LMS
Heather McAllister
School Principal
KB Woodward Elementary
13130-106 Avenue
Surrey, B.C.
Dear, Ms McAllister,
I am submitting a proposal to you that I believe will enhance the learning at our school with respect to the use of technology by staff and students across the curriculum. I am providing you with a brief description of my goal, my rationale for choosing to explore this project, the method used to select the required technology tools, and the resources I will need to develop the project. Please contact me if you wish further information surrounding this proposal.
Kindest Regards,
Tom Kritikos
Grade 7 Teacher
Surrey School District
My Rationale:
In my time working as an educator I have always wondered about using a platform that could deliver online courses and other instructional materials to students and staff. This platform could be developed in such a manner that it could compliment the traditional pen-and-paper mode of content delivery. For the past 3 years at our school I have been involved in supporting teachers across various grades (k-7) by helping them integrate technology within their educational programs as outlined within the British Columbia educational curriculum. Presently, the school is actively involved with its 5-year Numeracy goal, to help teachers refine their delivery of the math curriculum to students. I’d like to respectfully propose that we consider the purchase of two ‘SMART’ boards to further enhance the learning of staff and students. ‘SMART’ boards, as they are generally referred to, are interactive ‘whiteboards’ that are touch-sensitive and are used with LCD projectors to display the content of a computer on the whiteboard’s interactive screen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_Board).
To be able to ground staff with the necessary tools and professional development so that they can utilize these ‘SMART’ boards as they deliver the math curriculum, I’d like to propose that the school consider adopting an LMS, (Learning Management System) named MOODLE (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment). An LMS is a web-based application that requires no special software, only a web browser on a computer is needed (Perkins & Pfaffmen, 2006), which we presently have on all the school’s computers. The LMS will permit anyone creating content for online courses to effortlessly upload coursework and assignments, post announcements to all staff and students, post tests and quizzes and permit the synchronous and asynchronous communication of all users (Perkins & Pfaffmen, 2006).
My belief is that by adopting MOODLE as a school wide platform which will allow me to develop learning activities and digital assignments, teachers will then be able to learn collaboratively on how to best utilize SMART board technology within their numeracy programs.
As it stands now, I will use MOODLE to create an online course that will serve as a site that will help teachers learn how to integrate SMART board technology within their numeracy programs. If down the road teachers decide to explore the platform further, I will be available to lend my support so they can begin to develop online courses that will support student learning.
Goal:
To help teachers learn how to utilize SMART board technology by using an LMS that will provide information, training, assignments and overall support for the successful integration of this interactive ‘whiteboard’ within their numeracy programs.
Selection of the LMS:
In choosing to propose the use of the LMS-MOODLE, I needed to review other LMS platforms so that I could be confident that my selection would benefit staff and students to the highest possible degree. I reviewed literature on the open-source LMS-MOODLE and Blackboard’s LMS-WebCT/Vista. Both solutions offer staff and students the necessary tools and interactivity that is needed to help support learning. My selection of MOODLE was largely based on the fact that this LMS is provided free of charge. As well, many academics believe that MOODLE is easier to use than other platforms that are proprietary in nature (Perkins & Pfaffmen, 2006). To assist my decision making process in selecting the most effective LMS for my proposal, I have used a framework titled S.E.C.T.I.O.N.S. This model developed by (Bates and Poole 2002), consists of criteria within each component that assisted me with the evaluation process. Below, I have touched upon all components of the SECTIONS model for your inspection.
S-Students:
Today’s students have access to different kinds of technology that wasn’t available to them only a few short years ago. This has given our students the means and ability to connect with their peers via the digital world in both a synchronous and asynchronous manner. By capitalizing on their expertise and enthusiasm for working with technology, I believe that their learning would increase if they did more online learning with respect to Numeracy by using ‘SMART’ board technology.
E-Ease of Use:
Having used the LMS-MOODLE, I can say that I found it very ease to navigate. Both teachers and students do not need to have any formal training to operate the platform due to its uncluttered graphical interface. One of the benefits of using MOODLE is the fact that users can log into the platform from remote locations, in other words users are not bound by the four walls of their classroom for access. Having the ability to utilize the technology from multiple locations will be very beneficial to all involved with respect to motivation and learning potential. As of this time, I have not come across any reliability issues or problems associated with the MOODLE platform. As a free, open-source platform, available for download at http://moodle.org (Perkins & Pfaffmen, 2006), MOODLE has the benefit of having a vast community of learners that support and help users troubleshoot problems that may arise from time to time. With technology there are always issues that eventually creep into the learning equation, therefore, I am confident that the community of learners who utilize MOODLE will be a valuable resource for our purposes.
C-Costs:
With school districts having to creatively look for savings within all areas of the education budget, the MOODLE platform is an excellent choice for our purposes because it does not have any costs associated with having it hosted on our server. In fact, the platform can reside on either one of our school’s PC or MAC servers located within the office. The school’s Macbooks and limited number of PC machines are relatively new, and can handle the MOODLE platform without any upgrading needed.
T-Teaching and Learning:
In my experience I have seen how students who build knowledge collaboratively have the ability to transform their learning in ways that are beneficial for educators as well. As a teacher, and active participant in the teaching and learning of students, this philosophy has the advantages of providing insights into the teaching process, which ultimately can improve student learning. MOODLE will create a shared experience between teachers and students, whereby communication between stakeholders will increase, and the learning process will improve for all.
I-Interactivity:
The MOODLE platform offers the following types of interactivity (Perkins & Pfaffmen, 2006).
-teachers can post various forms of content (text and multimedia) to the MOODLE platform
-students can participate in online discussions with other students, and also with the teacher
-students/teachers can participate in online real-time chat forums with their peers/colleagues
-students can participate by accessing and completing online assignments and/or tests, and then submitting the document(s) for grading
-students/teachers can participate by collaboratively building and editing Wiki (quick web-sites) http://www.answers.com/topic/wiki
-teachers can provide students with feedback and grades on various assignments using the MOODLE platform
-teachers can build an online glossary for students, who can then edit the glossary as their knowledge expands
-MOODLE enables parents to access course assignments and communicate with teachers, thereby holding students accountable for their learning
O-Organizational Issues:
To fully reap the benefits of utilizing MOODLE to help teachers deliver an enhanced Numeracy program to students by learning about SMART board technology, the districts Information Technology team will need to support the project. Supporting the project by troubleshooting local technology issues, should they arise, would greatly increase the projects success.
N-Novelty:
MOODLE is a widely used platform for hosting online courses throughout the world by educators, http://moodle.org/about/.
The following link demonstrates some statistics on the global usage of known MOODLE sites, http://moodle.org/stats/.
S-Speed:
I was able to download and install the MOODLE software onto my computer with the associated (Mac) installers within 10 minutes. Installing the platform onto the school’s server will also be minutes in length with the support of the IT department. Resources and materials created for MOODLE will vary with the complexity of the task, however, the uploading of such products takes only minutes to complete. Creating an online course is also very quick. I created my demonstration course within 4 minutes. Adding and editing the course is also very simple. By pointing and clicking while navigating the platform’s graphical interface, users can modify their online site within minutes.
Resources/Budget Need to Deliver the Project:
After careful consideration of the resources needed to ensure the successful launching of this project, I respectfully submit the following list for your consideration:
* Two SMART boards, $1300 each for a total of $2600
* Two days of SMART board instruction (Teacher-on-call needed @ $215 per day, total of $430
* $600 need for resources (SMART board and MOODLE)
Budget Requested: $3630.00 (Canadian Dollars)
References:
Bates 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.
Moodle, About. (n.d.), Retrieved June 3, 2009, from Moodle: http://moodle.org/about/
Moodle, Statistics. (n.d.), Retrieved June 4, 2009, from Moodle: http://moodle.org/stats/
Perkins, M., Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a Course Management System to Improve Classroom Communication. Science Teacher, 73(7), 33-37.
SMART Board interactive whiteboard. (n.d.), Retrieved June 2, 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_Board
Welcome to the Moodle community. (n.d.), Retrieved June 2, 2009, from Moodle: http://moodle.org/
Wiki. (n.d.), Retrieved June 2, 2009, from Answers.com: http://www.answers.com/topic/wiki