Reflection on Moodle exercise
This has to be the task of all tasks. Of all the courses and activities I have done during this MET program thus far, this activity can be considered the cream of the crop. Not to say the others weren’t informative and great; but the point is, this activity has prepared me for exactly what I am expected to do in my my future classroom endeavors. At the center of my mind initially, I was thinking a lot about my students and how I can make the presentation interesting. This was done as N-Gen students are literally wired differently from previous generations, their brains shaped by a lifelong immersion in virtual spaces (Mabrito & Medley, 2008). As a result, I knew that my specifications should cater to these students as they are not the typical students I encountered 7 years ago.
From the initial stage, I knew this task would be one of the most challenging of tasks. Even though I was far more confident than when I was asked to initiate the Moodle activities and create the quiz, the magnitude and technicalities of the task kept me uneasy throughout. This came about as I never had full administrator privilege to direct my personal interest for the site. Additionally, I was expected to use applications from outside if I expected to maximize my grade; and this made me a bit jittery as I haven’t fully developed mastery with the platform. Despite these fear and nerves, I knew I had a task to accomplish and never planned on giving up. Having a clear understanding of the structure of my course was the easy part, but I was now taken up with thoughts about implementing the right assessment activities; as earning and teaching in an online environmentare much like teaching and learning in any other formal educationalcontext: learners’ needs are assessed, content is negotiated or prescribed, learning activities are orchestrated, and learning is assessed ( Anderson , 2008).
Before I started the task, I read the instructions on numerous occasions as a few of the pointers weren’t clear to me. I also seek advice from a number of my colleagues but they were just as confused on a few occasions. Also, I went back and checked with the layout of ETEC 565 to see if I could get some insights even though mine wouldn’t be that detailed. I examined the features and structure and walked away with a better knowledge of how I would populate my site. I was also cognizant of the fact that I was preparing this site for participants from various backgrounds. This was crucial as the online learning environment is also a unique cultural context in itself. Benedikt (1991) argues that cyberspace “has a geography, aphysics, a nature, and a rule of human law” (pp. 123). As a result, I was vent on catering to my students in order to meet these specifications.
Having a general sense of the layout of the course I intended use made life much easier. I was aware of the activities, assessments and the topics to explore. With that in mind, I decided to seriously start the process. This took me several hours as I ran a number of trial and error sessions. As time went by I was feeling more confident as I embedded the modules and weekly schedules. In addition, there was a feeling of satisfaction as I was involved in an activity that I will be repeating sooner than later for my college. This feeling even propelled me to dig deeper in order to make this experience as real as possible. For me, this wasn’t a made up exercise as I would take this same approach and give similar activities and assessments for my class. Although frustration was creeping upon me, I reflected on my personal classroom situation and realize that giving up wasn’t an option as Moodle was here to make life easier since it supplements face-to-face learning well (Cole & Foster, 2008).
As my confidence grew, I started visiting this site frequently just like how I would with my social networking sites. My visits were now to change, refix and toy around with some extra features in Moodle. The fact that Moodle gives teacher and trainers a powerful set of web-based tools for an array of activities (Cole & Foster, 2008), I was willing to explore and toy around with as many as possible. This was being done to give my presentation a distinctive look; and a possible higher grade. This never proved too successful as enough leverage wasn’t given as it relates to administrator’s privilege. However, I never allowed this to be a bother as I was more focused on the given guidelines to complete the task.
I refueled and continued my site’s population with little or no glitches. I was being propelled by Panettieri (2007) views who claim that when an LMS system clicks with a university, it can emerge as a critical backbone for student-to-student and student to professor interaction. This made me even more determined to gain mastery as I have already been telling my principal about this LMS and the potential it has to move the college forward. As it relates to the hyperlink, I was a bit confused; but with determination I managed to pull through successfully with constant consultation with my colleagues and video tutorials from youtube.com. However, I must confess that I still have some work to do as it relates to fully mastering Moodle and its applications and have plans to do this soon. Therefore, I will continue to practice after this course is over as I will need the expertise and confidence very shortly.
Despite my challenges, I must say that my success certainly outweighs them as I walked away from the activity with new knowledge that will change my teaching methods in terms of innovation and convenience; which is keeping in line with the 21st century classroom specifications.
References
Anderson, T. (2008). Delivery, Quality Control, and Student Support of Online Courses: Teaching in an Online Learning Context. Athabasca University
Anderson, T. (2008). Towards a Theory of Online Learning. Athabasca University.
Cole, J. Foster, H. (2008). Using Moodle: Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management System. San Francisco: O’Reilly Media Inc.
Mabrito, M., Medley, R. (2008) Why Professor Johnny Can’t Read: Understanding the Net Generation’s Texts. Innovate. Volumbe 4, Issue 6, August/September. Accessed online 31 March 2009. hhttp://www.innovateonline.info/pdf/vol4_issue6/Why_Professor_Johnny_Can’t_Read-__Understanding_the_Net_Generation’s_Texts.pdf
Panettieri, J. (2007). Addition by subtraction. University Business, August, 58-62. Accessed online 11 March 2009 http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=845