LMS Content Module

When I initially read that we would be creating our own LMS Content Module I thought it sounded neat, but had no idea how much work it would be. Moodle was a learning experience and now that I have created my course, if I ever did it again I would do things much differently.

Already having a “course” or in my case novel study (due to the age of my students), pre-made was very useful. This meant that I did not have to spend time coming up with the content of the course and could focus my attention on how I wanted the course to be set up, and how I wanted my students to use the course. If I were to do this again in the future, I would draft up my course on paper first with the pages and activities I planned on incorporating worked out on before hand. As Siemens (2003) mentions, the key to selecting and creating effective learning material is to keep in mind the intended learning outcomes. I feel like when I first began creating this course I was not sure what the learning outcomes for my students were, and so I was a bit lost and my course was poorly organized and laid out. Once I figured out what exactly I wanted my students to take away from this course, and how I wanted them to do that (discussions, quiz, group work, etc.,) it was much easier to create.

When creating my course/novel study, I tried to keep in mind the SECTIONS model, specifically the appropriateness of the online course for my grade six and seven students, and the ease of use and reliability of the course for both my students and myself as the teacher to use (Bates & Poole, 2003). I tried to take advantage of the choices Moodle offers with regards to having content or sections of the course programmed to become available after students have completed the previous assignments. This will be beneficial in helping me keep track of who has and has not been completing their homework. Once I figured out what the heck a Splash page, with a customized GUI, with at least four navigational components was, and then actually figured out how to include it into my course, I used my experience in the MET program to help me decide what information was most important for students to see on a Splash page and what information could be left out. I tried not to overwhelm students with a bunch of information, links and buttons to click on and only included what I figured were the essentials.

I also took into consideration the feedback from this course, with regards to how overwhelming it can be to have everyone in the course posting in one discussion forum. For my group assignment, I created two discussion forums so that students would be split into two groups and will hopefully not feel as overwhelmed by all the postings. Because there are fewer posts to read and respond to, students would ideally take the time to read all the posts and respond to more postings than required.

I like the idea of creating a course or unit that can be used online and face-to-face. Creating this course has shown me some of the benefits of using a LMS like Moodle in the classroom: giving parents access to lessons, due dates and expectations, keeping students accountable for homework and assignments, keeping students who are absent in the loop (Perkins & Pfaffman, 2006), going “green” and using less paper, and most importantly motivating and engaging students in their own learning.

This assignment was a ton of work and I definitely have a new found respect for the instructors who have taken the time to set up these courses in the MET program. There is way more thought that goes into creating an online course than I had ever realized, and while I am not sure I would want to teach an entire course like this online, I can definitely see myself using pieces of Moodle in my own teaching practices.

References

Bates A. W. & Poole, G. (2003). A framework for selecting and using technology. In A.W. Bates & G. Poole, Effective teaching with technology in higher education (pp. 75-108). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Perkins, M., & Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a course management system to improve classroom communication. Science Teacher, 73(7), 33-37. Retrieved from http://20100829131520_6025161.webstarts.com/uploads/moodle_in_20_the_classroom_NSTA.pdf

Siemens, G. (2003). Evaluating media characteristics: Using multimedia to achieve learning outcomes. Elearnspace. Retrieved from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/mediacharacteristics.htm