Access and adoption of Moodle LMS and BigBlueButton Community Cloud for Higher Learning Institutions in Malawi

Solomon Dindi

Funding Area: Capacity building / Construcción de capacidad

Problem Statement: Malawi has the lowest access to tertiary education with tertiary gross enrolment rate of 0.4% as compared to 8.2% of Sub-Saharan countries average enrolment. In effort to increase tertiary education access institutions adopted Open, Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) to complement face-to-face learning, however, the teaching and learning modes have been constrained by limited flexibility and high-costs, raising the need for mechanism for optimizing ODeL at scale. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic brought about significant disruptions to traditional educational methods, forcing institutions in Malawi as was in other countries to shift to remote and online learning to ensure the safety of students and educators, which required systems that would allow for seamless transitioning to online learning. Fewer tertiary institutions in Malawi are equipped with knowledge and capacity to adopt and effectively utilize open, reliable and user-friendly learning and teaching platforms. Institutions in Malawi have raised demand for e-learning platforms and the Malawi Research and Education Network (MAREN) has been requested by the institutions to provide assistance on the learning management systems. MAREN conducted stakeholders’ engagement meetings in 2022 to determine readiness of institutions to manage and use learning management systems. The assessment depicted that majority of institutions have limited technical capacity to use the systems and limited infrastructure.

Proposed Activities: MAREN through the proposed project seeks to facilitate and support institutions to deploy and use the open Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment (Moodle) integrated with a community cloud managed by MAREN to ensure access to both the system and the infrastructure support for proper functioning of the Moodle. Moodle will serve as course, learning, content and E-learning platform with enhanced features for Course Delivery and Management, allow real-time interactions between students and teachers through web conferencing tools and their convenience; Assessment and grading, progress tracking and analytics and enable sharing of resource building on Moodle’s open-source nature. The project will implement the following activities: (1) Capacity building for MAREN Staff to have skills and expertise to provide technical assistance and support to educational institutions in adopting and effectively utilizing the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) (2) Procurement and installation of a physical serve including installation of an Operating system, a hypervisor, virtual machines, Moodle, BigBlueButton for enabling real-time web conferencing, virtual classrooms, and interactive sessions. The servers will support open resource sharing and data management, cloud ecosystem for the institutions The process will include creation and configuration of virtual machines on the server to host Moodle LMS and BigBlueButton instances, ensuring seamless operation and resource allocation. (3) Training for ICT staff from tertiary institutions using Trainer-of-Trainers (TOT) approach as an effective strategy for cascading knowledge and skills to a larger group people in the institutions. The training will cover platform features, tools, functionality and navigation. The ICT Staff will serve to provide trainings to respective institution lecturers, students and administrators on how to use Moodle. The training will include navigation, course creation, communication tools, assessment and grading, feedback and customization. (4) Support ICT Staff to conduct intensive training for lecturers, students and administrators at institutional level on Moodle (5) Ongoing monitoring and localized support to the individual institutions on Moodle utilization. MAREN will also Offer access to resources, online tutorials, and a support system to address any challenges they may encounter while using the Moodle LMS including troubleshooting assistance.

Openness: The proposed project exhibits openness of infrastructure and access by the broader tertiary education institutions in the following ways: (a) Open-Source Technologies – The Project will draw on infrastructure that utilizes open-source technologies such as Moodle and BigBlueButton, Linux-based operating system, and virtualization software (KVM). The Open-source software will allow for collaboration and allows the institutions to access, use, modify, and contribute to the development and improvement of the tools. (b) Open-Source Sharing – The project incorporates the MAREN support on cloud ecosystem that will be set-up as part of the project which will enable creation of virtual machines for the institutions for cloud storage. The cloud will facilitate open resource sharing course materials, educational resources, research findings, and best practices among the educational institutions. The open sharing will also encourage a culture of knowledge exchange and mutual support within the educational community. (c) Open Educational Resources (OER) – The project through Moodle will help the institutions to host and share educational materials openly to ensure accessibility and affordability.

Challenges: The proposed work may encounter challenges. MAREN would commit to addressing the challenges in order to derive positive outcomes from the project implementation. The challenges and associated action envisaged for the project include: Low training uptake in relation to cascading knowledge to institutions; MAREN will ensure availability and support for the Trainers of Trainers; resistance to adopting new technologies and online learning methods by educational institutions which will be addressed through collaboration, strategic communication and support for the institutions, MAREN will work with authorities from the Ministry of Education especially those from the recently established Directorate of Open Distance and eLearning (DODeL) to support the project implementation; challenges related to delay in acquisition of the planned server from suppliers due to forex shortages in Malawi. MAREN will leverage on its good rapport the organization has with suppliers to hasten procurement process at commencement of the project in November, 2023.

Neglectedness: The drive to advance online platforms currently does not coincide with adequate financial commitment to on delivery of programmes. The area of Learning Management Systems has significant need however MAREN has not identified or access support towards a similar initiative. Considering that the implementation of the project requires a combination of things including the hardware (servers), connectivity and capacity of staff, limited support has been directed to capacity building which creates the need for the project.

Success: MAREN in the project sets out measures for determining progress in the achievement of the desired results on adoption and use of Moodle. Some of the measures include: the number of institutions with Moodle LMS and BigBlueButton Video conferencing systems installed and operational in the first 6 months of the project, with 80% of institutions represented in the Trainer of Trainers utilizing the system. MAREN Staff with capacity as Master Trainers on Moodle and BigBlueButton; 21 Institutional ICT staff trained on supporting Moodle (and BBB VC), the level of support delivered through ongoing visits. The project will contribute to improving access to quality education and creating a sustainable and inclusive online learning ecosystem for tertiary institutions.

Total Budget: US$25000

Affiliations: The proposal is affiliated with the Malawi Research and Education Network (MAREN), the National Research and Education Network (NREN) for Malawi and which is recognized as such by the Government of Malawi.

LMIE Carveout: The proposed Project fits well with the LMIE CarveOut based on Location in LMIE, the project is set to be implemented in Malawi, which is classified as an LMIE. This underscores the project's relevance and potential to address the specific challenges and needs faced by Malawi on digital infrastructure. The proposed solution is free and open which aids not only reduces costs but also fosters collaborative learning and resource sharing within the LMIE community as prioritized by Invest in Open Infrastructure (IOI). The project addresses adaptability and ease to adopt using open-source platforms that be extended in Malawi and other LMIEs for addressing unique educational challenges and promoting knowledge exchange.

Team Skills: The project will be implemented by Malawi Research and Education Network with a diverse and skilled team with necessary expertise to ensure the success of the project. The project team will include: (1) Solomon Dindi, Team leader, He is a seasoned ICT expert who has been instrumental in provisioning of systems in academic institutions in Malawi in the past 10 years or so. At the University of Malawi, he championed the use of Moodle, GoogleClassroom and panopto for delivery of content (2) Grace Dzoole, Finance and Administration Manager, she is a seasoned finance professional with over 20 years’ experience in both the private and public sectors, including audit. An MBA holder and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. She has previously managed the financial resources of over USD 2 million revenue firm. (3) Zanga Chimombo (Systems Manager), He has more than 20 years' experience in the information and communications technology sector developing and implementing systems. Zanga has led successful ICT transformation projects in diverse sectors including education, insurance, agribusiness and telecommunications. (4) Jones Kumwenda, Systems Engineer, He is a seasoned software developer with over 7 years of experience in designing, developing and implementing information systems and database systems. Knowledgeable in best cloud security practices and tools to secure data, applications, and infrastructure in cloud environments.

How Did You Hear About This Call: Word of mouth (e.g. conversations and emails from IOI staff, friends, colleagues, etc.) / Boca a boca (por ejemplo, conversaciones y correos electrónicos del personal del IOI, amigos, colegas, etc.)

Submission Number: 117