Course Site
Please visit my Moodle Course at the UBC MET Moodle site Laurie Trepanier
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Reflection on Moodle
Since I began my degree, I have not had much opportunity to engage in technology usages. The eight other courses that I have completed did not include any real ‘practical application’ of technology embedded into the learning objectives. Thus, as I reviewed the assessment page in the ETEC 565 course website, I was rather excited that we would be creating a course in Moodle. While I have used a variety of LMS including WebCT, Desire2Learn and Outstart to create training materials and host online courses, Moodle was a new venue to explore.
My early perception (pre-usage) of Moodle consists of awe and wonder! Moodle, “a free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites” (Moodle, Unknown) was regarded in high admiration. This organization can create an LMS, provide it free to educational and training organizations and provide support in the form of a website, discussion areas, blogs and information documents. Moodle was redeemer of the underfunded instructor attempting to incorporate educational technology into the instructional strategy.
After struggling through the creation of a basic course, I have decided that Moodle still deserves to be regarded in high admiration. The efforts of many individuals are recognized in the support offered and the community created within the Moodle world. That said, I do have some reservations about the use of Moodle including….
- Moodle is not intuitive for the user. I personally believe that I had to struggle more than normal to create a simple course. The instructions in the UBC MET Moodle platform was extremely general and simplistic for a new user. On several occasions, I went to the Moodle site to look for documents on how to create a specific learning event, or to make a change to the appearance of my course. This search often lead me to a variety of information, but not the actual instructions on the topic of choice.
- Upon completing my course, I did not like the look of the final product. The long list of modules/weeks down the page was very overwhelming. I decided to review a few of the other students’ pages and again felt the need to somehow simplify the page. I do not know if this look can be resolved by the addition of a content menu to the left/right/top screen. Maybe this is a limitation of the UBC MET Moodle server, or an option that I could not find.
- The creation of the assessment tool was a valuable learning experience. I have gained patient and quiet regards for my computer and the Moodle program. Thankfully, the ETEC 565 courseware did warn the student to begin the assessment early as the creation of the tool was more difficult then one would think! I begin this assignment by creating my questions in a word doc. I wanted to think out the assessment and the required material to meet my objectives. The last step was to transfer the questions to my Moodle course. This step lasted two weeks and I did not transfer the questions exactly as I wanted!
- Uploading pictures and documents was the last straw. I managed to upload a simple picture of a letter about nine times. I still do not know what the problem was or where it originated from. Maybe it was the document extension (i.e. jpg) or maybe it was my lack of ability to ‘right click’ on the upload button. This embarrassing little problem is the reason why I have not overloaded my course site with excessive graphics.
In closing, while I may complain about the little issues surrounding Moodle, I firmly believe I have learned a great deal about Moodle, a new LMS and own limitations when dealing with technology. Thanks for the opportunity that my own employment can not offer.
Reference
Moodle. (Unknown). Welcome to the Moodle Community. Accessed online 09 April 10 on the World Wide Web: http://moodle.org/