My experience completing the LMS Introdution Module
Creating an online course using the LMS “Moodle” platform seemed daunting at first. I had only heard of this system before, never had I actually seen it in action. The reason why I chose Moodle over Connect was because I know some elementary schools do use it and I thought it would benefit me later down the road in my teaching career. I am glad I chose it though, since it allowed me to be creative, see first hand just how to create an online course, and to hopefully put my work to good use one day. I had to watch tutorials on youtube to be honest, to get a sense of all the different functions available for me to use. It was like riding a bicycle for the first time. You’ve heard of it and seen it, but never have test driven it.
I found creating the online quiz to be the most challenging for me. There are so many different functions available and I just didn’t know how to tackle it at first. It was like trial and error for me. I would play around with the different drop down menus, switch off the editing mode so I can see what the students would see if they were to view the page and so forth. Once I created all my questions for the quiz, it mysteriously disappeared on me and I was in a panic. I had no idea where they went. Turns out they were in the question bank, only to find another struggle of importing them back into the quiz.
Future Communication and Assessment Strategies
I agree with Bates’ (2014) statement when he says that learner’s may not want or need to be formally evaluated. Instead, they would prefer feedback on the assignment or task. Does the student really understand this? If not, will verbal or written feedback be sufficient? This brings me back to last summer when I taught English 11 face to face. At the end of the course I sent out a questionnaire asking things such as, “What can the instructor do next time he teaches the course?” The majority of them responded that they didn’t want a mark on their essay, but feedback instead. I thought to myself, wow! Okay then, next time I teach this course which will be this summer, I will provide more feedback but still have some marks as I need a summative assessment. I thought that since it is face-to-face, I will ask them to come up one by one and have a “check-in” with me to let them know how they are doing and allow them time for them to ask me any questions. Now, with my LMS English course, I would do the same. I would provide more written feedback and allow them to have a virtual office visit at least twice in the semester. This would allow me to talk to them online over Skype to have a more face-to-face visit.
I always thought it was true and Gibbs and Simpson (2005) just confirmed my belief, students usually achieve higher marks on course assignments than on course examinations. For my Intro Module online course, I created a summative quiz on a novel study we would read titled, Lord of the Flies. I like this because it provides instant feedback to the students, and it’s also less work for the teacher to mark. However, I don’t like giving all my students only quizzes, tests or exams. I like to include projects (solo or group) as another form of summative or formative assessment. One form of summative assessment that I would include in my online course, would be a mind map that would have to include all the characters in Shakespeare’s Macbeth linking the different relationships and a description of each. The students could choose the software platform they would like to use such as bubbl.us or mindmup and then could post their link on a forum. I like this strategy as it doesn’t include an exam and is another way for the students to share and test their knowledge of the content we are studying.
The different types of communication I’ve included in my LMS course is both synchronous and asynchronous. I’ve included a forum for students to ask each other or myself any question they may have for asynchronous communication, and I have also included a live chat for my virtual office hours for synchronous communication. I like both of these as it allows my students to choose their desired form of communication. I noted on my course that I will be unavailable on Sunday. I think it’s important for teachers and students to step away from the computer to regroup and reflect.
Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age http://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/
Gibbs, G., & Simpson, C. (2005). Conditions under which assessment supports student’s learning. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, 1(1), 3-31. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf