Mr. Dick Juhasz

Belmont Secondary School

Mr. Juhasz, the following is a proposal to develop a new online course for the next school year. This course would not only answer a need within the Technology Education Department, but by introducing the choice of completing some classes on line would permit students who are choosing work over school to continue their studies and graduate high school.

Summary.

To develop a Learning Management System (L.M.S.) for Woodworking 12. The course will be designed for students who have completed senior woodworking and is intended to more fully explore the theoretical aspects of woodworking.

Statement of Need.

Many students who enroll in senior woodworking develop a keen interest in pursuing a career in this area, either in carpentry, cabinetmaking or furniture making. These students are able to develop excellent, practical, ‘hands-on’ skills in the classroom, but due to a variety of factors; time constraints, lack of classroom space etc. are unable to delve into the theoretical material that is so necessary to today’s trade person. This class will address that problem and help students fulfill their interests and requirements.

Project Description.

· Learning Management System.

A Learning Management System allows the creation of an on-line course web site. An L.M.S. is designed to allow students to work on course material on their own schedule and at any computer terminal. For the task of choosing an L.M.S. for the course I relied on the recommendations put forward in the SECTIONS model by Bates and Poole. Not only did this offer advice on what to look for in an L.M.S. but I will be able to use the model when designing the requirements of the actual site. Of the systems considered I recommend using Moodle. This choice is based on a number of factors, one of the most important being cost. Since Moodle is Open Source software it is available free of charge. Another factor which helped made the decision was reading the opinions of current users. Perkins and Pfaffman describe how a group of teachers in their school has had great success using Moodle as a supplement to their classes. Prior to making my final decision I created a mock-up course site using Moodle. I found changing and building the site easy and was quickly able to add a welcome page and a discussion forum to the site. I have no hesitation in saying Moodle would be an excellent L.M.S. to develop this course site.

· Course Site

The course site will be designed so that the layout and navigation will be as simple and straight forward as possible. The course is comprised of a number of modules which students must complete. The introductory screen will prominently display a link labeled, ‘Read This First’ which will explain how these course modules work. Keeping in mind the age group the intent of this section is to answer the questions; what do I have to do, when do I have to do it, and, how will it be marked. This section will also show a complete schedule for the course explaining when a module begins and ends and when assignments and quizzes are to be handed in. Each module in the course will cover a different topic and can be considered ‘stand alone’.

One of the benefits of designing the course to be complete on-line is that links to external web sites can be added within the modules. This can greatly broaden the scope of the course to include videos, lectures and woodworking related web sites.

Participation will also play a key role in this course. The site will feature forums and students will be challenged with a variety of questions to think about their future career in a larger context.

Budget.

Since Moodle is available free of charge, the main cost to the district would be in granting one additional prep block for one teacher during the first semester in order to design, write and troubleshoot the course modules. While the class is in session it will be managed by a teacher and will be equivalent to one class in that teacher’s regular course load.

Bates, A., & Poole, G. (2003). A Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. New York: Wiely, John & Sons.

Perkins, M., & Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a Course Management System to Improve Classroom Communication. The Science Teacher , 33-37.