Adventures in Moodle
I began my adventures with Moodle by attempting to install it on my laptop. This was a mistake. I had read in the instructions that we were to try to do our own troubleshooting, so my husband and I spent many hours trying to install it. I didn’t want to give up, but my marriage was at stake and so I finally posted a desperate plea for help in the tutorial discussion forum. About a week later I found out that installation had not been necessary and that the courses would be set up through UBC. Suffice it to say that I will not be using Moodle without support from my employer in the future. There were browser issues, bandwidth timeout issues, etc. etc.
I had used Moodle once before, a while back and couldn’t remember how I’d worked with it. I watched quite a few videos, but they seemed to be quite specific and I needed a more general introduction. The videoconference I’d attended had failed due to bandwidth problems (I assume) so I was basically starting from scratch. I tried to google the criteria, because I really didn’t know what much of it meant. Terms like HTML, GUI, selective release were still so unfamiliar. I spent quite a bit of time just familiarizing myself with the terms, which I always find helpful when learning new tasks.
On the third sitting I started to play around. I added a few resources, such as a survey and an assignment. Some of the problems I had were with formatting tables on the wiki (still couldn’t figure out how to add the lines inside the cells) and I was a bit disappointed after I found a great resource (a photo gallery) that wasn’t available. At present I am planning to add some discussion forums and try to find a tool that allows students to post their artwork using a scanner so that others can comment on it. It is starting to be enjoyable now. I would estimate that I have put in over 20 hours and am only just getting the hang of things.
Questions I have are: for it to be considered HTML do I have to write the code? This seems unlikely.
Fast forward to July 25, 2013. Luckily I found out that I didn’t have to install Moodle or write code, but I continued to have difficulties with Moodle. I have very mixed feelings about it. I’ve done all the hard work now, it should be a lot easier, but I am still holding a grudge against Moodle right now and I don’t know when I’ll get over it!
Here are the pieces I put into Moodle according to the assignment directions:
- Splash page with a customized GUI with at least four (4) navigational components. I found this part of the Moodle the most difficult. I didn’t really understand what a splash page was, as Moodle refers to it as a “front page”. The support online was weak on this. I watched video after video it seemed. We had a Moodle live session but it didn’t work out, and the archived sessions were not under Blackboard Collaborate (at least I didn’t find them) so I was really taking a shot in the dark. I tried looking at a colleague’s page, and he was so helpful in trying to show me how to use hotspots to link my pages (thanks, Mark!), even making a video to help me, but I and some others who tried could not get it to work, so I lowered my expectations and bit and, with the instructor’s help (thanks, Natasha!) I was able to make a table with links, pretty simply. At first I had the splash page link with the first assignment in the modules, but I realized that there was not enough of an introduction to each module, so I added those in after.
- Two (or more) complete learning modules (module shells or placeholder pages not acceptable), largely based on HTML pages. I am developing a course in Social Responsibility for my grade 4/5 class, as this is the area that students in our school are most needing skills in. My intention is to complete the course while I am on holidays and use it in the fall. The modules that are complete are “What is social responsibility?”, “Code of Conduct” and there are two others in progress. “What is social responsibility” begins with a question for students to consider, there is a survey of current knowledge, a video to watch, a forum to discuss the video and an assignment based on the other activities which is offline (a poster). I like to include a hardcopy product at the end which can be displayed in the classroom, linking the online learning with what we are doing in class.
- One (or more) module programmed for selective release. I read another blog and in it the author said that she understood selective release to mean that some modules are hidden until a date chosen by the instructor (Sarah Wood, 2009). I did that, in case that is what was meant by “selective release”. My understanding was that it meant that part of the Moodle could not be accessed until another part was complete. So I set the Social Behaviour assignment (under Social Behaviour Criteria) to be completed only after the Code of Conduct quiz was taken and passed. I really want my students to understand the code before moving on. In addition, I have set my modules to be released on a bi-weekly basis, so that students do not go ahead in the course. With the collaborative aspect of some of the activities, organization of groupings would be too difficult with students self-pacing.
- Two general discussion forum topics. My two general discussion forums are a fun values based choice game, called “Would you Rather?” and a code of conduct opinion forum, called “What’s your favourite code?”. I chose forums because when talking about social responsibility, I want my students to start to be aware of their own value system and opinions so that they can defend them when it is time to make decisions.
- One additional group discussion forum for (at least) 2 groups (must set up groups; they need not be populated). I put a group discussion topic in the “What is social responsibility?” section. I wanted students to defend their opinion about what mattered most in a video about “We Day” and in a group setting, where compromise is expected so that they learn to consider the thoughts of others when expressing their opinions.
Does the platform pass the SECTIONS test?
S: Is this right for my students? My students might be a little young (9-10), but I do believe they would benefit by having a Moodle course in the curriculum. It exposes them to learning management systems, which they are sure to face in the future, and gives them a way to show their understanding that is not so writing based, which can have a big effect on the quality of their work.
E: Although I did not find this tool that easy to use myself, I doubt the students would have trouble with it.
C: No cost to use as systems already in place in the district, and no cost for students.
T: Fair to good match to my teaching style, which is quite linear. Intended learning outcomes can be met with this tool. Assessments can be computer aided, self and peer or by myself.
I: Unlimited ways to interact with the platform, and I have really only scratched the surface here.
O: Technology is supported by my organization (district, and my administration). Lots of tech support (approximately 20% of tech department time devoted to Moodle).
N: Is it new? Not really. Hopefully something fantastic won’t come around the corner and make my Moodle site look like the video game Pong in comparison! It’s been around since 2002, which a good thing and a bad thing: good because it is familiar to users and bad because that is ancient in technological terms.
S: Speed and security: according to Moodle FAQs Moodle is secure, but it depends on the server, how often it is updated and set up. The site admin would have the security keys, which are very difficult to access, so doubtful there would be problems. Speed issues are of concern. Although I did not have many issues with downloading, the University did, and that makes me wonder what would happen in my district.
Here is what I found easy, useful or interesting about making a Moodle course:
1. I appreciate that there are so many options for how to deliver your course. Being able to choose a multitude of resources and activities means that creativity is one of the only limitations in using this platform.
2. It is great to be able to choose different formats, how work is marked, whether students can work in groups, move around the order of topics and assignments etc. This means that my moodle is always tweakable, which is a huge advantage over print based teaching resources. Huge.
3. Although setting up the splash page was challenging, it is a nice option for students for navigating around the site.
4. I think the record keeping and evaluations will be quite simple once the site is up and running. It is interesting to develop a course with so much of the grunt work being in the foundations of the course: designing a course based on learning, with clear goals in mind is the first step. The technical challenges should only be difficult in the beginning, then it should be quite easy to design other courses based on the style of this first attempt. Having the computer and students do some of the marking takes the pressure off of me during the year, so that I can use that time to help individual students.
5. I like the collaborative nature of Moodle. I can easily balance out the amount of group work and individual work that students do, and create bonus assignments or enrichment activities for students who enjoy having that option.
6. Free is good. Luckily my district supports Moodle and has their own server, so this is easy for me to use this fall.
Things I am Still Working On in my Moodle:
1. I decided to go back in and put the image credits underneath the images that I used from freedigitalphotos.net. I wanted to show students that crediting images is important. Many of the Google images I downloaded were from the Advanced Search tool, and were “free to use or share”. I did find it difficult to find the name of the original creator in most cases but I am going to go back and do a reverse image search on those to double check.
2. I changed the size of the text to a 24 point font, as I have younger students (grades 4 and 5) and I thought the small text might be challenging for them. It means they have to scroll down the pages a bit, but I thought they are used to that, but if it doesn’t work out in practice I’ll change it back to an 18 point font.
3. Some of the language I chose in my Moodle is fairly sophisticated for grade four. I may be getting a grade 4/5 split this year, and the grade fives should be fine, but the grade fours are coming out of primary and the language might be difficult. I’m going to see how it goes and read out the instructions orally in the lab. We’ll all be working at the same pace anyways, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.
4. I tried to open use the workshop tool, but I am still not really sure how it works, so i changed it to an assignment. I’d really like to use it so I’m going to spend some time on that.
Directions for the future:
My plans for Moodle in the future are as follows:
1. Use to teach social responsibility to my class in the fall.
2. Update the course as I go along, and possibly add another Moodle course, maybe in Health and Career Planning (both have few resources so I would have to develop the courses anyways).
3. Try one of each activity and see which ones are most popular or give me the richest feedback.
4. Experiment with the self and peer assessment tools, about which I know little so far.
5. On Fridays, looking ahead to units to ask myself if social media or other technologies might enhance the learning, then adding in one new tool per month when the answer is yes. More than that would be overloading students, and be difficult to manage considering the limited amount of computer time I have access to.
I continue this little path into Moodle, within the larger road of Etec 565, in the journey of the MET program. I would like to end with a quote from my favourite author to sum up how I feel about this sojourn.
A journey is a person in itself; no two are alike. And all plans, safeguards, policing, and coercion are fruitless. We find that after years of struggle that we do not take a trip; a trip takes us.
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.
John Steinbeck. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved July 25, 2013, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/j/john_steinbeck.html
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/citation/quotes/authors/j/john_steinbeck.html#C1QQdIlXGDJlQp5c.99
Wood, S.. (July 31st, 2009). Sarah Wood’s eportfolio; etec565. In Synthesis reflection. Retrieved from https://blogs.ubc.ca/swoodetec565/lms/.