To review my rationale for the Assessment Tool, please see the Assessment Page of my e-portfolio.
Categories
Category: Module 3
Categories
Reflection – Assessment Tool
For this assignment I created an exam that is to be completed at the end of the course, once all modules have been worked through. I was very pleased to find the quiz function in Moodle easy to use. It was very user-friendly. The preview option allowed you to “see” what you were doing and make changes as you went along. I also relied upon the instructions for constructing quizzes found in the book Using Moodle Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management System, which is authored by Jason Cole. Overall, I’d rate my experience with Moodle as very good. The toughest part of the assignment was to conduct an exam which covered off the main content of all seven modules, while keeping the length of the exam down.
In terms of the content, the main area I focused on was on was the instructions for the exam. This is particularly important to the audience, the employees, as this is their first exposure to an online exam and LMS system; therefore it is vital that there are clear instructions. It is important that the employees are clear of the expectations. The time limit of one hour imposed was important to note, along with the fact that there were no penalties for incorrect responses. Other details such as a running clock, the mark value for each question and the passing grade were also included. The automatic grading of responses along with the feedback is something else that I really like about Moodle. Not only does it cut down significantly on the marking time, but it also gives the employee some immediate feedback on the correct or incorrect response. It definitely allows for timely and effective feedback, a crucial feature to engage and promote learning amongst employees.
Cole, J. (2005). Using moodle: Teaching with the popular course management system. Sebastopol: CA. O’Reilly Media Inc.
In completing the Communication Tools assignment, I was considered how the audience would take react to the communication tools used. As the LMS is a new tool to the workplace learning, the employees would still be on a learning curve and undoubtedly nervous and even anxious about what the LMS offers and how it will differ from the traditional classroom instructor led training they are used to. As such, I chose to utilize two very basic forms of communication tools, the discussion forum and chat room. These two tools would not be too far of a technological stretch for a “non-techie” group of employees to learn to use rapidly. The discussion forum for posts is very similar to typing in a Word document or email and the chat feature is widely used forums such msn messenger. My thoughts are that to ease the employees into the adopting and using the LMS. If you bombard them with all the features for asynchronous and synchronous communication within one course, this would be too much. My approach is to offer it is small doses, starting off with the easiest-to-use tools. In the subsequent courses offered on the LMS, my intention would then be to expose the employees to another form, such as the wiki function for collaboration.