Erin’s Educational Technology Journey

This is a posting reflecting on the activities in module 3, unit 2. I had to explore Moodle communication tools and decide which tools to add to my course. This is not part of my “official” assignment on selecting tools, but this activity prepared me for it. I am looking forward to any feedback before I submit my official “case”. Feel free to comment. I will reflect on this activity at the end of module 3 to show how much I’ve learned!

Setting: Grade 4 blended learning environment with English Language Learners (70%) and native English speakers (30%) were class population=15.  Moodle has been chosen to provide all students with educational technology experience, to enhance the existing learning program and to provide ELL students with more opportunities to practice English communication skills. Science classes will be taught in a blended-learning format.

Communication Tools

Asynchronous 2-way communication: Moodle blog & discussion forum

Synchronous 2-way communication: Moodle chat function

Activity

I created a science unit on dinosaurs based in Moodle and this will be the first time students will use Moodle. In a blended-delivery course, it is possible to lecture about the learning management system, but a class is necessary to explore and orient to the Moodle environment. The instructional goal in this activity is to provide an orientation of the Moodle space, begin to foster an online learning community and to familiarize students with use of the dinosaur unit Splash Page navigation. For the purposes of this posting, I will focus on the rationale of the communication tools.

A “Start Here” activity in the Introductory Module was created. Through the activity, students learn that the class will be using various communication tools during future group and individual work. The activity is designed to give students experience using the tools in to maximize time-on-task during future modules.

Discussion Forum: Students write a brief introduction and answer basic questions about dinosaurs and the unit. I created an introduction about myself to promote the principle of faculty-student contact and a sense of trust and safety (Anderson, 2008; Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996). In addition, this sets a personalized tone for the course and gives students the opportunity to see my own interest in dinosaurs (Anderson, 2008). I wanted to ensure the course began by providing a “social presence” opportunity so students would feel supported and open to sharing ideas as they develop a collaborative community (Anderson, 2008). The student introduction activity was selected based on the principle of fostering reciprocity and cooperation among students (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996). In addition, discussions are an active learning technique that engage students and stimulate constructive learning (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996). Being asynchronous, the discussion forum provides ELL students time to formulate ideas and structure their arguments. To track posts, I can use the “reports” section or the “activity reports” section to see who has been active in posting. I’m learning about this, as it is not fool-proof and there are work-arounds to track quality posts requiring more time (See “Track student forum participation” in the Using Moodle forum at http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5). My concern is some students may “lurk” and participate infrequently in the longer term. Also, some students may dominate the future discussions. I tried to initiate discussions in the introduction to model the importance of everyone participating.

 A final note: In the future I want to develop student-led discussions and I thought initial discussions should be modeled (See Anderson, 2008, p.351).

Chat Forum: Students are instructed to introduce themselves and to respond to the chat introductions of others. Again, this supports the principles of student-faculty contact and student-student cooperation and functions as an active learning technique (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996). This also supports a social presence, the establishment of trust and (in the future) engagement with cognitive presence (Anderson, 2008). Synchronous text communication may be more challenging for ELL students but I want to provide them with the opportunity to practice and improve their skills. I included the message that spelling and grammar were not concerns in chat to ease anxieties. Of course, beyond language anxieties, my concern is also time-on-task. Chat is used in this activity to aid orientation but keeping students on-task in chat may prove to be difficult or challenging. To track chats, I know I can go to the “participants” link and see which chats each students has been engaged in.

Moodle Blog: Students are instructed to reflect on their introductory module and to set their privacy settings to “members of this class”. As Anderson (2008) notes, blog discourse renewed reflective writing .  As an active learning technique, this tool requires students to reflect and engage in the material (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996). As an asynchronous tool, it supports the principle of respecting diverse talents and ways of learning because it is the student’s personal reflective space (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996). They can add to it as they wish in addition to posting required content. All students can take their time to formulate ideas and structure their own understanding through self-reflection. In addition, the comment feature allows for asynchronous exchange and peer feedback. Survey research on ELL students and blogging by Wu (2005; 2006) found ELL students felt more motivated and confident writing in English when blogging was added to their face-to-face English writing class. My biggest concern is privacy, and I’ve selected the “make my blog visible to classmates only” in my design. In addition, as a teacher I want to facilitate blogging through peer-feedback (comments) but some students may not respond well or want to comment on the blogs of others. As an instructor, I plan on commenting on blogs and tracking blog posts through the “participants” tab.

The introductory module does instruct students to visit the class wiki for orientation, but students are not instructed to post. This will be a follow-up activity in Module 1.

Does anyone have any better Moodle ideas/tips for tracking discussions/chats/blog posts within a class Moodle? I searched the Moodle forums and some of the “tech talk” was beyond me. Any tips or work-arounds to suggest?

References

Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an Online Learning Content. In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Athabasca University. Accessed online June 14, 2009, from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/14_Anderson_2008_Anderson-DeliveryQualitySupport.pdf

Chickering, A.W., & Ehrmann, S.C. (1996). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. Retrieved May 6, 2009,f rom http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples.htm

Moodle. Using moodle forum. Available on June 15, 2009, from http://moodle.org/course/view.php?id=5

Wu, W. S. (2005). Using blogs in an EFL writing class. Proceedings of 2005 International   Conference and Workshop on TEFL & Applied Linguistics, Taiwan, 426-432. Retrieved              May 18, 2009 from http://www.chu.edu.tw/~wswu/publications/papers/conferences/05.pdf

Wu, W. S. (2006). The effect of blog peer review and teacher feedback on the revisions of EFL   writers. Journal of Education and Foreign Languages and Literature, 3, 125-139.     Retrieved May 18, 2009 from http://www.chu.edu.tw/~wswu/publications/ papers/journals/04.pdf

First of all, this activity was fun. I enjoyed learning more about wikis than ever before. My first introduction to a wiki was through ETEC 510. I recall having a few moments in tears because I was confused with the process of editing and being afraid that I “broke” my wiki page. I also recall I uploaded a photo of a leaf completely by accident and quickly learned how to delete images in the ETEC 510 design wiki!

My second wiki activity was with PBwiki (now PBworks). I designed a wiki with an ETEC 510 group for a design project. By the end of ETEC 510, I was feeling wiki-confident! In ETEC 512 I created a wiki with a group titled “cognitive approaches”. Recently I checked it and was happy to see some edits had been made by  Dr. J.Richardson! I furthered my wiki understanding by writing a research paper on how wikis can be used to improve the writing performance of English as a Second Language learners. In my former school, I began a wiki project with grade 6 English as a Foreign Language students. Although my project was not academic or for research purposes, I realized that a wiki is motivating for students once they understand the basics. I have to admit this activity was labour intensive because I made it so! I was motivated to learn more about wikis because I want to use them to facilitate English language skills for my English Language Learners next year.

I knew a little about wiki-ing, but I had never explored the behind-the-scenes discussion before. Warning: It’s slightly addictive. The discussion forum in Wikipedia seemed to have more writing than the actual article! I was impressed by the constructivist learning and the support people posted. Questions were asked, and answered, in the wiki community. The biggest issue that seemed to repeat on several topics was the issue of copyright. People were concerned how to included images and how to reference text. Non-free content was a new area for me to explore concerning wikis, and it seems I am not alone. There is even a wiki page on Wikipedia’s non-free content policy!

I visited the latest version of the ETEC 510 design wiki and I was amazed by how much it has grown in 18 months. When I participated, there were about 30 topics or so, but now there are topics within topics within topics. Also, there are wiki pages on topics that we uncommon 18 months ago, like M-learning and 3G network capabilities related to educational technology. I felt strangely compelled to search for my old entries, but they are gone. However, the topic is there, but students have edited and changed the page as they built up the wiki to the point my former page is transformed. I felt a little sad, but I’m happy to see my page inspired others to make more connections and research the topic more thoroughly.

The UBC Wiki homepage was very welcoming. I would suggest that any UBC students who would like to try a wiki do it here. It is a supportive site, with all of the wiki WYSIWYG editing functions that a beginner needs. Also, there is an excellent orientation video embedded on the first page. A great design space for future wiki creators.

During this exercise, I decided to search beyond UBC and wikipedia to see what other wiki host sites are available through open source applications. Wikispace was suggested in the activity, and it has all of the basics for a great wiki: WYSIWYG editor, wiki statistics, widgits, page histories and simple collaboration tools with unlimited pages. You even get 2GB of free space for files and images. I then tried my old favourite, pbworks. It has grown in the last two years to include webinars, improved access controls and more multimedia plug ins for improved customization. Then, I found this overview article on “Four Free Wikis Worth Trying Out” from The International Data Group’s CIO page: http://www.cio.com/article/445813/Four_Free_Wikis_Worth_Trying_Out_. If you have never tried a wiki before, this is a good, general overview of the four most popular open-source formats. You can up-grade on most wikis by paying, and this is a good option to have: more space and higher privacy settings.

Tip: Visit PBworks (used to be PBwiki) at http://pbworks.com/

Invitation: Visit my MET 512 group’s Cognitive Approaches Wiki: http://cognitiveapproaches.pbworks.com/ 

In module two, I got to know what the term “presentation tools” really refers to!  The module challenged us to explore learning management systems (LMS), DVD authoring, website authoring and to compare and contrast. Not only did I participate in discussions, but I also had the opportunity to try some of the Toolkit activities. I completed the LMS and the DVD authoring activity, then I moved into social networking and blogs as module two turned into module three. The assignments in this module were challenging for me: designing an LMS rubric, selecting my own LMS and preparing an LMS proposal. I have never done any of these before, but I feel confident that I am well prepared to embark on this task if my professional career calls for it. I feel this module did prepare me for the selection of presentation tools, and area that is often blanketed by the notion of “get the latest” or “use the most popular”. A thorough analysis will reveal that the latest or most common tools might not meet learning or teaching needs.

What did I come away with?

First of all, how important it is for an educator to take the time to select appropriate tools to meet student needs. This is really a top priority for me and all of the activities seemed to be reinforcing. We have to make an effort to relate to our students and envison their perspective on learning.

In addition, I also used the frameworks we studied in module one (NETS, SECTIONS. 7 Principles) to explain my rationale. Beyond simply making connections to materials, I realized the importance of a learning community. My ideas in the discussion threads often ended by posing a question to other students. This enabled me to participate in our community of inquiry as I found the problem-based scenarios very challenging.  I learned from the ideas of others and examined issues related to the selection of presentation tools from a variety of angles: teachers, administrators, media designers and graduate students! I appreciate how our course is designed after exploring the frameworks. I can imagine how difficult the selection of appropriate tools (this wiki, for example!) was. 

I feel that I’m “sticking to” my flight path. I have certainly done well in exploring LMS issues in theory and I’m challenged to design my own LMS (Moodle) site in practice.  Now, on to module three!

I spent today re-reading some posts from past modules. I felt motivated to do so because I’m getting “deeper” into my LMS Moodle course design, and I can see all of the pieces fitting together. In our Module 2 discussion, we had to give advice to a community educator who was responding to the needs for an ESL population concerned with diabetes prevention and care. The community educator wants to create a DVD to help members of the population because their understanding of spoken English is great, but they find it difficult to recall important information from workshops.

My initial reaction was not to suggest a DVD due to the time, the cost and the lack of flexibility the format affords. However, through participating in discussion threads (I admit, I lurk more than I post) I realized that the population would benefit from a DVD. Simply because we have the Internet doesn’t mean it is the best choice. I overlooked the fact that a DVD covers all of the basic needs. It delivers the workshop in spoken English, subtitles could be added and it could be repeated several times to clarify understanding. In addition, if members had questions, they could note the time and segment of the DVD (depending on design) and reference it to the community educator. Just because there are bells and whistles with presentation software and formats doesn’t mean we need to use them! This reminded me of  Bates & Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS, where student needs and ease of use are emphasised as part of a framework for selecting educational technology tools.

Below is my original post. You can see how far I’ve come!

Anju’s need: To create a learning material that ESL students with fluent oral understanding and poor written understanding can use to help memorize one-hour workshop material.

Discussion:

I would not recommend a DVD for Anju. I would have suggested that Anju use PowerPoint (PP) presentations on a blog/website (or a similar OS application) instead of investing in a video camera and laptop to produce DVDs.  See Annette Smith’s post (May 31) on taping lectures, which inspired my thinking.

 This way, students could access the presentations online, and choose the ones that relate to their concerns without the risk or cost of losing or damaging a DVD. Anju could link her site to other resources on diabetes management, online dictionaries and to diabetes information in other languages. I am assuming Anju is not trained in media design or instructional design. Creating a simple website/blog would allow the community to access her materials and Anju would not need a great deal of “catch-up” in a WYSIWYG editor. Michael Haworth has posted four reasons to avoid creating a DVD in this case: time management, video creation issues, inflexibility of DVDs and being locked into a platform for the duration of her project. See his  June 1 post for details.

If Anju asked me for advice, I would suggest that she create a series of short (10 minute) clips that incorporate the main aspects of a given topic related to the overall workshop into a simple viewing program (powerpoint,for one). If the topic of a workshop was on daily exercise, 10 minutes about why exercise is important, followed by 10 minutes on how to do key exercises and 10 minutes on issues one may come across when exercising (elevated heart rate, excessive thirst…etc). This is to keep students interested and to lessen the risk of overwhelming them with new vocabulary and information. I assume Anju knows her audience, but a preliminary survey may be required to meet student needs and assess unique ESL issues (simplified vocabulary).

I have never authored a DVD, and I ventured into the 565 Toolkit for help with this activity. To create a DVD, Anju would need her lesson plan (divided into 10 minute sections),  her multimedia organized, her multimedia fully produced, her information in a folder hierarchy and DVD-R- because DVD+R may not work on older players (ETEC 565 Toolkit, DVD). She will need to learn her video camera’s functions, and how to upload her video for editing in her DVD authoring program. Whew!

According to ww.signvideo.com, she would have to author the video and audio into a structure like menus and chapters, and then burn her DVD. She would then have to know how many copies in total, and burn that number of DVDs. Her total number may be very high, rising the project’s cost,  and the entire process sounds time consuming!  She is also assuming that students would have a DVD player or access to one. This is a large assumption, and she should have surveyed students before purchasing a video camera and taking this route!

Estimated time:  I have never attempted to create a DVD as a learning resource. Including the time it would take to learn to use the video camera, laptop DVD program and design the materials, my best guess is two months for an amateur/beginner’s effort. I came up with this answer assuming that she would spend 3 weeks planning the learning materials for a unit (based on my teaching experience), 1 week recording various data, and the remainder of the time mastering her DVD authoring tool.

Resources:

Hudson, B. (2002). DVD authoring part 1. Retrieved June 1, 2009, from http://www.signvideo.com/d-athr_pt1.htm

ETEC 565 Learning Toolkit: DVD. Retrieved June 1, 2009, from https://www.vista.ubc.ca/webct/urw/lc5116011.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

ETEC 565 Diabetes DVD Discussion Thread

Wikipedia (2009). DVD authoring. Retrieved June 1, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_authoring

My initial reaction to the ETEC 565 Toolkit information of there being over 400,000 educational blogs was “wow”. That’s a huge number of writers, writing for a purpose and for an audience. I assume this number is growing exponentially by the month and I wonder how many languages are represented in the number of 400,000.

My first experience with blogging was through MET. I designed a blog in ETEC 511, through KeepToolkit (http://www.cfkeep.org/static/index.html). However, I found it tricky to update and upload artifacts and files. In ETEC 565, I was introduced to WordPress. I found it much easier to use, and I decided to stay here!

Explore: I visited the following blogs

·         http://theopenclassroom.blogspot.com/ Jo McLeay is a M.Ed student who focuses on English teaching, literature and knowledge communities. She has posted a good podcast on learning communities coming together to make a difference through volunteering and a T.E.D. video featuring a P.E. teacher who uses blogging in his courses.

·         http://rachelboyd.blogspot.com/ Rachel Boyd has embedded videos that are educational and relevant to my teaching environment. In addition, she has simple explanations for many Web 2.0 tools: Twitter, Blogs in Plain English

·         http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/ A great blog created by Scott McLeod, an expert on technology integration in the K-12 environment.

·         http://educationwonk.blogspot.com/2009/05/carnival-of-education-week-224.html The “blog carnival” includes links and threads to issues and technology integration in K-12 education.

Contribute: In addition to my 565 blog, I created a “rough” MET educational portfolio using WordPress to replace my KeepToolkit version. It can be found at http://eringillespie.wordpress.com/, but it is a work in progress! The skills I learn in 565 are used within the same week on my blog. I have found blogging to be time consuming. There is a potential audience for my posts, and I take my time expressing myself. I want to maintain an atmosphere of a professional-MET student-lifelong learner, and this involves rephrasing, spell-checking, including references (when required) and avoiding slang.

As an example, I’ve actually completed several Toolkit activities, but I save them as a document in Word. The reason is simple: I want to double check that the reflection reads well and I want to add to it. I know I can edit posts, but perhaps a visitor won’t return to my blog and will instead see a less structured post.

Reflection: I would like to investigate why I don’t “love” blogging. I recognize it as a communications tool and an educational tool, but I don’t feel like it is an artistic release or an enjoyable activity. I feel guilty for stating that, but it is true. For some background information, I never really enjoyed writing classes in elementary school and chose art and drama over writing in high school. I guess that’s what the “private posts” function in blogs are for.

LMS Reflection: Moodle Splash Page and Object Orientation

Moodle has been a sharp learning curve. I am especially grateful for the online community and the MET community which offers support and tips. I realized through a MET colleague that my Splash page was not exactly a Splash page. I thought a Splash page was a welcome page, having never designed an LMS course before. Although I had great feedback in MET forums considering what it should be, I didn’t imagine it correctly until I saw the Splash page of another MET  member. Thanks Sean!

I quickly learned to edit Topic 0, decide on the main components of my course, upload images, insert a table and create a Splash page that welcomed students. The most difficult part was imagining which aspects of the course should be on the page. I decided to base my objects on my previous MET experience. My experience helped me decide which objects are essential on a Splash page and which are just taking up precious space. It is important to maintain the “less is more” principle with a new course. Too much information and too many links may frustrate and confuse students. I tried to avoid that by creating a “welcome” message, which is listed after the Splash.

It took a great deal of time to consider how the course will be organized and how the objects will be used in the different modules. The mechanics of uploading the images and creating the links was not difficult, and took about one hour. I used images available from the open source site Wikimedia Commons.  I considered my Splash page from the perspective of a student creating a first impression of the course. The SECTIONS model  guided my decisions, and “ease of use” is currently my first priority. As I progress with my LMS, “teaching and learning” will guide my design decisions.

For members of the MET community, my Moodle (work in progress) can be found below. Please provide any feedback on my Splash page and feel free to ask me questions. You must login with your own Moodle account information as my LMS is not set for guest access.

http://moodle.met.ubc.ca/course/category.php?id=5

Hi all. I have to admit I’ve been doing the ToolKit activities and saving them in Word and returning to “top up” the posts. This is my adventure in social networking. Please review my comparison chart to help understand my reflection.

I investigated Picassa 3, Delicious, Facebook and Twitter because I use all of the applications. I have never used the applications in class. I’m am very pleased I followed through with this activity before suggesting the use of these as class materials. The privacy and terms of services (TOS) links are located at the bottom of the page for each application, well below the “download” link. I also discovered that the TOS were lengthy and required a great deal of consideration and thought. For example, Twitter asks that international users comply with local laws for online conduct. However, there is not a link to local laws and there isn’t a clear description of the consequence of breaking local laws apart from the termination of your Twitter account.

I also noticed that privacy policy and TOS were not clear cut. You had to link and jump to different pages to make sense of the policies and develop an “overall” picture. A quick search on the Internet led me to several blogs and sites complaining about the “evils” of TOS and privacy policy. Facebook is one of the most complained about, but also one of the most successful. I found Picassa disturbing because students would have to create a Google account and comply with the Google TOS, which were not set up to protect the user.

As an elementary teacher, I would only use Delicious. Delicious is a Yahoo! Inc. application but the TOS and privacy policy, combined with the age requirements, seems the safest and protected application. Having said that, my students are too young to take advantage of it. I would definitely use this application for high school students.

In the toolkit, we were asked what are the implications for education. I think the implications are that educators should investigate all of the TOS and privacy policies and make sure they suit the school’s policy on privacy rights. If you wouldn’t share student information with another teacher, how could you risk sharing it with the world? Schools need to educate parents, students and other teachers concerning these issues. In addition, students must be educated on the responsible and educational use of posted content. I say this because students likely use these tools outside of class time and have not been taught how to utilize them in an educational environment.

 References

Delicious TOS (Yahoo!Inc.): http://delicious.com/help/terms

Delicious Privacy Policay: http://info.yahoo.com/privacy/us/delicious/

Facebook TOS: http://www.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf

Facebook Principles: http://www.facebook.com/principles.php

Facebook Privacy Terms http://www.facebook.com/policy.php

Facebook Appeals Claims of Copyright Infringement: http://www.facebook.com/copyright.php?howto_appeal=1

Google Privacy Centre: http://www.google.com/privacy.html

Google Privacy Policy: http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html

Picassa 3 (Google application) TOS: http://google.com/accounts/TOS?hl=US

Twitter TOS: http://twitter.com/tos

Project Objectives

·         Goal: initiate e-learning program in upper elementary (grades 4-6; population=45) by developing functioning blended delivery classroom opportunities through use of the open source Moodle learning management system (LMS) within two years.

·         Objectives within goal: overall pedagogical gains for the English language learning (ELL) program due to increased exposure to English use. This may attract new students and increase student enrolment levels resulting in capital gain within five years.

·         Strategy: Develop sustainable blended learning delivery opportunities (face to face with e-learning) through an open source learning management system (LMS).

Moodle is an open source LMS, software used to plan, deliver, and manage learning in a school, which includes an online virtual classroom and courses led by the instructor (Learning management, n.d.; Moodle, n.d.).  To projectobjectives, it is proposed that Moodle be installed as the schools LMS. Current instructional technology (IT) support staff can liaise with teachers to ensure enrolment procedures and space allocations are functional. IT must transfer current class website data and student/teacher information to Moodle. Initial professional development must focus on IT training and teacher training. A project management approach is suggested to decide on key areas of investment, resource allocation, identify existing technology support and to ensure the focus remains the English learning environment (Bates, 2000).  

Selection of Moodle

Traditionally licensed LMS systems can be extremely costly, with WebCT costing into the hundreds of thousands (Wagstaff, 2009). Thegoal is not focused on economic gain, and our school would not see a return on investment if a licensed LMS was purchased. Cost, Teaching and Learning and Ease of Use are three major areas of Bates & Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS model that support a decision to implement Moodle. Moodle is open source under the GNU Public licensing, meaning it is free to use, adapt and modify to suit our needs (Moodle License, n.d). I explored a demo Moodle and found its interface and icons very novice/ELL friendly.

The open source LMSof Moodle, Clairoline and Sakaiwere compared using Edutools, The Business Readiness Rating™  (although still in its request for comments stage)  and a needs-based rubric (Bronk, Del Mundo, Gillespie, Jung & Wood., 2009; Ronsen, n.d.). The key elements analysed include student record management, tools for assessment, communications tools, costs, system requirements, ease of use, security and constructive teaching/learning opportunities. Moodle most clearly suited the needs of this project by having the strongest security, online support systems and communities, a variety of tools suitable for beginners and a user-friendly intuitive interface.

Intended Outcomes

The intended outcomes are based on Bates & Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS model and implications of Chickering & Ehrmann’s (1996) principles of good teaching practices in undergraduate education. In addition, the International Baccalaureate’s Primary Years Program (2009) curriculum is considered. It is proposed that within 1-2 years of Moodle adoption:

1.      Teachers will teach English material using a constructivist approach and gain technological skills to meet the needs of the Tapscott’s (2004) Net Generation. Teachers do not become novices online but they need time to adapt to technology supported learning (Kelly, 2007).

2.      English language learners will engage in inquiry-based learning opportunities in a meaningful way and gain technological skills that can transfer to areas outside of the classroom. (International Bacclaureate, 2002).

3.      The school will offer varied learning opportunities for students while fostering a sense of community. The school will remain competitive in the private elementary sector through the use of innovative and modern approaches to educational technology and ELL.

4.      Technical requirements and training will be sustainable for three to five years. Moodle will be implemented in grades 4, 5 and 6 and will be sustained through staff training, current levels of IT staffing and the creation of a Moodle fund.

5.      The creation of a modest LMS fund to secure the sustainability of Moodle for 3-5 years.

Rationale

The timeline is supported by Bates (2000) project management approach directed for long term technological change. Objectives 1-3are supported by research on English language learning and technology integration. Social software, like wikis available through Moodle,enable students to generate knowledge in a shared and openly collaborative space (Wheeler, Yeomans & Wheeler, 2008). Wu (2005; 2006) and Cummings (2004) argue English language students benefit from the innovative incorporation of technology in the classroom. It has been argued that the artificial constructs of interaction in an LMS limit discovery and constructivist learning (Siemens, 2004).  However, Moodlesupports constructivist modular growth through its various applications (Chavan & Pavri,2004).

Objectives four and five require minimum technical requirements at start-up. Moodle can run on the school’s server due to its Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP platform (Chavan & Pavri, 2004). Hardware includes approximately 400 MB-1GB of free disc space for installation and course materials, which is currently available. It is requested that the school consider the purchase of a back-up server as teachers develop more content. This would cost approximately $1200-$2000 (CDN) from licensed suppliers. NetSpot is a Moodle Partner in Hong Kong for outsourced support. Sustainability may require contracting NetSpot in the future if student numbers increase. Considering IT support, in-house staff training and server maintenance, a budget of approximately $5,000 (CDN) is requested for the first year of development.

References

Bates, T. (2000). Managing technological change: Strategies for college and university leaders. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In           Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success.(pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.

Bronk, R., Del Mundo, M., Gillespie, E.,  Jung, C.,  & S., Wood, (2009). Delivery platform evaluation rubric.

Chickering, A. W. & Ehrmann. S. C. (1996). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6. Retrieved May 10, 2009, from http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples.htm

Chavan, A., & Pavri, S. (2004). Open source learning management with moodle. Linux Journal. Retrieved June 3, 2009, from http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/7478

Cummings, M. C. (2004). “Because we are shy and fear mistaking”: Computer mediated communication with EFL writers. Journal of Basic Writing, 23(2), 23-43. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. EJ684124).

EduTools. Product comparison. Available May 25, 2009, from http://www.edutools.info/compare.jsp?pj=4&i=599,560,616

International Baccalaureate. (2009). Who we are. Retrieved May 20, 2009, from http://www.ibo.org/general/who.cfm

International Baccalaureate Organization. (2002). A basis for practice: the primary years programme. Retrieved May 20, 2009 from http://www.ibo.org/pyp/documents/basis_pyp_000.pdf

Kelly, O. (2007). Moving to blended delivery in a polytechnic: Shifting the mindset of faculty and institutions. In M. Bullen and D.P. Janes (Eds.), Making the Transition to E-Learning: Strategies and Issues (pp. 33-46). Hershey: Information Science Publishing.

Learning Management System. Wikipedia. Available on June 3, 2009, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_management_system

Moodle About (n.d.). What is moodle? Retrieved June 2, 2009, from http://moodle.org/about/

Moodle License (n.d.). Copyright license for moodle. Retrieved June 3, 2009, from http://docs.moodle.org/en/License

Ronson, Z. (n.d.). Digging into openbrr of moodle and sakai. Retrieved June 6, 2009, from http://www.zacker.org/sakai-project-vs-moodle

Siemens, G. (2004). Learning management systems: The wrong place to start learning. Retrieved June 3, 2009, from http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/lms.htm

The Business Readiness Reading (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2009, from http://www.openbrr.org/wiki/index.php/Home

Wagstaff, C. (2009). WebCT software rising in cost. The Loquitur: Cabrini College. Retrieved May 17, 2009, from http://media.www.theloquitur.com/media/storage/paper226/news/2002/04/11/News/Webct.Software.Rising.In.Cost-233894.shtml

   Wheeler, S., Yeomans, P., & Wheeler, D. (2008). The good, the bad and the wiki: Evaluating

student-generated content for collaborative learning. British Journal of Educational Technology. 39 (6), 987-995. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00799.x

Wu, W. S. (2005). Using blogs in an EFL writing class. Proceedings of 2005 International

            Conference and Workshop on TEFL & Applied Linguistics, Taiwan, 426-432. Retrieved

            from http://www.chu.edu.tw/~wswu/publications/papers/conferences/05.pdf

Wu, W. S. (2006). The effect of blog peer review and teacher feedback on the revisions of EFL writers. Journal of Education and Foreign Languages and Literature, 3, 125-139.     Retrieved from http://www.chu.edu.tw/~wswu/publications/papers/journals/04.pdf

Bates,

I believe Lenora should use an open source wiki (or blog, Google sites) instead of a website. It is noted that Lenora’s members would have to create an account (in the case of pbworks or Google sites) which may be considered a hurdle by some. I chose to apply the SECTIONS frame work because Lenora has to select and use technology with the purpose of creating and maintaining a community for knowledge building. I think it would take her a few evenings of researching the best OS for her needs, and a few evenings setting up her wiki. She could be up-and-running in one week. My reasoning is as follows:

Students: In the future, the technology may have to be appropriate for students to find resources on bullying. Currently the concern is for other teachers. In this scenario the technology must be appropriate for novices because Lenora does not know the tech-comfort level of those who will attend her pro-d online day. A website or a wiki would be fine because both can be designed for novices. However, a wiki does have the advantage of WYSIWYG and Lenora does not know how to design a website. Decision: Wiki

Ease of Use: Will this technology be reliable. Teachers are depending on this as a learning tool and as a resource. Teachers have limited time for professional development and tech frustrations should be kept to a minimum. A website and a wiki are reliable. However, Lenora is a teacher with limited time and she will be a user of this technology. Decision: Wiki

Costs: Lenora does not have a departmental budget and will handle costs on her own. Assuming her school does not allow her to create a pro-d website using their server; she would have to pay for hosting. Decision: Wiki

Teaching and learning: The kind of learning will be collaborative. Knowledge will be shared and constructed. Instructional approaches will be discussions and feedback, and text-based information is suitable. The best technology would support asynchronous communication because teachers will have different time schedules. A website, if created by a novice, may be Web 1.0 styled. Decision: Wiki, with 2.0 WYSIWYG applications

Interactivity: The interaction required is shared communication. E-mail is not required, but the option would be nice for professionals to stay in touch. The ability to post discussions is required and members could post their addresses in forums. This would be difficult for Lenora to create in a website at her level. Decision: Wiki with 2.0 WYSIWYG applications.

Organizational issues: Lenora needs something she can do easily, by herself and something she won’t need considerable IT support for. Lenora does need a place (online) to go for help because she has limited skills. Decision: Wiki, with help links and forums available 24-7.

Novelty:Lenora needs a technology that is established and has been used to create a community of learning before. She is not a pioneer and she should use an application/site that has satisfied professionals who prioritize collaboration and communication exchange. In addition, a low novelty effect will be less likely to “scare” off the technophobes and novices in her community. Decision: A little research online would lead Lenora, at this point, to Google sites, pbworks, wordpress, edublogger…etc. She could research and decide which application is better suited for beginners.

Speed: Lenora needs to consider how quickly her work can reach others and how quickly they can respond to construct solutions to bullying in the community. This is directly affected by Lenora’s dial-up status. Decision: Keep it simple! Lenora does not need Flash animation, images or fancy banners. Simple text-based asynchronous communication would load with limited frustration. Lenora could prepare text in a word processing program and cut-and-paste into her posts/pages.  This would save her the time of attaching/downloading files.

Moodle Reflection:

Well, during the first week of Module 2, I have learned a great deal about LMS! I had never even heard of Claroline, and my WebCT knowledge was limited to my adventures in MET. Moodle, although I have heard of it, is an LMS I have only worked with once before, in ETEC 512. I completed a group assignment using Moodle, but I must admit that I had no idea how to manage Moodle! I would e-mail my work as an attachment to group members and they would upload it to Moodle.

Now, consider this week: Choose your own LMS space and complete the Activities

Initially, I felt very concerned and, I admit, a little scared. I e-mail John Egan three times trying to clear up the Vista/Moodle decision. I quickly learned we just had to use ONE (whew!) and that a password would be sent to me shortly. After I received my password, I followed the Moodle activity in the 565 toolkit and was on my way.

The activity was nicely described. It was worded clearly, and I could follow the instructions well. I only had to skip one step, and that was a section on grading responses/replies to the discussion posts. I couldn’t select that option because the Moodle did not open the option for me. Oh well. Generally speaking, I feel more confident that I can complete the Moodle assignment because my first Moodle attempt went very well. I felt great when I completed the tasks. I also noted the “extra help” links and I’ve used some already. Between completing the activity and visiting help sites online, I think I’ve spent about 5 or 6 hours this week learning about Moodle. I have so much more to learn!!!!

By the way, I came across a great resource for beginners like myself. A teacher has posted 2-minute moodle instructions for other teachers. You can visit it here: http://human.edublogs.org/moodle-tutorials-2-minute-moodles/ It helped me get a better understanding of the “overall” Moodle design. Erin