Integrating Intensive Competency-based AI Courses into Moodle – Challenges and Opportunities

Our study tackles a very specific problem – the lack of solid, well-structured AI training for university staff. We explored if Moodle could handle intensive, competitively heavy courses and not just a repository for teachers to upload files and students to download them. To test this, we built a three-step model – moving from basic, through intermediate to advanced, that focuses on the true “essence” of AI, namely Data Processing and Management (DPM), Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP).

The whole idea was to move away from theory and toward a modular, hands-on design. We packed the courses with interactive elements and constant feedback loops, trying to keep up with how fast AI literacy needs are growing in higher education.

While Moodle is often seen as a standard tool, we delved into its actual capabilities for this kind of high-pressure training. It’s not all perfect; we found some real perks in terms of scalability but also hit some walls regarding flexibility and collaborative work. To see if we were on the right track, we gathered feedback from the teachers who used the modules. What they told us was clear – they don’t just want AI basics – they need a good balance between theory and “how-to”, wrapped in an interactive format with enough of feedback.

In the end, our findings show that Moodle works for intensive AI training, but only if you have the right instructional strategy to back it up. We believe this framework offers a practical, flexible starting point for any university looking to get serious about AI professional development.