Course_Site
Reflections on Creating My Moodle Course Site
Learning to use and develop the Moodle Learning Management System presented for me a very steep learning curve. This is the first MET course I have been enrolled in that introduced this level of technical learning. I feel I have developed foundational skills to use and develop the course site, but require further training to really benefit from all the tools that are available. I have recognized this through visiting my classmate’s course sites that are all outstanding but very different and present with varying levels of complexity.
Some of the course tools related to the assignment were very straight forward and user friendly and others were challenging and very frustrating, such as creating a splash page and selective release of an entire topic or learning module. However, I feel I can revisit these functions and work through an easier or more effective method in due time.
I found it difficult to balance the work of learning about the various areas of Moodle with trying to build effective course content that would meet the requirements of the assignment and my goal of developing the framework of my site that I could later use in my own course. I was also trying to utilize good principles of implementing technology for teaching (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996). Due to the type of site I am trying to construct I need to refine the evaluation piece to ensure the learners are obligated to participate and to provide the learner with an appropriate measurement tool (Anderson, 2008).
More importantly in reflecting one needs to ask themselves what have you learned and have you met your learning goals. The answer to both these questions is yes! I feel positive about what I have learned now that I can look back and reflect. In creating this course site I have learned to use a wide variety of technologies beyond Moodle, such as HTML coding for embedding, linking, hyper-linking images, files and URLs, Notepad, Dreamweaver, and more. Creating the course site was very technical and forced me as a learner to use the course toolkit resource, Moodle resources and many You Tube videos, all of which created new knowledge. The discussion forums introduced countless resources and Web 2.0 tools that I have bookmarked and intend to explore going forward in my learning journey.
References
Anderson, T. and Elloumi, F., Eds. (2008). Theory and Practice of Online Learning. Edmonton AB: Athabasca University.
Chickering, A.W. and Ehrmann, S.C. (1996). “Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever,” American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6. Retrieved January 6, 2012 from: http://www.aahea.org/bulletins/articles/sevenprinciples.htm