Moodle Proposal

Sarah’s Proposal

 “Collaboration is the process of shared creating. It is about collective intelligence.” (Attaran, 2007).

 Background:

 I have been teaching Foods & Nutrition 8 – 10 for three years.  I love teaching Foods and now that I am comfortable with the material I want to expand my teaching methods.  My overall goal for this project is to make the experience more authentic and collaborative for my Foods 9 students.  I feel that the LMS Moodle will help me create a more authentic and collaborative learning environment for my students.   

 The theoretical framework that supports my teaching style is Constructivism.  Constructivists believe that learning is an active and constructive process (Constructivism, 2008, para. 1).  I also believe that Lave and Wenger’s conception of communities of practice (CoP) is the foundation for learning in the Foods room.  According to Wenger (2004), “communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” In my classroom students are encouraged to collaborate and acquire knowledge through the formal and informal relationships.

 I have identified the following goals to enrich student learning in my classroom:

1. Improve collaboration between students.
2. Improve communication with parents.
3. Explore and experiment with different recipes and food techniques to make the experience more authentic.

 The BC Foods and Nutrition curriculum states,  “when planning for instruction and assessment in Foods and Nutrition 8 to 12, teachers should provide opportunities for students to develop literacy in relation to information and communications technology sources” (BC Ministry of Education).  I believe that using technology can help me create more authentic assignments and assessment and increase collaboration in my classroom.

 Review of Literature:

Moodle is a free and an open source Learning Management System that can be downloaded on a computer or server (Moodle).  Moodle also supports constructivist teaching and learning (Moodle).  Moodle provides online documentation that can get a teacher up and running with little or no programming required (see http://docs.moodle.org/en/Teacher_documentation).  Perkins and Pfaffman (2006) conducted a qualitative study of four high school teachers who had implemented Moodle into their classroom.  The goal for teachers was to “improve and enhance student performance by promoting and organizing communication among parents, student, teachers, administrators and the community” (p. 35).  The teachers found that communication with parents (and all other groups) improved and students were able to keep up-to-date with all material as they could access it at any time.  The teachers also found that the site was easy to maintain.  The findings of this study support my choice of using a LMS in my classroom. One area that the study did not address was the possibility of using a LMS to encourage collaboration between students which I would like to incorporate. 

 The International Society for Technology in Education created the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) that teachers should consider as we implement technology into our classroom (ISTE). 

In my decision to implement a Moodle site, I have considered the following standards:

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. Using technology in my Foods 9 classroom will expand our knowledge base from textbook learning. Students will have freedom and autonomy of their own learning and can experiment with different resources. Technology will also be used as a vehicle to enhance both formal and informal collaboration between students and students and their parents. 

2.      Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.  One of the reasons I am excited to use Moodle is that it will open up the door to us using the Internet more as well.  As a Foods class, we are required to book a computer lab and once we are in the lab, we will be using Moodle and various resources in creating authentic experiences.  At this point I am still unsure how using technology will help with assessment, so will have to look into that further. 

3.      Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. This is one area that really excites me as Moodle will be a gateway to explore digital tools and resources.  I have played around and there are many exciting things relevant to the topics we cover. 

4.      Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility.  Teaching students legal and ethical use of digital information will be important as we will often rely on other people’s recipes and creations.   

5.      Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. I am also creating the Moodle site as I want expand my own teaching repertoire and experiment with new technology.  I used to teach Computers at my school, so I feel that once I get my site up and going I can be a leader in Moodle for my school. 

I also applied Bates and Poole’s (2003) SECTIONS framework as it is an excellent tool for evaluating possible technologies.  

“S” Students – I will provide in-class time to students, so everyone should have access to my Moodle site.  Our school also provided computer time before school, after school and at lunch, so any out of class assignments can be completed at school if any of my students do not have access to the computer.  

“E” Ease of use – Don Knezek, ISTE CEO, said it best, “Teachers must become comfortable as co-learners with their students and with colleagues around the world. Today it is less about staying ahead and more about moving ahead”.  It is my goal that I am comfortable with the technology before I introduce it to my students in September.  From the discussion I have had with my collegues, Moodle is a user-friendly site that is appropriate for high school students. 

Right away, “C” cost stood out to me – I am able to download and access Moodle at my school for free! 

“T” Teaching and learning – The constructivist nature of the Moodle site supports my constructivist teaching style.  I believe that I will be able to develop a Community of Practise (CoP) within my own classroom. 

“I” Interactivity – I love that by developing a CoP both the students and I can gain knowledge informally and formally.  I can say that I have learned just as much from my peers in the MET program as I have from the coursework.  I look forward to reading the discussion boards of my students! 

“O” Organizational issues – Our district has always been very supportive of us trying new things.  I don’t anticipate any issues, but that being said, I will contact the IT guys and ask if I can install Moodle on my school’s server. 

“N” Novelty – I believe Moodle is a new and exciting technology that has been around long enough that it has a track record of success.  Also, it falls inline with my pedagogical beliefs and it is worth “the risk” to me. 

“S” Speed – I outlined my anticipated timeframe below.  One of the advantages with this site is that once it is up and running it is easy to maintain (Perkins and Pfaffman, 2006). 

Objectives 

Scope of Project: 

I have just started to play around in Moodle and I have created a shell with a few resources and activities.  I found the site very intuitive and easy to navigate around.  By the end of ETEC 565A I would like to have created a fully functioning Moodle site for my Foods 9 class.  Here are some of the activities that I would like to include:

 Discussion Forum – I would like a general forum where I can initiate a topic and where all students participate.  I would also like a forum for individual groups.  I am excited to see the discussions in the group forum (who participates, how ideas develop, etc).  This discussion forum also supports my goals of improving collaboration between students.

Glossary of Key Terms – I often give students print copies of terms that they are able to reference throughout the year, it would be great to have the terms online. 

Wiki – I have not used a wiki yet in my classes, but from viewing the discussions in ETEC 565A, I see that many of my collegues use them and find them a great tool to communicate with parents.   By creating an area where we can all communicate, I feel that I am achieving my goal of increasing communication with parents. 

Assignment – I would like to create an area where I can hand out assignments to students and they can hand them in.  Perkins and Pfaffman (2006) commented that because this important information was online students were always able to access it and it avoided confusion over due dates and such.

Quiz – I am not sure if I would use the quiz function or not, but I see that it is a requirement for our final project, so I will have to give it some thought!  I generally don’t do tests or quizzes in Foods from a philosophical standpoint; I just don’t believe that they are authentic. 

Timeline: 

  • Creating the Moodle shell (just the basics)- 1 week
  • Creating a well-designed splash page – 1 week
  • Creating the proposal for the site – 1 week
  • Creating the information to go into the site – 3 weeks
  • Creating the resources/activities to put the information in – 2 weeks
  • Creating user accounts (if I need to do this?) – 1 week
  • Going over the site and fine-tuning it – 1 week
  • Total time – 10 weeks (which takes me to August 2nd

Questions I would like answers to:

1. In Moodle, what is the difference between a lesson, text page and web page? If I just want to provide some information, which of these three is most appropriate.

2. Who can view the Moodle site? Anyone or do they need an account?

3. Contact district IT and find out if I can install Moodle on my school’s server. 

Conclusion:

Overall, I am excited that I have this opportunity in ETEC 565A to play around and experiment with Moodle.  I plan on developing an engaging site that will excite both my self and my students to create a more authentic and collaborative learning experience.  

Visit “Sarah Wood’s Moodle” at: http://moodle.met.ubc.ca/course/view.php?id=74 

Sources: 

Attaran, M. (2007) Collaborative computing: a new management strategy for increasing productivity and building a better business. Business Strategy Series. Vol 8(8). p. 397-393. 

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). 

BC Ministry of Education. (2008). Retrieved June 1, 2009 from http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/he_foodnutri812.pdf.

Constructivism.  Retrieved June 2, 2009, from  http://www.learning-theories.com/constructivism.html.

Moodle. (2009). Retrieved June 1, 2009 from http://moodle.org/.

Perkins, M. & Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a Course Management System to Improve Classroom Communication. Science Teacher, 73(7), 33-37.

The International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National educational technology standards and performance indicators for teachers. Retrieved May 29, 2009 from://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm.

Wenger, E. (2004).  Retrieved June 2, 2009 from http://www.ewenger.com/theory/index.htm.

 

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