I have written a proposal to my current employer School District 83 to incorporate the Learning Management System Moodle into our Technology Portfolio. Along with the course requirements, the proposal is somewhat self-serving in that I hope to move into the District’s Distributed Learning Department, and in the future may have a greater influence in the direction the implementation of technology proceeds.
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To: School District 83 Technology Committee February 5, 2012
From: Mike Rybachuk
Re: Learning Management System Proposal
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Introduction
Currently School District 83 is under contract with the First Class Management System. First Class is used by all district personnel for email communication, as a district calendar of events, including in-service and professional development opportunities, as well as a main communication tool with parents in the form of Parent Connect. First Class houses the district directory, student grades, and is the host for SD 83 websites. First Class is very much an administrative system.
In this proposal I will make a case for the district to adopt a new Learning Management System LMS, Moodle. I intend to show that Moodle offers a significant array of learning tools to support teachers and students as we embrace the Province of British Columbia’s move towards personal learning, both inside and outside of the classroom.
What is Moodle?
Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment; http://moodle.org) is an Open Source learning platform is capable of being run on many operating systems, including Windows, currently in use in SD 83. As Open Source software, it’s free to download, change, share, improve, and customize to whatever you want it to be (Walsh, 2010).
As a LMS, Moodle offers teachers and administrators a web based template where content, instruction, assessment, and communication can easily be uploaded, shared and customized. Moodle promotes social constructivist pedagogy of collaboration, active thinking, and critical reflection (Martinez and Jagannathan, 2008).
Why Moodle in School District 83?
District 83 teachers continue to strive to offer the best educational opportunities for their students. Limited resources, budget restraints, and declining enrolment are but some of the factors that challenge all aspects of our educational system. The role of the teacher as the “Sage on Stage” is not longer an effective model for today’s learners. Students are looking for more varied educational opportunities, chances to use and interact with the technology of business and industry. They need a variety of learning opportunities to match their distinct learning styles and abilities. Economic factors, illness, along with elite athletic and fine arts opportunities are increasingly keeping students out of school, severely hampering academic achievement in the traditional classroom. This in turn places tremendous pressure on teachers as they look for new tools to help meet the learning needs of their students. I propose that Moodle is one such tool.
As a web based system, Moodle offers many tools that teachers need. It can be used totally online, or to augment a face to face learning environment. Using course templates, teachers can easily upload course content in a variety of formats. Resource pages allow teachers to provide structure in the form of headings and units, links to existing web pages, podcasts, video, or other online materials. Review for students requiring additional scaffolding of concepts, or extension materials ensure all students get the support and challenge they require. Activity pages allow teacher to include assignments, chat forums, lessons, quizzes, surveys, or any number of similar learning situations. Moodle allows for easy navigation throughout any course site, allowing students flexibility, direction and support. Teachers can easily move from teacher to student role, allowing ease in both course construction and editing. It has been designed to support modern pedagogies based on social constructivist theory, (Itmazi, Gea, Paderewski and Gutierrez, 2005)… [and] in general it is easy to use, install, and maintain.
This ease of use and flexibility of design is what teachers need. Time is a key factor when introducing any new technology and Moodle is relatively easy to jump into. This ease of implementation is another factor why Moodle is a good fit for our district. As teachers begin to use the LMS, they are easily able to share knowledge because of Moodle’s common delivery platform. This involvement in a knowledge community fosters confidence and reduces the time teachers require to implement the new technology. This local support model is what drew users to Moodle in the first place (Delinger and Boora, 2010).
Students will have far less issues due to their already ubiquitous use of technology in and out of the classroom. Moodle access from home, at school, or via any web browsing tool (smart phone) allows students to take their learning with them. Discussion forums email and other collaborative tools allow students to stay in touch with learning and each other. Parents have increased access to course content, feedback and grades, something lacking in the traditional classroom setting.
Moodle must work as it is gaining in popularity. From 2006 to 2008 registered Moodle sites more than doubled worldwide, while the number of users nearly tripled (Martinez and Jagannathan, 2008). Croy and Smelser (2009) report that when asked to indicate overall preference, 81% of the faculty at the University of Northern Carolina preferred Moodle. These numbers clearly indicate that Moodle use continues to grow. Our students are likely to use Moodle once they leave our school system and being familiar with its many affordances prepares them for success.
Cost
As an Open Source system, Moodle is cost effective on a number of levels. Unlike other proprietary software the cost of licensing is almost nothing, while changes, modifications and improvements occur without pay. With its continued growth and popularity, the array of free online help, in the form of websites, wiki’s and videos, continues to grow. Many say that the cost savings is not the key Moodle advantage, but it is rather access to various innovative tools that interface with the Moodle platforms (Martinez and Jagannathan, 2008).
Real budget constraints will continue to be a factor in all aspects of education, especially technology. The reduction of attainment and operations costs attached to Moodle will allow the district some freedom to offer additional in service to teachers using Moodle. Timely in service is essential for technology implementation. District professional development days, small group sessions and school based collaboration offer just in time learning for teachers using Moodle. Not only is this type of teacher learning cost effective, it promotes collegiality and offers a solid knowledge base for teachers wanting to use Moodle at a later date.
Conclusion
Teachers in School District 83 strive to meet the unique and diverse educational needs of their students. Technology that can meet the pedagogical needs of the learner yet fit into the varied toolboxes of district teachers would be a valuable addition to our educational system. I suggest that the introduction of Moodle, an Open Source LMS is a tool that offers tremendous opportunities for all members of our educational community. Its cost effectiveness, ease of use, and continued growth offer a good fit for now, and the future.
References
Croy, M., & Smelser, R., (2009). Learning Management System Evaluation. Report to the Prevost of the University of Northern Carolina, May 15
Delinger, S., & Boora, R., (2010). Learning Management Systems Evaluation for the University of Alberta
Itmazi, J., Gea, M., Paderewski, P., & Gutierrez, F., (2005). A Comparison and Evaluation of Open Source Learning Management Systems. IADIS International Conference-Applied Computing. Algarve, Portugal. Feb 22-25
Martinez, M., & Jagannathan, S., (2008). Moodle: A Low-Cost Solution for Successful e-Learning. Learning Solutions Magazine. November 10.
Walsh, K., (2010). Moodle 2.0 versus Blackboard 9.1-a Brief Comparison. Emerging EdTech. November 7.