Moodle, Dimdim and eLearning Across Cultures

Amy Beth, SIT Graduate Institute

Abstract

World Learning / SIT is a unique institution of higher education with accredited programs taking place in over 50 countries world wide. While our staff and faculty are long term employees based in those locations, the students who engaged in our offerings cycle through. We strive to improve methods for reaching constituents and their local support teams with culturally appropriate methods, and have used Moodle extensively in our international delivery and practice. Dimdim, a free web co-browsing and conferencing tool is embedded in Moodle 9.1 and is used to interactively share desktops for instruction and training at all levels of institutional need from HR to libraries and from computer literacy to admissions consultations. Collaborative work is achieved by exchanging control over the mouse while showing presentations, whiteboards and chats, and while using VOIP and video. Instructors can easily use this tool and have found it beneficial in communicating with remote students, students traveling for internships, low residency students or students who are participating in their online courses. Dimdim embedded in Moodle is also an effective tool for bridging course delivery internationally across institutions or programs. Given the vast differences in cultural delivery of education and instruction, more than reliable technology is critical to consider when meeting our needs. Our presentation will cover use of Moodle and Dimdim, and the different ways we handle these communications across borders and more importantly, across cultures.