Moodle Beginnings
This is fun! Using Moodle, that is. I just completed my first activity in the ETEC 565A E-Learning Toolkit. Here is the link to the Moodle page of the Toolkit. As you know, I teach Grade One French Immersion. I have decided to design my course around literacy, learning how to read and write using the theme of Outer Space. I have taught this theme face-to-face in the past and I am very excited about how my course will look in Moodle format.
Reflection
How labour intensive was the process?
I didn’t find the process of setting up my Welcome page and Discussion Forum to be difficult. In fact, it was rather intuitive for me. The instructions in the E-learning Toolkit were very helpful and I appreciated them to launch me into my discovery. As I become more familiar with Web 2.0 applications, my comfort level increases. This is my 3rd MET course and I must say that if this was one of my first assignments in my first course, it would have been much more intimidating and difficult. Over the past 2 courses I have learned to give challenges a shot, and that has paid off.
What worked well? What was challenging? What surprised you?
I started editing my course and my Welcome! page with Safari, Version 4 Public Beta. As I started working in the full text box, to enter in my welcome message, I decided I would like to insert an image. At first I thought that I needed to enter in some html code, but then I realized that this version of Safari does not support a WYSIWUG editor. I logged out of the MET Moodle site and then logged back in using the Flock browser, which worked like a charm and presented the WYSIWYG editor. Thank goodness, because my html coding skills are novice!
Overall, this initial introduction to Moodle worked well and has allowed me to familiarize myself with some of the tools and functions available. I am looking forward to the finished product, but if the “Benoît scenario” has taught me anything, I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me! Just keep swimming, just keep swimming… 😉