My experiences with Moodle and first group assignment
This was my first bigger assignment as part of the MET program, and I was a little nervous at first about it being a group assignment. Group assignments can be challenging even with the benefit of meeting face to face, so the thought of having to complete this solely online was at first quiet daunting. However, my group came together very quickly and it was clear early on that this was going to be a positive and rewarding experience. We easily found out what strengths each person could bring to the assignment; whether it was researching, editing, writing, or testing the LSM itself, everyone had something that they were strong at. We were all in agreement that it was impressive how efficiently and effectively we worked together. There were never any issues with someone saying that they would get something complete and then not doing it. If someone said they would do something, it was done on time and done well. I can only hope that my remaining group assignments go as smoothly as this.
In terms of the actual LMS that we were evaluating, I found myself being turned off by Moodle when I first started to use it. It seemed complex and detailed and not overly user friendly. The wording and location of different settings was giving me difficulty and I began questioning if I would ever actually use this in my educational practice. However, once I took the time to look through some features, watch various instructional videos, and experiment with Moodle’s sample courses, the platform began to make more sense to me. It offers a wide range of different functions that can be used together to develop and maintain a well-rounded course. It does have a learning curve and is very front-loaded in terms of setup time and development, but once you are used to the system and have your course developed, it is easy to maintain. I am glad that I had the time to go through Moodle and gain an understanding of it, as I know how popular of an LMS it is.
