CICD goes MOODLE

It is a common feature at many universities that students and teachers communicate via the Moodle platform. Lecture notes, home works, exam questions, schedules of lectures and exams can be easily placed, students may form working groups and communicate with each other via Moodle. Communication is possible without sitting any more in the same room, department or even university. This free ware programme is easy to handle, as long as there is a competent Webmaster and access to a server.

Since CICD established and further supports master programmes at universities in Siegen, Eastern Africa, Southern Africa and South East Asia with various lectures or even complete modules in common, we decided to establish this Moodle Platform at CICD in Siegen. Our partners, students and lecturers a like, may register as users, get access to the already available lecture notes and start exchanging information.

An e-learning working group in Eastern Africa, where the development of interactive lectures for Integrated Watershed and Sanitation Management are created, did the first steps. A series of workshops were supported by DAAD and organised by CICD in cooperation with University Duisburg-Essen. Moodle platforms are available at university centres at Kenyatta University, Makerere University and University of Dar es Salaam. This course-based platform established by CICD shall coordinate these activities in future.

A recent workshop held at National University of Laos in Vientiane – again within a DAAD sponsored scheme - added more thought to this concept. Students are guided towards internet based learning by getting easy access to the lecture notes of the visiting professor.

Sharing information is most important for intellectual as well as social development. Moodle is a useful tool for doing so.

Gerd Förch

CICD Managing Director