I can’t believe that only 12 weeks ago I wrote my flight plan for this course. In 12 weeks I have moved from Denver, CO to Calgary, AB, completed 2 MET courses, got hired to teach a Grade 4/5 Gifted and Talented class in the fall, bought a new house, and took my kids to DisneyWorld. A lot happened in my life but a lot has also happened in this course.
In my flight plan I mentioned that I was nervous about creating a course using an unknown LMS from scratch. I also have never created a digital story using some of the fantastic tools available to me, and I was unsure about HTML coding. Well, this course introduced to me to all of this and much more at such a rigorous level, working independently or with my fellow talented colleagues.
Going through the process of evaluating Moodle using Bates and Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS model gave me the opportunity to explore the affordances and pitfalls of this LMS accurately. I now know that Moodle not only provides robust features, but it does so with an uncomplicated user interface. Its open source approach also creates third party functionalities possible going forward. Through these features, quality course options can be created and the e-learning spaces developed will have interactivity and community at their forefront (Assignment 2).
In creating my own Moodle course, I actually can confirm its robust features and uncomplicated user interface. Even when I was unsure of how to do something, Moodle’s resources and help features have answers for everything. If that failed, YouTube has an endless amount of help videos to support Moodle users. In terms of assessment tools, I worked with a variety of them which were conducive to a constructivist approach. All assessment methods were thoughtfully selected and were both formative and summative, which allowed for reflection, feedback, and opportunity for improvement.
The course readings were all applicable to what we were working on. I know there are a couple of key readings that I intend to keep in my back pocket as I can apply them to my personal teaching profession. For example, Bates and Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS model is one where I can explore the possibilities of new technologies and LMS easily and I know will provide a fair assessment of these technologies. Having gone through the Lenora and Benoit case studies, use of mobile devices, the wiki collaborative work, creating my own digital story using PowToon, and using the model to evaluate the social media site Twitter, all contributed in making this course more practical. I enjoyed going through the process of creating my own digital story. I spent a couple of hours exploring various sites and decided to use PowToon as I included PowToon in my Moodle course and felt I should have experience with it if I want my students to use it. I kept my story simple as it was time consuming (being my first time). I was able to see the potential of using digital stories in my own classroom and am thankful to have had this experience.
I worked on my own wiki creation in ETEC 510 but never participated in a collaborative wiki building experience. Participating in a wiki around the affordances of Moodle allowed for intelligent discussions around entries which led to a more intense review process. I love the idea of knowledge building and how a group can collectively build knowledge together. I feel today’s learners thrive on active participation in digital and media literacy, and their engagement in wikipedia stimulates intellectual curiosity on many levels. Peer reviews and debates alone lead to intelligent discussions and thoughtful entries. I would love to try this out in my own class and see what younger students feel about this kind of collaboration.
Google Apps for Education’s (GAFE) seamless synchronous functionality and the ability for collaboration to occur on Google in real time was a topic that reoccurred a couple of times during the course. Using Google Docs and Hangout to collaborate and work with colleagues throughout the MET program proves the strengths of this tool and although there are FOIP issues around it, I would have to agree that the educational benefits of using GAFE far outweigh the risks in terms of FOIP. My colleague and I included a few collaborative assignments in our Moodle courses using GAFE and concur that GAFE provides educators and students alike with the opportunity to improve and restructure current classroom practice.
I have enjoyed this course and all the amazing tools I had the chance to interact with. The discussions were always rich and exciting, and the assignments challenged me in positive ways. The best experience for me was actually creating my Moodle course and I am looking forward to actually having my grade 4/5’s use it in the fall.
Reference:
Bates, A.W. & Poole, G. (2003). Chapter 4: a Framework for Selecting and Using Technology. In Effective Teaching with Technology in Higher Education: Foundations for Success. (pp. 77-105). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers.