This is a combined reflection from Katie Schultz and Che Katz who worked together on this Project. We developed our course for International Development: Anthropological Perspectives in the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) which is based on an actual course currently being developed as an elective for year 2 and 3 undergraduate students in the Faculty of Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. With permission, we have adapted the course for a blended format and supplemented it with our own work. The blended course format includes face-to-face plenary lectures and tutorial which are supported by online activities that reinforce learning and encourage student engagement. It is assumed that students will spend 7 to 8 hours a week on course related activities, including but not limited to: (i) attendance at lectures, (ii) participating in tutorials, (iii) completing essential readings, and (iv) completing online activities. The referencing systems and other instructions comply with Goldsmiths College, University of London requirements.
We selected the Moodle platform to deliver this course for the following reasons:
- Moodle is currently the primary LMS used by Goldsmiths College. Therefore, the students who will participate in this course will be familiar with its general navigation and functions.
- Moodle offers all the functions and features that are required to deliver this course.
- Moodle is widely used by Universities and is therefore an important platform to be familiar with.
- Neither of us have experience developing courses in Moodle and we wanted to familiarize ourselves with the platform so we can feel more confident to use the platform in the future.
The course recognizes that because most courses in the School of Anthropology are only offered face-to-face, students’ knowledge of the different features offered by Moodle will be rudimentary. Most of the students will only have used the LMS for basic administration, sourcing readings, and getting updates on courses. Therefore, the course is designed to support and accommodate student needs as they familiarize themselves with new LMS functions and the blended learning approach.
As required by Assignment 3, two components of the course content have been developed so far: (i) the introduction, and (ii) the assessment. The rest of the course is a work in progress which will be further developed in Assignment 4. The assessment components are summarized in the following table:
| Type of Assessment | Assessment | Purpose of Assessment | Contribution to final grades |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Formative assessments |
Week 1 Online Activity: Introduce Yourself. |
To understand existing knowledge that students bring to the course. Recognizing Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, this information will be used to implement appropriate learner scaffolding by building on students’ existing experience and interests (Sanders & Welk, 2005). | Included in Overall Course Participation |
|
Week 2 Online Quiz |
This has been included predominantly to fulfill the requirements of Assignment 3. See further explanation below. | Included in Overall Course Participation | |
|
Summative Assessment |
Overall Course Participation |
To assess students’ engagement and understanding of the content over the duration of the course. | 20% |
|
Assignment 1 – Digital Exercise and Peer to Peer assessment |
To develop student understanding of the course content, digital skills, and group learning competencies. The assignment also supports the development of intrinsic motivation by encouraging: (i) student autonomy for choice of topic and (ii) exploration of new mediums of self expression which may serve as a unique experience (Veletsianos, 2011). | 40% | |
| Assignment 2 – Final Paper | Provides a final assessment of the students learning and understanding of the content. | 40% |
For the purpose of assessing Anthropological conceptual learning, multiple-choice questions have limited application (Mazur, 2007) however, we have included a short quiz to fulfill the requirements of Assignment 3 and demonstrate our capacity to develop one in an LMS. In Assignment 4, we will explore more appropriate technology-based assessment options (i.e. attitudinal questions and class polling) which are better suited for formative assessment of complex conceptual learning.
The blended course draws on Anderson’s (2008) theory of online learning and the importance of interactions between the: learner-teacher, learner-learner, learner-content, content-content, teacher-content, teacher-teacher, learner-group, and teacher-group (p. 58). In Assignment 3 the interactions have focused on: learner-teacher (i.e. clarification of the goals and expectations of the course), learner-learner (i.e. online activity for student to introduce themselves and group learning in Assignment 1), learner-content (i.e. clarification of what content will be covered during the course), teacher-content (i.e. formative assessment in the online introduction activity used to further tailor the course), learner-group (i.e. Week 2 film connecting the student with authentic real-life experiences). Other interactions will be explored further in Assignment 4.
References
Anderson, T. (2008). Towards a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.), Theory and practice of online learning (Chapter 2). Retrieved from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008-Theory_and_Practice_of_Online_Learning.pdf
Mazur, E. (2012, Dec 12). Why you can pass tests and still fail in the real world. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyikmLxntrk
Sanders, D., & Welk, D. S. (2005). Strategies to scaffold student learning: Applying Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. Nurse Educator, 30(5), 203-207. doi: 10.1097/00006223-200509000-00007
Veletsianos, G. (2011). Designing opportunities for transformation with emerging technologies. Educational Technology, 51(2), 41-46.