Reflections on Creating a Course in Moodle….<\/p>\n
This was a great learning activity for me.\u00a0 Several years ago I jumped into teaching online courses at the College of the Rockies.\u00a0 The courses were all set up, and other than little bits of updating, I didn\u2019t have to do too much editing.\u00a0 Last year I had the opportunity to create a new course.\u00a0\u00a0 I had no training, and very limited time to create it.\u00a0 I pretty much copied the format and instructional design of previous courses I had taught.<\/p>\n
This MET course gave me the opportunity to really investigate some new features and to reflect on tool selection like I\u2019ve never done before.\u00a0 I learned so much\u2026and not just about what<\/em> Moodle can do, but about how<\/em> and why<\/em> I select the tools that are right for each learning activity. I\u2019m hoping to rework two of my fall courses in August to integrate some of these things I\u2019ve learned.<\/p>\n For the MET course I created, \u201cModifying and Adapting Instruction \u2013 An Introduction for Education Assistants\u201d, I utilized my newfound knowledge to:<\/p>\n All of these things were new to me.\u00a0 Yay!<\/p>\n I enjoyed having some options in the \u201cSettings\u201d controls.\u00a0 Where I teach, these options are very limited.\u00a0 I played with all sorts of themes, and finally came back to cornflower (which may have even been the default when I started!).\u00a0\u00a0 I prefer a very clutter-free clean looking page, and like the blue colour accents on the white page, and the linear presentation of the activities.\u00a0 It\u2019s very\u2026.me.\u00a0 I added several blocks, but in the end, removed any that weren\u2019t really essential to the course (keeping accessibility issues in mind!).<\/p>\n The most stressful part of this process was the requirement to have one module programmed for selective release.\u00a0 There are many terms and methods for hiding and\/or limiting access to activities and modules in Moodle, and what you can do is dependent on both the version of Moodle being used, as well as the level of administrative access you have.\u00a0\u00a0 Some of the topics I researched include:<\/p>\n Because the requirement was to have a module (not just an activity) selectively released, I chose to use the hide\/show option (open\/close the eye).\u00a0 While I have to open this manually, this option allowed me to close two modules that I will create this fall, in order to prepare it for teaching in April 2012.<\/p>\n When I was looking back at the course I created, I thought about Chickering & Ehrmann\u2019s (1996) seven principles of good practice.\u00a0\u00a0 I was pleased to see how much growth I\u2019ve undergone in the area of learning different tools and knowing how to select and integrate them into my course design.\u00a0 I integrated lots of opportunities for students to interact with each other and with me, and chose activities that supported both collaborative and active learning.<\/p>\n I loved the hands-on approach to this activity.\u00a0 It was an authentic and highly valuable activity for me to undertake.<\/p>\n\n
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