Introduction
As technology becomes more commonly used, our school should consider using a Course Management System to offer teachers the choice of delivering their curriculum online. Many teachers are beginning to use online tools in the classrooms, and students are going to different online sites to complete their tasks. It would be ideal if the school supported a central system that all teachers and students can use, where each teacher can have their own “classroom space” online where students can enroll into their own classes. As well, communication between administration staff, teachers, students and even parents could improve. The following is a proposal of why such a course management system is necessary and can be beneficial, school-wide.
Why Moodle
Moodle (Modular Object-Orientated Dynamic Learning Environment) is the suggested platform for our school. It is an open source Course Management System that offers an enriched learning environment for the students and provides an effective set of web-based tools for our teachers, such as blogs, wikis, assignments, interactive quizzes, and forums (Godwin-Jones, 2002).
How it Benefits Our Students
Our students are all ESL (English as a second language) learners, and most of them lack confidence in sharing their ideas and opinions in the classroom. To foster a learning environment for our students, Moodle can allow students to practice their reading, writing, and communication skills with their peers in their second language through synchronous (real-time) or asynchronous (delayed time) activities. By providing students more time to think, students’ quality of work and discussion will also improve. As well, teachers can better access students’ learning through their work and support students according to their needs. The synchronous activities, such as Chat, allow students to set up meetings with their teachers for extra help or to gather online to discuss their work or group projects. These activities enhance the students’ social interaction among peers and their confidence in sharing their work; these also allow teachers to assess their students’ abilities more accurately.
Ease of Use for Administration Staff, Teachers, and Students
Moodle is convenient for teachers to organize and manage course material. It is easy to upload and attach documents and also provide links to external activities for students. Once teachers spend the initial effort to upload their course content online, they can reuse or share their work among the teaching staff in the future when delivering the same course material. By posting assignments online, students are enforced to become more accountable for their own work. This also reduces the amount of paper our school needs for photocopying handouts for each class.
Moodle also allow teachers to make announcements and add reminders or due dates to a course calendar, where these will remain on the page if students ever need to return to the message. If we open up the calendar to be shared among the teaching staff, it may even allow teachers to consider the students’ workload when assigning homework or exams. This could increase communication between teaching staff at the school.
Cost
We would need to look into the actual cost of Moodle as a server. As well, we would need to consider if it is necessary to hire staff or provide professional development for our staff to maintain the Moodle server. We need to look into the issues of maintenance, as Moodle will be maintained by a third party.
Will Moodle be cost efficient? It will encourage a paperless classroom, where teachers can reduce the need to print and photocopy handouts and worksheets for their students. As well, if students are able to present their information online, that would also reduce the need for paper in the classroom.
Teaching and Learning
Moodle will be used to manage a constructivist learning environment, not just for distance learning, but to enhance a regular classroom environment as well. In addition to bringing in web tools such as chats and discussion boards, Moodle will also be used as a central location for administrators, teachers, and students to find information or links to external resources.
Interactivities
Our students today have grown up in the digital age where they are familiar with the Internet and instant access to information and communication. It is clear “that as a result of this ubiquitous environment and the sheer volume of their interaction with it, today’s students think and process information fundamentally differently from their predecessors” (Prensky, 2001). Moodle, then, with its various functions and interactive tools, could be beneficial to engage students in their new ways of thinking and learning.
Teachers can use Moodle to access students’ progress and monitor students’ knowledge of the material through online quizzes and activities. It is easy to create quizzes that provide answers for students to review. And if the purpose of the quizzes is for students to assess their own knowledge and to familiarize themselves with the material, the quizzes could be adjusted to allow students multiple tries without penalty.
Concerns – Accessibility
One concern with using Moodle in the curriculum is accessibility. Not all students will have access to the Internet. Therefore, access to the websites is necessary, whether through the computers at the school library or public libraries. We could also allow students to access the computer labs during certain hours of the week, – although night time access may be limited. Class time could also be allocated to ease the amount of time students need to use the computers at home. For those students without access at home, it is perhaps beneficial that a learning environment such as Moodle is utilized because technological literacy is important for future success in this digital age.
References
Bates, A. W. and Poole, G. (2003). Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. New York: Jossey-Bass, An Imprint of Wiley.
Godwin-Jones, B. (2002). Emerging technologies. Language Learning and Technology, 6 (3) pp.10-14. Toronto, ON: Pearson.
Jonassen, D. (1999). Designing constructivist learning environment. In C. M. Reigeluth (Eds.), Instructional-Design theories and models: Volume II. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Jonassen, D., & Rohrer-Murphy, L. (1999). Activity theory as a framework for designing constructivist learning environments. Educational Technology: Research and development, 45(1).
Ministry of Education, Province of British Columbia. (2007). English language arts 8 to 12: integrated resource package 2007. Retrieved from http://www.bced.bf.ca/irp/pdfs/english_language_arts/2007ela_812.pdf
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On The Horizon, 9 (5), 1-6.