For the LMS design project I decided to use Moodle. I have seen people create Moodle pages in my other classes and wanted to use this as an opportunity to learn the platform.
Here is the link to my course: Summer Student Orientation
When I first started this assignment I felt very overwhelmed. Not only was I not familiar with how to use Moodle, I also had no content that was structured to be used for a multi-week program. I spent a lot of time upfront just brainstorming what I could adapt for this assignment. Eventually I came to the realization that there was no single program that would translate well in an online multi-week course, but I could combine multiple programs into a series. I decided to focus on the on-boarding program for our summer law student. Currently, the students go through a two week orientation which consists of live face to face information sessions, networking, and formal training. This is then followed by an eight week long professional development curriculum (with one program happening each week). Our department has considered putting some of this content online before so this assignment is a great opportunity to test that out. I selected five sessions that I thought would lend themselves well to an online environment and created the Summer Student Orientation program.
To build my course, I first looked at the examples provided. Certain features really stood out to me. I took note of the aspects I liked and started to form an idea on how to structure my site. Earlier in this course, we learned how important ease of use is in content design (Coates et al., 2005). I decided it was important to have a clear navigation menu at the top of the page with frequently used items. Further, I felt it was important for every page to have navigation arrows and a home button. I then went on YouTube and watched tutorials on how to use Moodle (including creating a navigation menu, formatting charts, developing labels etc.). This allowed me to create what I think it a very clean easy to maneuver course site.
Communication Strategies
When developing my introduction module I asked myself two questions: (1) what do students need to know at the onset of this course, and (2) how best do I share this information. I didn’t want to overload end users with too much content right out the gate, yet I wanted to ensure they would have enough information to proceed effectively through the course. As this course is directed at busy professionals I tried to keep my writing clear and concise – no fluff!
Keeping in mind the importance of social presence (Garrison et al., 1999), I emphasised the significance of student feedback and participation in my introduction module. I implored students to both post and respond to questions in the Q&A forum, comment on each other’s discussion posts, and collaborate on group activities. I am hoping all of these factors will help build a learning community. While these activities are asynchronous, the participants will continue to partake in face to face synchronous professional development programs. I believe the combination of the two will create a holistic learning experience.
As we learned in the Trinh case study, it is very easy to get overwhelmed with communication in an online course. For that reason, I only provided two points of contact in my introduction module: my work email and the Q&A discussion forum. I also provided clear timeframes within which I would respond (24 hours on weekdays and 48 hours on weekends). I wanted to make it clear that my responses would not be instantaneous and that they should also rely on their peers for support. I decided against providing any personal or social media contact information because I don’t think it is relevant for this course and I do not want students contacting me on multiple platforms.
The participants for this program are all located in either the Toronto, Ottawa, or New York. This means we are all in the same time zone and can connect relatively easily in real time. I mentioned in my introduction that I can speak over the phone or meet face to face Monday to Friday, 8:30 – 4:30. Students will still have to reach out to me via email or discussion forum to set this up, but it is a viable option that I am comfortable with.
Assessment Strategies
I found developing assessments strategies much more challenging than developing communication strategies. This was primarily due to the fact that we do not “grade” participants in our learning programs. Everything at the firm is based on completion – i.e. did you attend this program, did you login to this webinar, did you certify your compliance, etc. Further, there are very few programs where we assign attendees homework or assignments. I struggled with balancing firm culture, effective online course design, and the assignment requirements.
To help me, I first reviewed Bates’ (2014) purpose of assessment. He stated that one single assessment instrument will not meet all assessment needs so it is important to determine what your needs are (Bate, 2014). Based on the Bates (2014) criteria, I decided that the needs of the Summer Student Orientation program are to: assess student’s knowledge, provide information to employers about what students know, and to filter students for further jobs (or in our case, rotations). I didn’t feel that all of these needs would be assessed from a Moodle quiz so I added an additional assignment to my course.
The Summer Student Orientation program will be graded based on completion. Students are given one week to complete each modules and I will restrict access so they cannot move forward until they complete all required activities from the prior module. Both the Moodle quiz and assignment will also be graded based on completion. However, if a student does poorly on the quiz or submits an incomplete assignment, the Director of Student Programs will personally reach out to them.
The Moodle quiz is a formative norm-based assessment focused on Module 1: Risk Management. Every member of the firm must sign quality assurance policies when they are hired and then certify each year that they have complied with them. As such, it is important to assess student’s knowledge of these policies. A quiz is an effective assessment tool because the policy guidelines are clear and not open to debate. If students have read the policies and engaged in that weeks’ activity, they should do fairly well on the quiz. Comparably, the assignment is a summative assessment of Modules 3-5: Practice Area Resources. The assignment is reflection based and intended to determine what students know and help make rotations decisions. In this case, there are no wrong answers – the reflection is based on the students’ perceptions, preferences, and goals. Despite not having formal grades, I believe these assessment strategies will be effective in meeting course objectives.
References
Bates. T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age. Retrieved from http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/5-8-assessment-oflearning/ (Appendix 1. A8)
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,(1), 19-36. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11233-004-3567-9
Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105. Retrieved from http://www.anitacrawley.net/Articles/GarrisonAndersonArcher2000.pdf