303 | Repeatedly I have to read and to listen to statemens about e-learning as a way of learning without being based in the principles of learning following the social constructivism oriented methods – or leaving students alone instead of let them learn to support each other – or denying the strong requirements on usability of the today’s users. How about that?!?

These allegations seem no longer to be maintainable if e-learning is really solid provided by the open source software Moodle.

Within the bachelor programme »Bachelor of Arts Media Design« at RFH Cologne, we are working very successfully with this tool for two and a half years.

And we find out daily how the students are working with it. They don’t expect a nice designed, user-friendly styled learning environment. They expect a stable system to work with – like Moodle.

Also interacting and groupwork are very useful provided by the modules of Moodle.

Let me show you a dialogue between two of my students inside a forum, readable by the whole class, discussing the housework and presentation assignment from one by someone else of his course. For your information: They all have to work individually on their own items, but have to discuss in the weeks before the final presentation their goals and structures in just this forum, online, visible for all the students in their class, so everybody may have the chance to learn from each other.

Please note that both are German students of the first semester of Media Design, they started their study at all just 3 weeks ago… And they are – not yet really well-known with each other – working together in this exciting learning environment.

Once again I’m very glad to be with them all on their way, discovering the world of applied sciences.