Tech Chance

Here’s my Moodle LMS

Presenting MOODLE

Muddling my way
through Moodle (Reflection)

It was an experience that will be of great benefit to me for
a very long time. Being immersed in the development of a course using Moodle
has taught me may useful things. Unlike many of my colleagues, I was unfamiliar
with Moodle. Sometime ago, my institution did a four day workshop on using
Moodle. Truth be told, I came away with very little. I really appreciated how
little when I started working my way through this project. Online learning has
its many advantages. However, if not carefully organized, can be challenging
for the online teacher as well as the on line student. I gained a deeper
appreciation of the need for the proper connections, the whole matter of timing
and the relevance of dedication and commitment to online learning. The
challenges are many but the benefits far outweigh these challenges. I came to
recognize that content and media can be linked together by technology and that
there are endless tools available to help make the process manageable even for
me.

Setting up my Moodle LMS assured me that my students will be
able to benefit. The communication tools I used such as Skype, audacity,
discussion forums and chat features are easily integrated into the students
learning. The platform allows for students getting in to do their work, rather
than being bogged down by features require advanced knowledge of technology to
deal with. For me, after musing around and experimenting with various features,
I found it was not so bad after all. I can actually do this. Setting up the
quiz was particularly challenging for me, I suppose because of the time when
that assignment was scheduled to be completed. If it were now, I would not
complain, not even a whisper because I have become familiar with the tools and
my understanding and appreciation has grown.

The tools that I have included will and can be used in a
variety of ways. The assignments can be completed through discussion forums;
there are assignments that require responses through writing; tests and quizzes
are also included so assessment has been addressed with the added feature of
immediate feedback which is integral in the learning process as is supported by
Gibbs and Simpson (2004). Including audio, video and as well as other types of
graphics adds interest, stimulation and variety to this course I have
developed. The students therefore have a multiplicity of ways of communicating
during this course.

Being able to combine synchronous and asynchronous tools is
useful as it allows for the needs of all participants to be met at any one time
or the other as the course progresses as suggested by Anderson (2008).

Anderson
also emphasizes the need to consider the social environment when creating an
online course.  Recognizing that some learners
are highly visual or auditory and may need some audio/visual contact,
especially so for those that require immediacy in their interaction, the
opportunity to interact through Skype and using Audacity has been provided. To
ensure that this online course is not just the same chalk and talk in a new
format, activities and resources are included to hold interest, stimulate
critical thinking and allow for students’ creativity.

Where needed, I was also able to introduce my own material
that I created, adding some amount of personal touch to the experience. The
availability of Open Source material reduced the challenge of copyright and
legal issues. Anderson
(2008) also has the view that repurposing material is necessary as we consider
online learning and as such is an activity that is considered a part of the
teachers’ presence.

I am now anxious to go off and share with the rest of my
colleagues Moodle.

Anderson, T. (2008). Teaching in an Online Learning Context. 
In: Anderson, T. & Elloumi, F. Theory and Practice of Online
Learning. Athabasca University. Accessed online 3 March 2009 http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/14_Anderson_2008_Anderson-DeliveryQualitySupport.pdf

Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2005).  “Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning.” Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Accessed online 11 March 2009 http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf