Alix’s Exploration of Learning Technologies

One of my main motivations for signing up to take ETEC 565A was to learn how to use Moodle. I had the interest, but not the time or inclination to learn it on my own. ETEC 565A provided me with the support and incentive to delve in.

My Moodle adventure began with the Moodle tool kit activity. The tool kit activity provided the very prompts I needed to start exploring the Moodle interface and all of it’s affordances. Once I acclimatized to the Moodle environment, I felt comfortable playing around on my own.

My favorite afffordance is the yellow questions mark icon next to every option which opens to tell you more information about said option.

One of the first things I did was change the format from a weekly release schedule to a topic format. Because I would like the option to use this LMS to support and enhance a f2f course, a topic format allows for more flexibility. Adding resources such as webpages, links to other sites, or uploading documents was straightforward. However, the maximum file size restriction did prove limiting in which of my content powerpoints I could upload.

I really like the ability to add RSS feed widgets to the home page. This could serve as a conversation starter in class, “Did anyone read that article on Mollusk sex on the Science Daily feed?”.

I found the quiz option to be very time consuming. Although once a question bank is developed, self-test quizzes are an invaluable tool for pre-test self-assessment.

I started to develop the content of my modules, but was not sure how I would design navigation. Once I figured out how to link webpages within my moodle site, it was not too difficult to organize navigation within the LMS. Keeping an inventory of resources and webpage url’s proved very useful when organizing navigation.

There are still many administrative options that I have not explored (e.g grade book), and many more advanced settings that I am not even aware of in the ones I did experiment with. However, I feel that I now have the basic experience necessary to call myself a Moodler, my main goal in ETEC 565A.

Today I set up my first moodle course. I was given step by step instructions on how to set it up from the ETEC 565 e-learning tool kit . I learned about moodle last fall and was very excited about the prospects of potentially incorporating a moodle platform into my f2f science courses but didn’t really know where to begin. One of the main reasons I signed up for ETEC 565 was for the supported introduction to moodle. While setting up my course today, I found using the step by step instructions and activities on the tool kit very easy to follow and I appreciate the scaffolded support.  I am looking forward to more scaffolded support while gaining more confidence and competance with moodle.