Proposal for Moodle Implementation in School District #72
Background
Gone are the days of desperately trying to keep up with technology; today’s educators are striving to model its value! This ideal is reinforced by the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS, 2008) which is aligned to NETS for students, both providing benchmarks for adapting to technological expectations held by modern society.
School District #72 is focused on the alignment of technology with today’s accepted, best educational practices. Our Disctrict has purchased the technology, but now we are interested in its application. Teachers in District #72 have put together a WHY statement to serve as a critical building block for the advancement of technology. The statement reads as follows:
“ We integrate technology into our educational practices to support and enhance the development of all learners in an evolving world.”
Currently we live in an era of ‘digital revolution’ (Hiltz & Turoff, 2005) where technology has become an integral role in how we function as a society. With increased technological standards demanded by the public, public schools must find ways to implement curricular goals using up-to-date technologies. It is the responsibility of schools to incorporate technological practices that benefit both teaching and learning. School District #72 is looking towards implementing a pilot project using DotNetNuk (DNN), a content management system (CMS) in its north-end secondary school called Carihi. DNN is a dynamic website that manages content designed to support educative, academic courses. Over the past year, our district lost 5% of its student body, and our student population continues to decline. As a result, Marty Copeman, head of the District IT department, agrees that our educational goals would be best served by adopting a Learning Management System (LMS) that will support online learning.
Learning Management Systems and Content Management Systems need not replace each other because of their contrasting learning activities (Shankar, 2007). Although a CMS supports long term classroom sessions, and an LMS supports a number of short training events, both DNN and Moodle can provide valuable service to the goals of School District #72.
Objective
The objective of the proposal is:
– a pilot program utilizing Moodle in Southgate Middle School for September 2008
– a means of addressing the technological needs of both educators and learners in District #72
– evaluation of the program’s effectiveness at the end of the June 2009
While Moodle hosts a Virtual Learning Environment, it is not a substitute for face-to-face education; its purpose is to provide additional support and reinforce curricular content (Perkins & Pfaffman, 2006). Moodle serves as a device for managing learning materials, and it will be a starting point to familiarize our District with a new technological platform. With the projected decline in enrollment, we may eventually choose to offer quality online courses to support a blended educational environment (face to face and virtual). Of course, the question remains, is this system more effective than a static website, the DotNetNuk (being implemented in Carihi), or regular e-mail as used district-wide? Can we envision applying Moodle to distant learning?
Evaluation
Does Moodle provide the tools that our users require?
The Bates and Poole (2003) SECTIONS framework was applied as a tool for selecting and using current technology. There are a number of commercial LMS platforms; however based on my evaluations, Moodle is the logical choice for our particular school.
S: Exposing students to online technology now will better prepare them for future studies and employment. French Immersion students and ESL learners will also benefit since Moodle can be switched to any of 30 languages and dialects. Adapted students will be able to follow the same course material, but at a pace suitable for their needs. A powerful feature of Moodle is that students can be involved in synchronized chats that lend to the development of ideas.
E: The ease of use is very good. From a student’s perspective it is a very simple program to navigate. Options for creating and managing the course itself are also straightforward and concise.
C: Moodle is a free open-source LMS. The scripting program and the web-hosting system also have no cost. However funding for IT management, teacher training, and time will have to be further considered and evaluated. It should be noted that Moodle has a very active group of volunteer supporters who will provide help. All posts are archived, and most questions can be easily answered.
T: To prepare students for a global society and a global education, the LMS platform must be congruent to our goals of teaching and learning. LMS is considered a learning tool, thus Moodle does meet the pedagogical requirements of our teachers. Aligning with Social Constructivism, Moodle serves as a platform where students actively engage with one another when constructing knowledge; however, it is not limited to constructivism as Moodle accommodates a wide range of teaching and learning styles.
I: Moodle allows us to place all of our online functionality in a single application. Highly interactive, it supports Wikis, blogs, forums, and chats. E-mail and archiving are also powerful features. Students post messages on the website and then after a time-delay predetermined by the teacher, the note is sent to all subscribers. The time-delay allows students to edit and revise their message if necessary. The user can also post pictures in conjunction with the message, further enhancing the feeling of culture and community.
O: Our organization is keen to try new approaches that will benefit our learners. Our three IT specialists are interested in providing support for Moodle. Our librarian, Ruth Kine, is also willing to aid in the addition of resources and activities for the development and enhancement of curriculum.
N: Moodle has a variety of novel features. Its platform is user-friendly, encouraging students to participate and take ownership- “this is my Moodle!” Since it is open-sourced, new features can be added locally. The platform offers an enhanced forum, imbedded wiki, and an open glossary. It has powerful assessment features, where tests and assignments can be evaluated and graded directly on Moodle.
S: Once Moodle has been installed to the school’s server, the speed to access, build, modify, and design curricular templates is efficient. By the very nature of a course management system however, developing an effective online learning environment takes time. The level of involvement must be controlled by the individual teacher.
Project Vision
How to integrate Moodle into Southgate Middle School
The following vision focuses on the needs and perhaps the main concerns of teachers implementing a new technology successfully within their individual classrooms.
#1: Technology Support
Southgate currently has three IT specialists with blocks dedicated to supporting “teacher technology” projects. They are fairly familiar with Moodle and will aid teachers in the creation of their individual course sites. The specialist’s responsibilities will also include the management of the web server. Free tutorials are already available online and simply need to be gathered.
#2: Time
Moodle can be a central topic for the Professional Development offered to Southgate Staff. Teachers are motivated to take these courses as they receive Pro-D funds for participation. Typically Pro-D courses are 12 hours spread throughout the year. Teachers who participate in this pilot program will be given Pro-D money in their personal accounts.
Conclusion
Our world is evolving and our District must be a frontrunner at implementing technology in a manner that supports our students and their various needs. Moodle provides a valuable bridge between school and home (Perkins & Pfaffman, 2006). Moodle is a gateway to connect teachers, learners, parents, and the community. Simply put, it directly supports the goals of our District #72 WHY statement, and we can integrate this technology into our educational practices to support and enhance the development of all learners in an evolving world.”
References
Bates & Poole. (2003). “A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology.” In Effective Teaching with Technology. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 79 – 80.
Hiltz, Starr Roxanne, and Turoff, Murray. “Education goes digital: the evolution of online learning and the revolution in higher education.” Communications of ACM Oct. 2005: 59-64.
Moodle.org (2009) http://docs.moodle.org/
National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers. Accessed online 04 May, 2009. http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETSforTeachers2008.htm
Perkins, M. & Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a Course Management System to Improve Classroom Communication. Science Teacher, 73(7), 33-37.
Shankar, Viswanath . “CMS and LMS – A Comparison.” Content Management News 20 Feb. 2007. 4 June 2009 <http://www.contentmanagementnews.com/contentmanagementnews-82-20070220CMSandLMSAComparison