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You are most welcomed to browse my Pharmacy Math 101 Moodle site<\/a><\/p>\n What a journey! It took many trips to Moodle.org<\/a>, readings of fellow classmates postings on the ETEC 565 course site, and watching and listening to the archives of John’s Wimba Live sessions to get here. “Here” being a technically complete, for the sake of this assignment, course site. Did I also attempt to incorporate best pedagogical practices to create an atmosphere conducive to learning? Yes, however, I must confess that technical issues plagued me at times throughout this process and threatened to take over. Challenges<\/strong> Things that need improvement<\/strong> Course Site Requirements Checklist<\/strong> Overall Experience<\/strong> References<\/strong> 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 June 7, 2011 from http:\/\/www.tltgroup.org\/programs\/seven.html<\/a><\/p>\n
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\nThings that went well<\/strong>
\nBasically I think the site looks pretty good. I really like the “weekly tabs” format because I think it helps create order and it eliminates the “scroll of death” for students. I took into consideration the different learning styles and potential disabilities of some students and added in some audio along with the text – at least for the introduction of each module. I included the Voicethread that I had created for my original Digital Story but discarded in favour of a more appropriate story<\/em> using a different tool. I also included the video that I made when exploring that part of the Learning Toolkit. I included these thinking they might be effective for increasing student motivation for the course not simply, or even at all, to fill up space.<\/p>\n
\nI had no end of trouble with the “link” feature in Moodle. It just would not link more than once. So, I had to go into HTML mode and do it manually which worked fine. Frustrations aside, I am a much better HTML coder because of it! I also had issues with the site not loading properly and soon figured out that I needed to be persistant and click “editing off” or “on” or logout and back in – a minor inconvenience.<\/p>\n
\nI am well aware that my splash page is far too “busy.” This tells me that I need to work a lot more with Dreamweaver (or find a different HTML editor?) to learn how to create a drop-down box or some other nifty trick to condense things. <\/p>\n
\n* organized look and feel
\n* user friendly
\n* splash page with GUI and 4 navigational components: Welcome, Course Introduction, Module 3, Module 8 (Pharmacy Math 101 banner links to audio)
\n* 2 complete learning modules with HTML content pages: Module 3 and Module 8
\n* 1 (or more) modules programmed for selective release: Module 9 and Module 10 content is closed
\n* 2 general discussion forums: Weekly updates and Icebreaker
\n* 1 group discussion forum for 2 groups: Module 3 and Module 8 have group discussion with 4 groups each<\/p>\n
\nI cannot even begin to describe how valuable building this course site was using Moodle. I have learned so many useful, practical skills in such a short period of time. I look forward to improving my “real” courses – but can I have a break first?<\/p>\n
\nBates A. W. & Poole, G. (2003). A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In A.W. Bates & G. Poole, Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education (pp. 75-108). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 4.<\/p>\n