Reflection: Setting up Moodle and Icebreaker

After obtaining my login name and password, I logged on to the site and saw an interface that I was completely unfamiliar with.  I could not seem to orient myself to where I should go or what I should do.  I tried to compare and follow the screen shots from this video by Sessional Instructor John Egan (UBC): However, I was still experiencing a lot of difficulty.  Then, after browsing through the pages and reading the Help sections, I soon realized where I was and what I was supposed to do.  This hurdle was difficult to overcome.  Afterwards, following the instructions to guide my setup went a lot more smoothly.

In general, setting up the Icebreaker was not too labour-intensive, as long as you followed the clearly-explained steps closely.  What made it difficult and challenging was not knowing how to do certain tasks like using “bullets” in the post.  This task required for me to search for troubleshooting tips from various resources.  However, once I found the proper process and experimented with it, the task went a lot quicker.  Also, certain vocabulary in the instructions required for me to research the meaning for understanding, like WYSIWYG.  I think part of using Moodle is making mistakes along the way and troubleshooting.

One aspect of Moodle that made this process work well was the clear layout, step-by-step process, and Help section.  The clear layout allowed me to understand what I was doing and allowed me to manoeuvre around the site easily.  The step-by-step process to organize the forum made the task easier and allowed for beginner users, like me, to be able to follow along.  Lastly, the Help section helped to relieve the problems that I came across during the entire process.

Because I was having a lot of difficulty at the beginning, what surprised me was that when small challenges came up during the process, I found it easier to tackle and troubleshoot them as I continued on.  The small successes that occurred helped to increase my confidence in using Moodle.  It also surprised me how I became familiar with Moodle and was able to manipulate with success!  I look forward to more challenges and also overcoming each one.