Technology in Concert–LMS Proposal

Project Objective:

To create an online collaborative space for teachers to learn about and share knowledge related to using technology in music education.

“Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach” (Prensky, 2001). Most students in my general music classes start Kindergarten owning an iPod.  An informal survey of grade 2 students showed that over 90% have an iPod or an mp3 player of their own. Yet we continue to teach without acknowledging or harnessing the power of simple technologies which are quickly becoming ubiquitous in our society. This proposal will outline the development of a Learning Management System which will highlight the use of technology in concert with a traditional general music classroom. It will serve two main functions, the first as a learning space for teachers interested in integrating technology into their music classroom, and second to provide a collaborative space for music teachers who are often isolated at schools without other music colleagues.

The main function of the system will be to provide an online space which is easy to use and accessible from multiple browsers and mobile platforms which to be used as a collaborative space to share audio, video, and text information among music educators. While there are many commercial and open source Learning Management systems available, commercially licensed LMS systems can be very expensive with products like WebCT priced in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (Wagstaff, 2002). This project will use Moodle, an open source offering. There are several features that influenced the decision to use Moodle.  Cost, reliability and system requirements were first on the list.  As this is a volunteer project the LMS had to be relaible, free and run on my home Linux server, since my school district does not currently support any LMS options. All other factors were secondary, although Moodle will be more than adequate to meet the needs of this project. A basic test of the Moodle platform was conducted and it was found to be easy to use, easy to embed multimedia, supporting several audio and video formats, and includes a glossary function that is appealing in a project such as this which hopes to attract teachers of all technological abilities. The speed was adequate on Mac, Windows and Linux, using multiple browsers. More information about Moodle can be found at http://www.moodle.org . A link to the test site is here.

The basic framework for collaboration and learning is based on the work of Barab and Duffy (2000), who argue that in order to build community, learners must be active participants, they must have ownership of the problem at hand, have an opportunity for reflection, and must have the support of others in a motivating, collaborative and social environment. The site will have the following features:

• Self Subscription – anyone can sign up to learn,
• Discussion Forums – to share ideas, reflect and develop community. They will be seeded with topics that might generate discussion,
• Support wiki’s – for software programs that music teachers might use (audacity, iMovie, GarageBand, MelodyAssistant, etc.) These will be seeded with basic information so that teachers can add to them and develop the collaborative resoruces themselves based on classroom and personal experience,
• Learning Modules – learn how to use the computer in your classroom to support your teaching practice. All learning modules will have hands on activities,
• Glossary of terms – linked to further information,
• Chat rooms – for those who prefer audio to text, and to add a more social element and
• News Area – to post conference information, upcoming pro-d opportunities etc.

LMS Assessment

Since part of my goal for this class was to look at assessment of learning technologies, I decided that it would be a good exercise for me to look at the criteria for the LMS and do a self assessment. What follows is my assessment of the various rubric items.

•    Proposal for LMS selected (10/10) – Changes to the proposal have been made to reflect comments by reviewer.
•    Splash page using an object orientation (5/5) – Header image was created using GIMP to provide visual connection with the topic, moodle theme was selected for the best overall usability and visual appeal.
•    Two (or more) complete content modules (5/5) – There are 3 complete content modules, each with a common format, learn, do, think, post.
•    (At least) one module programmed for selective release (1/1)– as moodle does not support “programmed” release, I have “hidden” one of the modules for release by the administrator later.  In reality I would not “program” release for a course such as this one which is self enrolled and self paced.
•    Two general discussion fora topics (2/2)– The course currently has 3 discussion forum topics each linked to the learning modules, and one which explains the expected guidelines for using discussion forums.
•    One  group discussion forum for (at least) 2 groups (2/2)– There are group discussions set up for 3 groups (A,B and C), although I have 10 groups set up based on the enrollement of this course within the MET program.

References