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Project Title: Using MOODLE to facilitate methodology in teacher Education through distance learning.

Duration of project: 5 years

Background

Since Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College is the only territory institution in this part of the island and people are requesting that we provide them with educational opportunities. Several of whom have, for personal reasons chosen to attend this college and not relocate to sites where the neither of the three universities are. If we (Sam Sharpe) use LMS preferable MOODLE, we will be able to deliver courses to a wide cross section of people. In using this LMS we will be accepting the mandate that the government has issued to keep the nation on the cutting edge of technology. As a training college we are can continue in this endeavor to facilitate teachers who would have learn these necessary skills and on enter the schools, ready to facilitate students active engagement with these technical skills.

Objective: The goal of this project is to provide training in education for in service teachers from all parts of the island, as well as teacher trainees. The project has a dual purpose – providing the teacher trainee with the requisite technological know how and for the trainee to integrate these skills in his/her practice assisting children of early childhood, primary, and secondary schools to understand and manipulate technology comprise web2.0. MOODLE will help us accomplish this task.

What is Moodle

Moodle which means Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites. It offers Chat, distance education, Blogs, asynchronous activities, multitasking. Online testing, grading management system, side way communications, multimedia communication, live data streamline and more.

The MOODLE Advantage

It is an open source which provides ease of use by faculty and students. The systems is a strong grounding in social constructionist pedagogy and its program operates without modification on Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Netware and any other stem that supports PHP language.

Allow even non-technical teachers to set up and maintain a Web site where students can log in, access course information, interact, share, and teach others. it saves me time and paperwork.

The software is used all over the world by independent teachers, schools, universities and companies free, its flexibility and ease of use helps bring LMS technology within the reach of those with limited technical and financial resources.

Disadvantages of using MOODLE

The program is difficult for normal users to install and use. More than 66% users of MOODLE identified themselves as teachers, on-line learning researchers or educational administrators.

MOODLE comprise many technical words and requires skilled technicians to install and use this LMS. In addition a course designer to work along with the technician and the teacher to create materials for course is also needed. Users must learn how to install and use MOODLE. Forums hold a great deal of information but nearly all forums are in the English language.

Outcomes

It is my aim that participants will become life long learners of the technology and build communities of learners using the LMS platform MOODLE. That learners use the tools effectively and continue to share their knowledge within a learning environment..

Project Budget Summary

MOODLE is a low cost LMS most what is needed are people who are willing to explore including a facilitator/instructor and a community of learners. However, if we are to consider hosting the site we will need the following:

Evaluation

I have chosen to use SECTIONS by Bates and Poole as well as the seven principles to select MOODLE as the best LMS platform to use and so I will use same to evaluate it effectiveness during and at the end of the project.

1. Based on Chickering and Ehrmann seven principles the evaluation will assess how frequently contacts are made among staff and students, reciprocity and cooperation among students, whether or not students are utilizing active learning techniques, if feedback are given promptly, students are on task and communicates high expectations and finally if there exist respect for diversity of talents and ways of learning.

2. Bates and Poole Model

How appropriate is the technology for this particular group or range of students? How easy is it for both teachers and students to use? How reliable and well tested is the technology?  What is the unit cost per learner? What kinds of learning are needed? What instructional approaches will best meet these needs? What are the best technologies for supporting this teaching and learning? What kind of interaction does this technology enable? What are the organizational requirements and the barriers to be removed before this technology can be used successfully?  What changes in organization need to be made? How new is this technology? How quickly can courses be mounted with this technology?  How quickly can materials be changed?

Reference:

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

Chickering, Arthur and Stephen C. Ehrmann (1996), “Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever,” AAHE Bulletin, October, pp.  3-6.

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