The Hideaway

Adventures in Moodle…take 301…

I was looking over the requirements for this site and realized that I had no idea what I was doing. I had done a few of the activities in the toolkit, but didn’t think of doing the activities for Moodle. Not so smart, I know.

After looking over some of my peer’s sites, I figured out what exactly needed to be done. It took a bit of trial and error, but was quick going once I began.

Since my computer crashed in late June, I’ve been working on another computer that doesn’t have too many choices for icons. The icons that I chose were very basic, but worked for my site. I chose to keep things pretty straightforward since it would be my grade 5 students who would be accessing the site. Most are familiar with technology, but they would need a lot of scaffolding in how to operate in the LMS.

Since my site is really geared towards developing an online environment to complement the in-class writer’s workshop, my modules consist of some general background knowledge necessary for the novel study, and online and offline assignments.  I noticed that some of my peers had really extensive content modules, but it was more due to their subject matter.

Each week, the students are expected to participate in a forum discussion on a topic that relates to the novel study or on a general theme. Some of the discussions are in groups, while others are a whole class discussion.
I acknowledge that my LMS site is a bit rudimentary. I think that this is due both to my lack of knowledge in creating an LMS, and the needs of my students. Flashy sites will keep them entertained, but that was not my goal. I really was aiming to create something that was a safe learning environment for the students and a teaching environment for forums, chats, and posting documents. Most of the students will need to know how to do those things by the time they reach high school and this site is a way for them to learn comfortably.

As I went through the course, I created a Google Document for all of my toolkit activities and my reflections.
Here are my reflections, as we are starting now to wrap up the course for the term.

WIKIS

There is a reason why I love wikis. It is so easy to add and collaborate with others on a variety of topics. As I explored Wikipedia, it was very similar to the other wikis I have worked with during the MET program. I searched for a topic, clicked on “edit this page” and was ready to go. I didn’t add to the page I searched for, but instead used the Wikipedia sandbox function. I didn’t know that this existed before I went exploring on Wikipedia. I liked how you could try out test edits before doing the real thing. It purposefully stated that the page would be cleaned out every 12 hours and was specifically for testing purposes. I think this would be a great function for my own students to try out, or to have on my own class wiki, as a teaching tool.

WEBPAGES

I’ve been a creator of webpages for a very long time, though my first 20 or so experiments never went very far. When I started creating webpages for my own personal use, there weren’t enough online tools to get me to where I envisioned my webpage would look like. It wasn’t until university, when I was forced to create an e-porfolio for my Bachelor of Education, that I discovered Dreamweaver. I learned about HTML code and using Dreamweaver, I could figure things out pretty quickly on my own. I was also surrounded by others who had worked with Dreamweaver in the past.  As I started to recreate my e-portfolio for the MET program, I found that adding additional pages to my original website was frustrating and I was having flashbacks to my high school days. I soon learned about iWeb, a Mac program that allows you to create webpages quite intuitively. I recreated my original Dreamweaver site in approximately one hour.

I looked over the website checklists from the “Webpages that Suck” site and was pleased to see that my site passed their tests. I tried the WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) on my website and am very happy to report that there are no accessibility errors (unlike gmail, which had 3)! These two processes were not that labour intensive. The results however were quite surprising. Since I had made these pages myself, I had half-expected to find a few problems or accessibility errors when I ran them through the websites’ checklists and programs.

SOCIAL SOFTWARE

When I was going through the Terms of Service (TOS) for T.witter, Face.book, My.space, and hi.5, I had no idea that the minimum age requirement was 13 years old. This age seems a bit young for me, personally. I would have thought that it would be 18 years and up. Perhaps that is my ‘old school’ mentality. Of course younger children would want to share with their peers. I know of a few students in my grade 5 class this year who admitted to having Face.book accounts. I liked how most of the sites that I looked at had their TOS right on the home page. One of the sites I had to look for it a bit. I really liked how T.witter had an email address for parents to complain if their child was on T.witter and was under the age of 13. This would have the child’s account deleted, according to the TOS.

It did take a long time to fully read each TOS. I find that when I’m on a site, such as Face.book, I click on the “Yes, I agree” box when prompted. I rarely read over the TOS, but instead quickly scan or sometimes don’t even scroll down at all. A lot of what the TOS stated was practical common sense.

The implications for education and using these sites are huge. There are privacy functions for some of these social networking sites, but unless the students are fully versed as to the implications of the “digital tattoo”, as well as privacy issues for other students, I would highly advise against their usage in the elementary and secondary classroom environments. Recently, a fellow METer posted an idea of using a social networking site as a way for students to relate to the characters in a novel study. I think using a password protected blog would be a better option.

Think about an example of how multimedia have been used effectively to enhance your learning. Feel free to reflect on your MET experiences, or any other.

I am a visual learner. I have tried to be one of those types who can sit down and read a textbook and remember all that I need to remember. It just doesn’t happen. Explain things to me and it will take me a bit to understand. Show things to me, and I get it in an instant. Reminds me of an old Confucius saying…

The use of multimedia within my MET courses have been a godsend to a visual learner like me. I’ve used YouTube videos to help understand a concept. I’ve made digital stories to help get my point across with online tools as well as with iMovie. In one of my courses, the instructor used powerpoint slideshows and videos to supplement the weekly readings. There was a lot of the information in the courseware that was difficult to digest.  I found myself referring back to these visual presentations during forum discussions, as they made the information much more clear.

I’m a firm believer of using all sorts of multimedia within my own classroom. Being a visual learner, I understand that some students take a little longer to ‘get it’ and re-reading something from the textbook isn’t going to do it for them. For each of the units I teach in Science and Social Studies, I usually try to include at least 3 multimedia presentations. It could be a movie on Simple Machines, or having students demonstrate a concept using only their bodies and small props. The amount of “whoa…I get it now!” comments I hear make it all the more worthwhile.

It took me some time to come up with a topic for this assignment. It was when I was thinking of an anniversary present for my husband, that I decided to create this slide show. I first went through about 10 different tools that Alan Levine posted on his site, before I settled on Slide.com. I noticed a peer had chosen this site as well and I really liked how her slide had turned out. I had just finished a similar assignment in another class, using iMovie. I found it was very complicated as compared to this free, online program. At first, I was annoyed that I couldn’t use voice to tell my story, but I believe my captions did a finer job in the end. If I had really wanted to use my own voice to help tell my story, I would have chosen a different tool.

Working with a wiki isn’t new for me. I’ve worked both alone and with others on a class wiki for another MET class. It is pretty straightforward in regards to posting, editing, and previewing your work. I see the benefits of using a wiki for a classroom. As a firm believer in peer teaching, it can be beneficial for other students to see what their peers know about a certain subject. It’s my personal goal to introduce a class wiki (with older students) when I return to teaching.

That all being said,  I prefer the forum approach, as you can build off of what others have discussed. I see that some of my fellow students have posted their responses within the wiki, but I prefer the clean lines and less discussion. It can be challenging to post to a wiki without discussion with your peers, though I have seen many f2f discussions afterwards regarding postings! Using a wiki definitely builds and promotes community.

I’m going to be honest here. I’ve never designed a course site before. I thought I would be brave and learn a new platform. Luckily, there are many youtube and Moodle videos that walk a novice like me through the steps. Still, I think I should have had a bit more training before I took the leap into designing a fictional site for my grade 5 students.

This week, our assignment was to have asynchronous and synchronous communication tools available for the students. Since I have not had any previous experience with using different forms of communication, except email and forum discussion threads, I kept things pretty simple. I created a few forums for the language arts component of my site and forums for questions regarding assignments and one for course announcements. This was modeled after another MET course I am currently taking. I also added chat as a synchronous communication tool. This would have my students online at the same time discussing things such as the novel we are currently reading in class. Surprisingly, adding chat and multiple forums to my class was not too difficult. It definitely takes a bit of trial and error to figure out how to add those features.

I do like having the practice uploading these tools within the Moodle platform. The more I’ve been using the Moodle site and creating this fictional classroom, the more I would like to use it with my own students in a few years time. The logistics of using Moodle within the classroom, especially in the district I am teaching in, would make implementation challenging. Still, the thought is there, and now I have the background knowledge to present a strong case to the Parent Education Committee.

As an elementary school teacher, I feel that I use technology and digital tools to encourage and foster creativity among my students. I make sure that they first understand what they are working with, including any issues that may arise both technically and with regards to safety. I like to explore different ways of communicating both with parents and students. Last year, I set-up an online classroom for the students, where they could communicate with each other (and myself), as well as hand in assignments, post links, and participate in both educational and non-educational forum discussions. This way they could learn to communicate and learn online etiquette in a safe environment. If I had let them try an online forum in cyberspace, it would have been a disaster!

For this same class, I also created a blog to post pictures from recent field trips and discuss important events from that day or from that week. This gave the parents a little window into the classroom without having to wait for the monthly newsletter. Unfortunately I was blocked from communicating with the students in the online classroom and from posting on the class blog from a very overzealous education committee member. Truthfully, they didn’t understand my reasons for the classroom and blog and by the time they understood, it was too late.

The MET program will help me in my quest to incorporate more technology-friendly applications to the regular elementary school classroom. This program is a learning environment, where I can learn from my peers and through my own research. In this course, I hope to learn about different assessment methods for my students when using these learning technologies. I have found that aspect to be the hardest in my own personal practice. I have a future goal to become a consultant for technology for my school district. I would like to also have more knowledge of the different Learning Management Systems in order to present a varied portfolio to the district and to my peers.

In order to accomplish my goals, I think I will need to increase my participation during the discussions surrounding assessment within the classroom. This will increase my general understanding of the subject.

Simon, M. (2009, January). E-LEARNING NO HOW. T+D, 63(1), 34-39. Retrieved May 15, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.

Sullivan, C. (2008, October). IN A MUDDLE OVER MOODLE?. Engineers Journal, 62(8), 494-496. Retrieved May 16, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.

Tips for Choosing CMS and LMS Pt. 2. (2009, March 15). Distance Education Report, Retrieved May 15, 2009, from Academic Search Complete database.

This here is an extension of the ETEC 565 requirements. You’ll find postings and musings of weekly discussions and assignments. If you are here from my e-portfolio site, please click on the link on the right to return to that.

Enjoy!

KK