Tag: toolkit

Moodle Final Reflections

I think I’ve finally finished my course requirements as they apply to the LMS, although I’m not sure a LMS is really ever finished. When I first learned that ETEC 565 students would be required to create a LMS I was both excited and nervous. Excited because I think the use of LMS in education is on the rise and it would makes sense that as a person interested in advancing my career in the area of education technology, I’d do well to develop my Moodle skills. Nervous because learning a new technology is seldom easy and requires a great time commitment. In the end though, I found that using Moodle is quite and easy it has many affordances that could lead to improving the learning experience of my students.

I think it made a huge difference to not tackle the task of learning to use Moodle alone. I had more than enough support from fellow classmates and online resources. I also really benefited from the Adobe Connect session last week and I appreciate the opportunity to learn from experts outside of the course.
In terms of the actual assignment, I THINK, I’ve completed the objectives. Just to make sure, and as a reflective exercise, I’ve broken things down as follows:
A Learning Management System (LMS) online course site, either in Moodle or WebCT/Vista (25), including complete set-up for the following:
Proposal for LMS selected (10)

Splash page using an object orientation (5)
I found a great picture on Flickr Creative Commons to use as my object orientation. The image appears to be of the original cover of The Outsiders; very unique. I linked the image back to the Flickr page in order to credit its owner. After peeking at some other ETEC 565 LMS, I realized that I need to create some links on my splash page to offer quick access to key sections of the course. This makes sense as every MET class I’ve taken thus far has also had this feature.
Two (or more) complete content modules (5)
I put a great deal of thought and effort toward completing my content modules. To be honest, I though it would be easier to throw something together because I have taught The Outsiders novel study so many times. When it came down to making decisions on content and activities however there were always many choices to be made. What I am most proud of is the way I incorporated online resources to enhance what I normally would have done in a face to face setting. My first module allows students to set the context of the novel before starting to read the book. I know my students will just love viewing the Youtube videos I found showing some great commercials from the 1960’s. I’d really love to finish the other modules and export my course to my division’s Moodle server. We’ll see how much time I have this summer.
(At least) one module programmed for selective release (1)
As I discovered at the Adobe Connect session, selective release is different for Moodle and Vista being that you are somewhat limited in Moodle. Nevertheless, I programmed my module containing the unit exam to be released at the end of the course.
Two general discussion fora topics (2)
I have several discussion fora topics included in my course, but my favorites are the two included within my content modules.
One group discussion forum for (at least) 2 groups (2)
On my splash page, I created a discussion forum for group discussion (2 groups). The idea here is that students will use the forum to discuss their group tasks that are scattered among the learning activities. In MET, I’ve learned to value and appreciate a group discussion forum to help with group tasks. I don’t know where I’d be without one.

In conclusion, I am really happy about the opportunity to learn about Moodle. I feel that I’ve developed a great deal of technical know-how along with some pedagogical theory through this assignments. This is of course important to me as learning to use Moodle was one of my goals I set in my flight path.

Weblogs

This week, I check out weblogs for the E-learning Toolkit activity. Although I do have some experience with weblogs, both as readers and as a publisher, I welcome the opportunity to learn more about them. I was most surprised and impressed to visit the link to the ETEC 522 course site, which appears to host and manage most or all of the course content. Makes sense, I suppose because weblogs are much more than personal journals, but I had never really stopped to think about how many people or agencies are using blogs to manage their content.

I’ve never used Blogger as a weblog application, so I created an account to check things out a little. This was pretty much the standard sign-up procedure for web services, no surprises here. The Blogger interface is very similar to that of WordPress, which I use quite often. Blogger makes publishing very easy and I was also able to change my template with no trouble at all.

While I understand that Blogger and WordPress are very popular in educational settings, I still prefer using Class Blogmeister with my students. I feel comfortable and in complete control over postings because I am able to preview and approve entries and comments before they are published. This is an important feature if you’re a grade eight teacher.

I did however try out Google Blog Search to locate some great NHL blogs that I added to my Google Reader. I want to teach my students how and why to do this during units of study. I’m also trying to locate a nice student blog evaluation rubric that I can use next school year. I suppose I could make one myself, but I’d prefer not to re-invent.

Synchronous Communication Tools

I’m really liking the E-learning toolkit activities. This week, I’ve spent several hours tinkering with various synchronous communication tools including Skype and Wimba. It is quite easy to recognize the value of these tools, especially in light of this week’s Anderson (2008) reading where the key attributes of online learning were discussed. As a learner in the MET program, I can attest that a good online learning design needs to incorporate synchronous communication tools in order to foster appropriate interactions between teacher-learner, learner-learner, learner-knowledge, and learner-community. Selfishly, I am most interested in using these tools to increase interactions between learners and the community outside of my school. One of my professional goals is to go outside the confines of the school walls in order to tap into the vast network of outside expertise and knowledge. I had planned on using synchronous tools to enable me to do so. I just think it’s silly to try to be a teacher know it all these days when there are others who are more capable and who don’t mind helping out. For example, recently my class and I started to study about the Holocaust. I know very little about the Holocaust, but managed to put a decent unit together. This is fine, but I can’t help but think that I could have been joined by an expert in the field. Bringing an expert in by Skype or Wimba might just be what the doctor ordered.

And so I tried out Skype…..

The download was quick and it installed on my Mac with no trouble at all. After that the sign-up process took minutes and I was all set to test things out. With no contacts, or no knowledge of Skype etiquette, I was hesitant to make a call. I used the search function to locate a number of a pizza delivery service in Brazil that guaranteed delivery in 45 minutes or less. I clicked on the green phone icon, and heard the call going through. The following transcribes my call:

Pizza Guy : something in Portugese

Me: Hi, can I make a delievery order?

Pizza Guy: What?

Me: I want to order a pizza and I wonder if your 45 minute guarantee applies to me?

Pizza Guy: You have to be kidding me

Pizza Guy: hangs up

The point is that the call worked and it was free, opening up a huge world of possibilities for my teaching practices. What I do worry about, however, is how to support my guest experts who may not be familiar with Skype. Perhaps they aren’t skilled with technology at all. I wonder if someone has designed a tutorial for this purpose. I’m going to check!

Erik

First Impressions of Moodle

I enjoyed my first toolkit activity on LMS. I chose to explore Moodle over WebCT/Vista because my division runs its own Moodle server, so the opportunity is there for me to perhaps develop a few courses and use them with my students. Always excited to engage in practical assignments that can easily be transfered to my professional life.

I spent roughly 60 minutes on the toolkit exercises, opening a new course, adding a ice breaker message, and then setting up a graded discussion forum. None of this was very difficult at all. In fact, I was surprised at how easy it was to edit my new course. As usual though, I became interested in Moodle and spent several hours on the Moodle page, playing with features and pondering what I might add to my course. Lots of potential here, indeed. Because I teach face to face, I will have to consider whether a blended course would really benfit my students before I invest a great deal of time designing a course. Nonetheless, I think distance learning has a HUGE future, so any chance to develop the associated skills will likely be of value.

Stay tunes as I try to decide on a unit to build for ETEC 565. After all, if I have to design a course to pass the class, I might as well make something I can use in the future!

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