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REFLECTIONS ON MOODLE

It is finished and I am bushed. R.S.

Moodle was introduced to me in ETEC 510, and at my institutions Professional Seminar, held in summer 2010.  It was therefore somewhat of a good feeling for me, when after having read the course information, that I recognized that I would be working with Moodle again, a tool that I have used before and had some knowledge of.  This therefore made me feel confident in approaching the task, but as I got into it I realized that there was much more for me to learn about this tool, especially in terms of building in Dreamweaver and uploading into Moodle.

In selecting an area to focus on for my LMS, I had decided from the outset that I wanted to use one of the courses that I teach.  This was due to the fact that I have tried to get my colleagues to offer one of our courses online, but had my idea “shot down”.  I thought therefore that if I created the course and shared it with them they may have a better appreciation (Let’s see what happens in the new semester).  I then decided to select the course Principles of Teaching and Learning, as I had received comments from my students that they would have loved for the course to be more interactive, I saw this as an opportunity to be the one to make that change (Hope the course achieved that, but recognize however that there are some additional changes that can be made).  I was also motivated by comments made on one of my posts – Tools in Moodle.  This is what was shared:

“I remember that course when I was doing my Ed. degree – I hope that you can make it more interactive and interesting … we used to call it “POT” class … both for quick reference and for the fact that it made you sleepy! ;P
Sounds like you are off to a good start though!
I use the News Forum all the time in my classes – once a week to release that week’s schedule and also to post reminders about upcoming assignments or activities – or just to prod people along to contribute to online activities. Considering most of my students treat their smartphones like another appendage … they can’t ever say they didn’t get the notification!”

“Yes Principles of Teaching, POT. Which battles it out each year in Scarfe Hall with ” I got my degree in B Ed.” for the most giggles in UBC’s Faculty of Education.”

“POTLuck? a party every day?”

 

After reading these comments, I then sat down to design my course.  I sought to include a variety of activities that would somehow engage the students and at the same time they would learn the content of the course.  This was a challenge for me especially as I tried to understand Dreamweaver (Thanks John for including this).  I also utilized Macromedia Firefox which was introduced to me by a friend.  Both are great tools once you understand how to use them, and I plan to become more knowledgeable in using them.  Working on my LMS, challenged me to the “max”, but I never minded at all as I have gained much from the activity.  At first, Moodle for me was just about doing the regular things – creating lessons, uploading articles and creating links to websites, not working with Dreamweaver at all and doing all the other wonderful things.  The activity allowed me to explore other options in Moodle – Quizzes, Journals, Wiki, Glossary amongst others, which I found quite fascinating and will explore those I have not yet used.  It is my desire have a better understanding of Dreamweaver, as I tried to build a page with images which I was successful in doing, but when I imported the file into Moodle the images did not show.  Frustration kicked in at this point and I discarded that idea.  I would however love to revisit it at another time.  I agree with John that using Dreamweaver to build the pages outside of Moodle does allow for more creativity

One of the things that came home forcefully to me as I worked on my LMS, was the amount of time that it required.  John mentioned in one of his comments that he preferred to overestimate the time than to underestimate.  This jolted me somewhat and made me realize that time was of the essence and I needed to spend more quality time on my LMS.  Also, I reflected on comments I have heard at my institution with regards to building courses in Moodle.  Colleagues of mine are of the impression that it requires a couple of hours.  I can testify that it is not so at all.  It is a time consuming task but you can be efficient if you plan well.

I have been empowered from creating my own LMS to the point where I now want to get more involved in creating for other courses.  Based on the requirements of the task, I recognize that I may fall short, but know that this is part of the learning process and I am willing to learn from it.  It is therefore my hope that even if my students call the course Principles of Teaching and Learning – “POT” class that they will do so with much respect and enjoyment in their voices and facial expression and whatever giggles they may sound, will be of jubilation to signify their enjoyment of the course.

Thanks again to ALL and I really enjoyed working with you.