Evaluating Moodle for Implementation in the Gifted Outreach Programs for the Vancouver School Board
Josh Campbell, Kenny Jamieson, Milda Theodule, Brittany Reid and Kym Bailey
ETEC 565A University of British Columbia
Organization Description
The Vancouver School Board is the second largest public school district in British Columbia whose goal is “to enable students to reach their intellectual, social, aesthetic and physical potential in challenging and stimulating settings which reflect the worth of each individual and promote mutual respect, cooperation and social responsibility”. As such, District Learning Services provides programs that support the diverse learning needs of all learners from kindergarten through Grade 12. Under the direction of Learning Services, comprehensive programming is offered to students who are gifted or in need of enrichment. The Challenge Centre is an outreach program stationed in a central location within the district of Vancouver. Approximately 2% of students who attend a school in Vancouver are invited to participate in specialized, challenging academic activities with like-minded peers. A variety of programs of different focus areas, in a range of academic topics have been created to respond to the diverse needs of gifted and highly able learners. The program that will be offered using the Moodle platform will specifically target grade 6 and 7 students who have been identified by a school based team at their home school as being gifted and highly able learners.
Reason for Implementation of Moodle
Gifted and highly able learners need to be exposed to rich learning experiences that allow the student to use higher level thinking skills to solve meaningful problems. Using Moodle as a mixed-mode of instruction will allow students to work through course material at an instructional pace that is optimal for achieving depth and breadth of understanding and knowledge. Every student should be given the opportunity to stretch their own thinking and challenge themselves on a daily basis. Unfortunately, due to restricted funding, the Challenge Centre is only able to service gifted and highly able learners once per school year for a maximum of four school days. Using Moodle will allow for opportunity to connect with like-minded peers and to develop self-directed learning skills which will allow for more educationally stimulating opportunities. It is hoped that an amalgamation between the online platform and the outreach program offered by the Challenge Centre will provide students with greater opportunities for educational growth and the development of meaningful connections with their peers and instructors.
Organization Goals
Through the use of Moodle, it is hoped that students will have the opportunity to:
- Progress through the course at their own pace, that is differentiated in content, process, product and assessment.
- Connect with like-minded peers, to share ideas and knowledge by participating in a variety of online discussions, collaborative projects, and real-time interactions with peers.
- Develop critical thinking and reasoning skills by making connections with present knowledge and new information derived from various texts, multimedia and environments.
- Participate and interact in gamification of the content which will build motivation and engagement.
- Develop metacognitive skills that fosters independent and self-directed learning.
Affordances and Features of Moodle
Moodle allows learners to access the course material and work on assignments in a setting that is best suited for many different learning styles. Students who do not necessarily find a traditional classroom as the best environment for them, are able to find alternate settings to complete their lessons and work. Students are not restricted by their physical proximity to a teacher or classroom.
An important feature of Moodle for teachers is having the ability to control when and how students have access to course materials, assignments and other valuable resources. This allows the teacher to better organize the course and to make adjustments as needed. Similarly, students are able to access the course including the course calendar to plan ahead for assignments, quizzes or upcoming event.
For the VSB Challenge Centre, Moodle provides opportunities for students to continue their learning independently and maximize their classroom time with their teacher. This could be a great tool to use in a situation where a teacher continues to have regular classroom contact with his/her students, or has regular set times for students to come in for individual help. Using Moodle, would allow teachers to have more time to provide individual support and feedback to students who are gifted or need enrichment. Those who are comfortable with the course can progress at their own pace, while those that are need of further assistance would have the instructor on hand to do so.
Learning management systems such as Moodle allows participants to explore relevant analytics to assess learning, course effectiveness and provides a system for academic administration Coates, James & Baldwin (2005). Moodle fits this organization’s goals perfectly and provides an excellent platform for promoting digital collaboration and communication. According to Brandl (2005), “Students can be divided into subgroups, interact with each other synchronously in chat rooms, or engage in asynchronous discussions in Wikis and forums” p. (20) Teachers are able to easily setup discussion forums, wikis, or chat rooms that provide students with a safe way to communicate with each other or with their teacher. Forums provide a platform for the teacher and stents to communicate with each other. Students may engage in deep and meaningful discussions and pose questions to both their teacher and their peers. This feature gives student’s time to process their thoughts and form strong opinions and arguments about what they are posting. Moodle has shown to be an excellent tool for improving communication between classmates and instructors and to enhance learner interactions (Chao, 2008).
Moodle has potential for creating a rich learning environment with the ability to easily differentiate instruction. Teachers present the content in various ways such as through embedding videos, pictures, PowerPoint presentations, and links to various sites or documents. Coates, James and Baldwin (2005) note that using an online platform can provide students with improved access to a variety of resources and materials that they can easily interact with.
Products of learning are differentiated by allowing for choice in assignments, projects, and assessments. Within Moodle, it is also easy to include quizzes that students can use as a means of formative assessment. The ability to build-in automatic grading gives the opportunity for immediate feedback to the students’ understanding. This would be great for students being able to check their own learning and knowledge as they progress through the course. Within this, teachers would have the ability to pose thought-provoking questions for students to consider when either moving forward with the course or when reflecting back on what they learn.
The ability for students to control their own learning, opens the door to gamification of Moodle-based courses. Using conditional activities to level up, and presenting small reasonable challenges to reveal higher levels over time, may increase student motivation and on task behavior. In the integrated gradebook, custom scales such as adding stars or status levels can be added once levels are achieved. As well, a badge system can be added as a label, and revealed once activities are completed and surprise bonuses for achievements such as coins can be collected. A progress bar allows students to set and track learning goals. Multiple progress bars can be added to the course to reward different behaviors such as ‘thoughtful contributor’ or ‘creative content’.
Sustainability of Moodle
Moodle has the potential to have a large positive impact on the VSB Challenge Centre. As with any significant technology implementation, there are a number of potential issues that would need to be considered and discussed organizationally before a final decision to implement is made. One concern is that Moodle is very front-end heavy in terms of creating the initial platform itself and developing the resources that would be used on the site. This could cause some initial resistance and hesitation to move forward with Moodle. The VSB would have to make a decision as to whether or not they would want the classroom teacher to create the site, in which case, professional development and course creation time would likely need to be provided. Alternatively, they could outsource to an independent instructional or designated designer to do the set up. While the running of Moodle itself does not indicate a significant financial hardship, the issues of teacher training and/or course design can potentially be time consuming and have financial implications for the school.
When the decision is made to incorporate Moodle as a LMS, the organization would have to consider several factors. Firstly, a determination must be made as to whether or not Moodle would replace classroom instruction and be a fully digital resource. Secondly, will it be used in collaboration with classroom time to create a mixed -model approach to learning or will it be used to augmented classroom teaching.
Any of the three options would present different strengths and weaknesses and can be evaluated in the chart below:
| Fully Digital | Mixed-Mode | Augmented | |
| Ease of Communication | Reliant on students/teachers /parents checking Moodle regularly | Combines best of face to face communication with mass distribution potential | Allows for normal face to face communication but can be hard to reach masses and those outside of the classroom |
| Access to Resources | Limited to those with regular internet access | Students without internet access could risk falling behind those with access as they have greater ability to engage with Moodle | Available for all Challenge Centre students |
| Students Reached | Largest | Potential Small Growth | Current |
Moodle would also have an impact on the learning practices of the students enrolled in the VSB Challenge Centre and the pedagogical approach of the instructor. As with any shift in teaching practice (i.e. flipped classroom), the impact on the learner must be deeply considered. A shift to fully online, or mixed-mode instruction would likely be a significant adjustment for students, even those in a gifted program that may already have adopted a different approach. From Fulton’s (2012) article, Upside Down and Inside Out, “classroom management was another challenge, says 20-year veteran teacher Rob Warneke: ‘Kids need to be trained and guided to stay on task, work collaboratively, solve their own problems, be disciplined.” If done successfully, this could allow teachers to maximize instructional time Teachers would need to determine how they are going to manage and facilitate this shift in learning-teaching style. They would potentially have to spend time, at the introduction of the course, working with the students to develop the skills such as collaborative learning that is needed to be successful learning in a digital environment. Through the use of a digital platform, teachers could take on a larger facilitator role within the Challenge Centre. Teachers could also work to connect groups of students with various experts or community mentors through a digital medium. This could add a further level of engagement to the course, better networking and collaborating opportunities and provide a richer learning experience for students.
Conclusion
If the Vancouver School Board were to implement Moodle for use with their Challenge Centre, the potential for growth could be substantial. As Moodle is very front-end heavy, it would not require substantial time to update and maintain. As new resources come available, teachers could easily update their Moodle to present students with new and interesting content and activities. The use of Moodle, would also allow for more students to engage with the Challenge Centre and the curriculum that they offer, beyond their current capacity to see students just four days per school year. As opposed to being limited by classroom numbers and physical space, students would have a digital environment to engage in.
As with all schools and districts that look to dive deeper into the pool of “21st Century Learning”, it is important to consider expanding beyond the brick-and-mortar model of education. Moodle is a tool with great potential for expansion into online course offerings.
References
Brandl, K. (2005). Are you ready to “Moodle”. Language Learning & Technology, 9(2), 16-23.
Chao, I. T. (2008). Moving to Moodle: Reflections two years later. Educause Quarterly, 3, 46-52.
Coates, H., James, R., & Baldwin, G. (2005). A critical examination of the effects of learning management systems on university teaching and learning.Tertiary education and management, 11, 19-36.
Perkins, M., & Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a course management system to improve classroom communication. SCIENCE TEACHER-WASHINGTON-,73(7), 33.