LMS Proposal

To:

Calgary Board of Education
Curriculum and Learning Technologies

From:

Camille Maydonik, Teacher
Grade One, French Immersion
Westgate Elementary School

Purpose

Please consider the following proposal to implement a Learning Management System, MOODLE (Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment), into the technology offerings to teachers, students, and staff members of the Calgary Board of Education.

Having worked for the CBE for four years, I believe that the CBE is championing 21st Century learning by infusing learning technologies in the daily school experience. Educators and students alike are embracing these digital technologies. MOODLE responds to 21st Century learning in the following ways:

• Facilitates personalization of learning thus allowing students to share in the responsibility for the  success of their own education
• Provides alternative ways in which to teach and learn (Universal Design for Learning)
• Assists educators in delivering instruction and assessing learning
• Enables educators to tailor instruction to individual learners
• Presents choice in professional learning

Furthermore, MOODLE would allow teachers to effectively model and apply the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers as they design, implement, and assess learning experiences to engage students and improve learning; enrich professional practice; and provide positive models for students, colleagues, and the community. (NETS, 2008)

Rationale & Selection

MOODLE is a software package for producing Internet-based courses and web sites. It is a global development project designed to support a social constructionist framework of education. MOODLE is open-source and as such would not incur any costs for the CBE. It does need to be installed on a server, however, with the support of the IT department, this should not be a lengthy or challenging process. There are many on-line resources available to support teachers in the development of their course shells.

Currently, the CBE uses Desire to Learn (D2L), as its’ Learning Management System. Although MOODLE shares many of the same characteristics and applications as D2L, I believe that it would complement our work in this area. I have familiarized myself with the CBE Digital Learning Object Development Standards checklist, and as such, am confident that MOODLE meets all of the category standards for content design, assessment, social considerations, engagement, interface, accessibility, technical, metadata and copyright.

Recently, I have begun building a course shell for my Grade One, French Immersion Language Arts program. I am currently building in activities, resources, vocabulary glossaries and mini-quizzes using “Space” as a theme. I have taught this theme before and I intend on using my MOODLE course shell to compliment the face-to-face components of my teaching. I chose to use MOODLE based on a Bates’ and Poole’s (2003) Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. The framework that they developed is called SECTIONS, which is an acronym for Students, Ease of Use, Costs, Teaching and Learning, Interactivity, Organizational issues, Novelty and Speed. This framework is invaluable for teachers and administrators to help them make decisions about appropriate technology for teaching.

Some may question the ease of use of an LMS with Grade One students. This is a valid concern, however, I have been able to teach my current students this year to log onto D2L and follow my splash page to the activities I would like them to complete. My students are also proficient in e-mail. I also see MOODLE as advantageous over D2L because parents and caregivers would be able to log in and work through the activities with their child. This would facilitate improved classroom communication with the parent community. With our current use of D2L, only students are able to log in, parents do no have access.

There are many different Learning Management Systems to choose from such as WebCT/Vista and the aforementioned, Desire to Learn. Although all 3 systems function similarly, and fit into the SECTIONS framework positively, one component that stands alone is cost. As we are currently already using and paying for the proprietary LMS, Desire to Learn, I do not see the CBE investing in WebCT/Vista. Since MOODLE is open-source and the software is free, it would compliment our current system at a very low cost. In fact, the only foreseeable cost is the space that it would take on the server.

Thank you for your consideration of my proposal to implement MOODLE as a choice for teachers, students and staff members of the Calgary Board of Education.

References:

Bates & Poole. (2003). “A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology.” In Effective Teaching with Technology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Blackboard WebCT Vista.  Retrieved June 6, 2009 from: http://www.webct.com/products/viewpage?name=products_vista

Calgary Board of Education. Retrieved June 6, 2009 from: http://www.cbe.ab.ca/

Curriculum and Learning Technologies. Retrieved June 4, 2009 from: http://www.innovativelearning.ca/sec-learntech/index.asp

Desire to Learn. Retrieved June 6, 2009 from: http://www.desire2learn.com/

MOODLE. Retrieved June 6, 2009 from: http://moodle.org/

MOODLE. Teacher Documentation. Retrieved June 6, 2009 from: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Teacher_documentation

National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. Retrieved May 4, 2009 from: http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm

Universal Design for Learning. Retrieved June 6, 2009 from: http://sites.wiki.ubc.ca/etec510/Universal_Design_for_Learning