MoodleMajlis, Moodle’s First Summit In The Middle East

By
Cristian T. Duque
-
1519
This Was MoodleMajlis, Moodle First Summit In The Middle East

As the Dubai night set in and brought a much welcomed cool breeze, the first Middle Eastern MoodleMoot, aptly renamed MoodleMajlis, came to a close on Monday, April 17th.

WIRIS

Here’s a recap of what went down.

Day One

It all started with a speech by Moodle Founder and CEO, Martin Dougiamas. The leading Moodler shared some scoops on what the HQ team is working on, as is customary whenever he talks at a Moot.

For Moodle 3.4, we should expect a “focus on usability” and an improved calendar, among other things.

After the “Moodler” keynote, the forum embarked on the first of a 3-session master class on Analytics.

Gavin Hendric provided several insights on the use of analytics in the Moodle classroom. He advocated for a broader data collection practice, asking the critical question, “How are you going to track your students if you don’t measure them first?” Then, he discussed recent research on how analytics seem to help at-risk students most of all.

The afternoon kicked off with a talk on blended learning by Mark Russell.

Attendees got a look at some serious new Moodle insight.

Day Two

Day 2 introduced Mobile. For presenter Gavin Henrick, mobile devices aren’t just another useless tool, they empower individuals to exchange information.

Moving on to the afternoon, Dr. Ali Abureesh dealt with an always pertinent question:

Fortunately, the volume of responses never disappoints.

Moodle David Scampton shared his take on what makes content great:

The evening got a little contentious with the title of Rajeev Sathyadevan’s talk: Moodle v Blackboard.

But soon it all settled down.

Despite a young field, the region’s attendees demonstrated sophisticated expertise on Moodle, LMS, and EdTech. The area looks well-positioned to become a hotbed of learning innovation for years to come.

Congratulations were in order.

And it was a wrap. From now on, the Moodleverse will not take its eyes off the Middle Eastern EdTech arena.
See a Twitter Moment for MoodleMajlis here, courtesy of the Emirates’ Moodle Partner Smartway, sponsor of the event.

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