Reflection upon Quiz Experience
Everton Walker
July 3, 2011
In order to charter a successful way forward, it is imperative that one looks back at contributing past events that might affect future ones and evaluate them thoroughly. This is essential as it is not a smart move to repeat mistakes made, or do things the same way which once proved unsuccessful.
Having seen the assignment outline and description initially, I was taken aback as I was about to venture in the total unknown. Being a total newbie to Moodle and well aware of the standards of my instructor, I was tentative about taking on this task. I knew from the outset that I had to learn quickly if success was guaranteed. As a result, it took me a long while to start my exploration. On numerous occasions, I entered the platform and left the scene; not because I wasn’t ready to work, but rather fearful. As times passed by, I psyched up myself to build confidence. Special attention was given to the fact that I created a personal site using WordPress with which I had absolutely no prior experience. This bolstered my confidence to a great extent but never took away the fear. Anyhow, I decided to be a part of the Moodle live sessions but because of the time zone, I missed out. I was definitely out of options now and had to get the ball rolling. I visited the platform on several other occasions and tentatively toyed around by clicking randomly. I eventually inserted a picture on my welcome page complemented by a welcome note and the course name and code. I felt a bit better even though that was not the essence of the assignment. I eventually left the site after resizing the picture and went to reread the assignment.
I returned a few days later with a bit more optimism. I scanned a few of my colleagues’ sites to look at their progress and get some ideas but this was to no avail; as they never started as yet. I then seek refuge at youtube.com where I started my search for some Moodle beginners’ tutorials. I watched a few of the videos and instantly my confidence soared. My next move was to carry out each instruction given by the video creators. My next task was to zone in on the target assignment; designing a quiz. I was now entering foreign territory so I paid special attention to the tutorials on adding the various questions to Moodle. The multiple choice questions were first on my agenda and this took a lot of trial and error before I gained mastery. As soon as that was behind me, I completed the other assessment questions with little or no problem. I was truly blown away when I realized how simple the task was and how Moodle provided me with such amazing capabilities and features. It’s as if everything was predetermined and I was just unearthing the potential of the platform. At that moment I was beaming with confidence and seemed to have picked up an addiction for the site. The ease of navigation and the wealth of tools at my disposal further concretized the endless possibilities of Moodle. I was now willing to erase questions and replace them masterfully for mere practice. I even added picture to a question, did test submissions, and check grades and feedback. It was really overwhelming to see how fast all this could be done with great accuracy. A sense of achievement was now in my grasp and I was of the view that nothing can be out of my reach unless I allowed it to happen. Having heard about Moodle in the past and personally did some testing, it really bridged that gap of uncertainty I previously had. Seeing now how powerful Moodle is and how it would revolutionize my teaching and learning experience, thoughts were now active about how I could get such a dynamic LMS in my college. I was also especially pleased and engaged in the feedback feature. I was amazed when I realized that this extremely important principle of teaching was a feature and that it was emphasized within the assignment. I took special note as feedback is the single most powerful influence in students’ achievement, (Hattie, 1987).
In addition, I was very enthused about the idea of setting up various forms of assessment; as I do value assessment within my teaching and learning environment; as what influenced students most is not the teaching but the assessment (Snyder, 1971; Miller & Parlett, 1974). During the experience, I also paid adequate attention to the forms of assessment as I am always in frequent discussions about applying formative assessment over summative within my classroom. This activity certainly set the tone for that form of assessment.
This assignment has really taught me a great lesson and I must give credit to my instructor who deliberately puts us in situations to explore and discover things for ourselves. This certainly paid off as I was able to independently carry out the task that seemed impossible in the initial stage.
References
Graham, G. & Simpson, C. (2004). Conditions Under Which Assessment Supports Students’ Learning: Journal of Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Issue 1.
Hattie, J.A. (1987) Identifying the salient facets of a model of student learning:a synthesis of meta-analyses, International Journal of Educational Research, vol. 11, pp. 187-212.
Miller, C.M.I. & Parlett, M. (1974) Up to the Mark: a study of the
examination game, Guildford: Society for Research into Higher Education.
Snyder, B.R. (1971) The Hidden Curriculum, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.