Proposal to Implement Moodle to Support Classroom Learning
More and more teachers in the Vancouver School District maintain a website to support classroom learning. It would be easier for teachers to collaborate on course material and support each other with the new technology if the majority uses a common learning management system. Out of the available LMSs, I propose the implementation of Moodle. The following is an evaluation of Moodle as the main LMS for our district through the SECTIONS model developed by Bates and Poole. (Bates and Poole 2003)
Students
Moodle should be easy to use for most secondary students in Vancouver. The interface of Moodle is straight forward and does not require a high level of literacy, which makes it suitable for students of a wide age range. The platform is compatible with any operating system. To access Moodle, all that is required is internet connection and a web browser. Internet access should not be a big problem as most students have access at home, or they can make use of the school computer labs and library. Furthermore, according to Perkins and Pfaffman, teacher’s time that can be saved by implementing this LMS makes it worthwhile for teachers to go that extra mile to help the few that do not have internet access. (p36)
Ease of Use and Reliability
Managing a course on Moodle is easy. Teachers can switch between editing and preview mode with the “Turn editing on” and “Turn student view on” buttons. Teachers can choose to organize their course content by “time” or “topic”. Similar to the structure of blogs that some teachers are already using, features like calendar and RSS feeds are blocks on the side bar that can be added or deleted. The platform is well structured, and the icons with roll-over descriptions make the interface user friendly and intuitive. Most importantly, as we build a community of Moodle users, they can provide support and share experience.
Costs
Moodle is an open source software available from http://moodle.org. No software license fee is required. Ideally, each school can set up their own server and database for their Moodle sites, which is also available from the above website. However, this will require each school to have a staff who knows how to maintain a web server, and this will take away from their precious course planning time. Taking into consideration the amount of resources we will put in to maintain our own server, it is more economical to acquire Moodle hosting services, which costs about $1000/year for the whole district. (Perkins and Pfaffman, 2006)
On the other hand, since course materials are uploaded on the LMS, students can either access them online, or print them out at home. The whole district’s expense on printing and photocopying will be reduced greatly.
Teaching and Learning
It is important that teaching methods attend to the diverse talent and ways of learning. (Chickering and Ehrmann, 1996 ) Moodle supports a wide range of media, such as links to videos, virtual labs, or other external websites, and documents, such as Word documents, PowerPoint presentations, and images. This allows students to choose the method that is the most efficient for them and at the same time, broaden their repertoires for learning. RSS feeds, such as TED Talk and CBC News can be added the LMS to engage students in discussions about real-world issues. For more interactive presentations, whiteboard is available as an add-on with third party modules like Dimdim and Elluminate. (Edutools)
Interactivity
According to the NETS, collaborative tools can promote student reflection and critical thinking. Students can be given the opportunity to share and comment on each other’s work and participate in discussion forums. They can create chat rooms to work together, and the LMS automatically creates archive logs for the chat history so that teacher can keep track of each student’s contribution in group work, and also monitor student behaviour to ensure a save learning environment.
Using Moodle provides another channel for teacher to communicate course expectations to students and parents, which can greatly increase the efficiency of teaching and learning. For instance, notes and assignments can be posted on the LMS, so students who are absent can catch up with the missed materials while they are away. Posting test dates and assignment due dates on the LMS helps parents to better hold students accountable. Teachers can create quiz questions for specific learning outcomes, and be able to analyze the class’s performance from the results tallied by the LMS. At the same time, students can get timely feedback on how they performed. Teacher feedback can be in the form of text, drawings, or even be an oral recording.
Organizational Issues
As mentioned above, the LMS is intuitive and easy to use. Technical support is available in Canada by Remote-Learner since 1982. (Moodle) Teachers who want to get started with Moodle can access videos tutorials, forums, and websites that are readily available online, though the most convenient and helpful resource will probably be fellow Moodler teachers.
Novelty
The use of Moodle to support face-to-face courses is not a novelty. Moodle is currently used in many elementary and high schools in the district, but only within a small group of teachers.
Speed
Moodle allows for content transfer and reuse, which is a great way for teachers to collaborate. Though creating a course from scratch takes time, teachers can import existing courses from fellow teachers and make alterations to meet their class’s needs. Time can be saved from creating course content or activities from scratch; more resources can be spent on sharing ideas and improving what teachers already have as a community.
Using Moodle increases the efficiency of teaching and learning in the classroom and helps teachers meet the NETS. With the file transfer function, it is easy for teachers to start Moodling. Teachers new to Moodle have the option to start off with another teacher’s moodle course, and alter it to tailor to their classes. Moodle offers a wide range of features for teachers to choose from and implement at their own pace.
Using Moodle will help the teachers meet the NETS and increase the efficiency of teaching and learning. The LMS is easy to use and readily accessible. By encouraging teachers to use Moodle, we are encouraging collaboration between our teachers and building a closer, more efficient community.
References
Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (Pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.
Chickering, A.W. & Ehrmann, S.C. (1996). Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6. Retrieved Oct8, 2010 from: http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples.htm
Edutools Course Management System Comparisons. Retrieved Oct8, 2010 from: http://www.edutools.info/static.jsp?pj=4&page=HOME
Learning Management System. Retrieved Oct8, 2010 from:
http://sites.wiki.ubc.ca/etec565/index.php/Learning_Management_System
Moodle. Retrieved Oct8, 2010 from: http://moodle.com/support/
National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. Retrieved Oct8, 2010 from: http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm
Perkins, M. & Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a Course Management System to Improve Classroom Communication. Science Teacher, 73(7), 33-37.
UBC Wiki: Moodle. Retrieved Oct8, 2010 from: http://sites.wiki.ubc.ca/etec565/index.php/Moodle