensive monitoring of all activity