To: Principal of Technology / West Vancouver School Board
http://www.sd45.bc.ca/
From: Leslie Dawes, Teacher
Grade One
Irwin Park Elementary
June 12, 2011
Please review the following proposal as a consideration for the 2011/20012 school year to develop West Vancouver’s goal to enhance learning in a face to face classroom that harnesses technology for engagement and achievement for learners in the 21st century schools.
Introduction
The following dissertation proposes to implement a Learning Management System, Moodle, an acronym for (Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment), to support K-12 classroom teachers; specifically aimed for tailor-made material designed to support Grade One Social Studies curriculum in a blended learning and e-learning situation.
Currently, there is not a Learning Management System set up to accommodate an online course that may also be used with a F2F classroom. The B.C. Ministry of Education has strongly encouraged school districts to provide technological education that is current and meets their objectives for the 21st Century Learner.
What is Moodle?
Moodle is a Learning Management System (LMS) that affords resources and tools to be accessed through an online system that incorporates design components for course learning and assessment. This proposal of Moodle, would be used to support and extend classroom instruction making it a blended and e-learning environment.
Why Moodle?
• An open source software that is affordable
• Affords pedagogically sound site design based on Constructivist-based learning
• Provides scaffolding of learning activities-constructivist processes
• Naturally interfaced with Web 2.0
• Many tools such as wikis and blogs are available to create learning communities
• Educators can customize to facilitate individualized learning
• Assists educators in delivering online instruction with the affordance of assessment
• Alternate way to teach and support learning
• Presents diversity in professional pedagogy using technology
• Safety is the up most consideration as Moodle ensures a protected password and it can be link to district libraries.
• Encourages asynchronous and synchronous communication with language options
Theory and Pedagogy for e-Learning
The theory behind many e-learning courses is Social Constructionism. Moodle creates a framework to support the idea that learning is a journey of knowledge building. That knowledge is constructed through collaboration and shared experiences. Moodle represents a learning environment that is flexible, adaptable and one that facilitates active participation. Educational pedagogy supports opportunities for students to become critical thinkers, self regulators, and collaborators.
Rationale and Selection of LMS – (Moodle)
My rationale and selection is specific to the grade that I teach however by applying for a district initiative to implement an online open source platform, such as Moodle is inclusive of its intended use for K-12. My students have had experience with several online programs and various affordances in our virtual classroom. An integral part of my classroom management is in the important school/ home connection. With Moodle, home connection is encouraged and facilitated through the benefit of login capabilities through the parent community. School to home support is an important and integral component of students learning to read and write.
One important component of educational pedagogy is providing activities of educational value, teaching, and instructing in a professional capacity. The selection of specific technological platforms and devices depends on careful assessment. The SECTIONS framework as designed by Bates & Poole (2003) offers teaching professionals specific criteria to base selection of technology to support best practices.
According to Seymour Papert, “We live in a society in which a rapid and accelerating change in social life, the economy and the kind of work that people do is transforming the way knowledge is acquired. It is pretty widely accepted that knowledge in the twenty-first century is going to be very different.” Papert, S. (1998). Creating schools that keep in touch with changing technological processes that reflect today’s society is imperative.
How are we educating our future generation to have the knowledge and skills needed in the 21st Century?
How to Evaluate MOODLE?
The SECTIONS framework as designed by Bates & Poole (2003) offers teaching and administrative professionals specific criteria to base selection of technology to support the district’s technology philosophy and its integration. All criteria in the SECTIONS model serve a purpose for this proposal. The following highlights an assessment of Moodle using SECTIONS criteria.
Students- A blended approach (F2F/ e-learning) provide extended and supportive activities.
Ease of Use, Reliability, and Accessibility– the school monitors the system and it is virtually protective of crashes. Students can easily assess the program at home and school.
Cost- The low cost of the Moodle source code and built in technical support is $100/year per class and up to $1,000/year for an entire school or district.
Teaching and Learning– Online Home Reading and Online Math gaming has proved successful this year with the Grade Ones and it has supported student learning.
Interactivity– Activities will be built to support social constructionism within a collaborative environment.
Organization– Moodle offers limit design pages that assist the teacher to focus on content.
Novelty– Moodle has been successfully tested in other School Districts.
Speed– Moodle provides support with course design templates and instruction.
Course for Development
My proposal to develop a Learning Management System using Moodle for Grade One Social Studies (BC IRPs- Communities) http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/ will be designed through three modules. The first will address the student’s immediate learning environment- school/family; the second module will show a larger community- West Vancouver; and the third will include British Columbia within the context of Canada. These modules will address all the learning outcomes of the Grade One Social Studies program. Activities will be interactive, cumulative, and collaborative.
Conclusion
Thank you for your consideration of my proposal to integrate a Learning Management System using Moodle. This application to integrate Moodle into the district technological initiatives is a result of prior research to gain insight into the best online management system.
Moodle is an ideal platform to implement and develop course content to supplement classroom activities that offer a constructivist philosophy to enhance educational material. Best practice in pedagogical education by meeting the technological needs of the 21st learner is my upmost consideration and Moodle is a way to achieve that goal.
References:
Bates, A. W. & Poole, G. (2003). A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology, In Effective Teaching with Technology. San Francisco; Jossey-Bass.4.
Blackboard Web CT Vista. Retrieves June 7, 2011 from http: http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples.htm
Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 39 (7), 3-7. Accessed online 11 March2009
http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples1987.htm
MOODLE. Retrieved June 8, 20011 from
http://moodle.org/Moodle Statistics.
http://moodle.org/stats/National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NET S_for_Teachers_2008.htm
Panettieri, J. (2007). Addition by subtraction. University Business, August, 58-62. Accessed online 11 March 2009.
http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=845
Papert, S. (1998). Child Power: Keys to the New Learning of the Digital Century. This speech was delivered at the eleventh Colin Cherry Memorial Lecture on Communication on June 2, 1998, at the Imperial College in London.
Perkins, M. & Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a Course Management System to Classroom Communication. Science Teacher, 73(7), 33.
(Word count 997) excluding References, Title Page, and Address of School Board representative