{"id":7,"date":"2011-05-19T21:07:18","date_gmt":"2011-05-20T05:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/walker565\/"},"modified":"2011-06-11T20:16:05","modified_gmt":"2011-06-12T04:16:05","slug":"proposal","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/walker565\/proposal\/","title":{"rendered":"Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Name: Everton Walker<\/em><\/p>\n

Instructor: Mr. John Egan<\/em><\/p>\n

Date: June 12, 2011<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Introduction <\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The advent of the technological era continues to revolutionize the 21st<\/sup> century classrooms; especially in developed countries. However, this wave is also spreading across developing countries and all stakeholders in education should get on board. The onus is therefore on us to satisfy the technological appetite of this generation of digital natives through sound instructional practices and e-learning.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Proposed Message to the Principal <\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Being an advocate for real change, and one who wants to see the institution meet the criteria of the country’s 2030 development plan, it is imperative that as an institution we start the mission of changing the way we carry out instructional practices and facilitate our digital natives population. Therefore, I am proposing that we adopt and implement a Learning Management System (LMS); Moodle, which means Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment. The benefits of having this LMS are numerous, invaluable and will not take any great toll on the college’s coffer. Here are the advantages for installing such an LMS.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cost<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moodle is a free open source software that doesn’t require a fee, site licenses or per-seat purchases (Martinez & Jaqannathan, 2008). It entails a plethora of teaching and learning tools and applications that reflect what the 21st<\/sup> century classroom should entail. It only requires a stable server to run on; of which you already have in place. There’s no need to employ new personnel to manage this LMS as the current IT specialists can do this along with others who are knowledgeable in the field. This is essential as the site will be frequently visited and accessible at all times (Perkins & Pfaffman, 2006). <\/span><\/span> Adequate help and tutorials are present at www.moodle.org<\/a><\/span><\/span> so you will not need to sort and pay resource persons to come and have training sessions with members from the department.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Teaching and Learning Environment<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This LMS embodies an environment that is based on the constructivist model of teaching and learning. Therefore, students will enter a virtual setting where they will able to work cooperatively, share best practices, problem-solve and become active participants as they take charge of their own learning and interpret their world in a social setting (Jonassen, 1999).<\/span><\/span> Additionally, good learning, like good work, is collaborative and social, not competitive and isolated (Chickering & Gamson 1987). <\/span><\/span>In such a context, instructors can prepare lessons and leave students to carry out tasks independently. This will be critical in our institution especially during teaching practicum when we tend to miss several classes because of supervisory tasks. In addition, there are various sources of online help which will guide teachers in Moodle lesson plan creation, designing and editing quizzes, grade-book usage (Perkins & Pfaffman, 2006). Tutorials and videos can be found at <\/span><\/span>www.youtube.com<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Interactivity and Ease of Use<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moodle was designed with interactivity as one of its main mandates. Staff members were already exposed to training in instructional technologies last summer so working with Moodle will not pose a problem. In an attempt to foster feedback and rich online discussions and discourse, this LMS comes with live instant chat, wikis, and discussion threads (Perkins & Pfaffman, 2006). This<\/span><\/span> will help students to form effective community of learners as they interact, reflect and charter the way forward and unleash metacognition strategies during learning. Additionally, students are privy to submit their assignments and receive numerical grades and feedback which is critical to the learning process; as students need appropriate feedback on performance to benefit from courses (Chickering & Gamson 1987).<\/span><\/span> <\/strong>Being at the control, instructors will be able to track students’ progress, post announcements and course documents, constantly see their history of site’s access, and assessments and assignments reports (Chickering & Ehrmann, 1996). Parents and caregivers will also be able to be more involved in their children’s learning as they can enter this virtual environment to keep track and provide support.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Installation Speed and Convenience<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Moodle is fairly easy to install and come with installers for Mac and Windows OS, a web server and database applications built on top of it (Perkins & Pfaffman, 2006)<\/span><\/span>. The fact that we have had a major fire last year which destroyed students’ records and other important materials, installing such a system will erase that kind of risk from natural disasters as documents stored on this platform will never be lost (Perkins & Pfaffman, 2006).<\/span><\/span> Therefore , students and teachers will be able to conduct classes from the comfort of their bedroom or anywhere a reliable Internet connection exists. This will be beneficial in our situation since frequent flooding usually prevent students and teachers from attending classes.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Novelty, Validity and Reliability<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

With Moodle, you are not alone; as this popular and trustworthy LMS is being used by millions in more than 200 countries worldwide. Moodle now has over 4 million users and more than 400,000 courses with a download rate of 45,000 per month (Perkins & Pfaffman, 2006). As we speak, these stats are increasing rapidly and this trend can be monitored at http:\/\/moodle.org\/stats<\/a>. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Considerations<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/a> Having done assessments on our current infrastructure, it is imperative that upgrading be done on the Internet service; both wired and wireless so students and lecturers can access the service conveniently. Therefore, servers may need to be installed in each department or networked to other servers on campus (Bates, 2000). We could start out with blended learning and as competence is developed and assessment done, we can run a few pilot runs with only online learning before doing it exclusively. Even though we are aware that some staff members will be resistant to this change, there is no need to worry. According to Panettieri, 2007, some schools have struggled to unlock the full power of their LMS systems because some faculty members prefer a printed course syllabus and paper. However, he states 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. Therefore, it’s in the college’s best interest that you give this proposal serious considerations.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sincerely,<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Everton Walker<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\n<\/em><\/p>\n

References
\n<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bates, T. (2000). Managing Technological Change: Strategies for College and University Leaders. Sanfrancisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Inc.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Chickering, A.W. & Ehrmann, S.C. (1996). Implementing the Seven Principles: Technology as Lever. <\/em>American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, <\/em>49(2), 3-6.
\nhttp:\/\/www.aahea.org\/bulletins\/articles\/sevenprinciples.htm<\/a><\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n

Chickering, A.W. & Gamson, Z.F. (1987). Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate \tEducation. <\/em>American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, <\/em>39 (7), 3-7.
\nhttp:\/\/www.aahea.org\/bulletins\/articles\/sevenprinciples1987.htm<\/a><\/em> <\/em><\/p>\n

Jonassen, D. (1999). Designing constructivist learning environments<\/a><\/span><\/span>. In C. Reigeluth (Ed.), \tInstructional design theories and models: Volume II. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Elbas.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Martinez, M. & Jaqannathan, S.(2008). Moodle: A low cost solution for successful e-learning.<\/span><\/span> <\/span>Learning Solutions Magazine. <\/span>Retrieved June 8, 2010 from <\/span><\/span> <\/span>http:\/\/www.learningsolutionsmag.com\/articles\/71\/moodle-a-low-cost-solution-for-successful-e-<\/a> learning<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Perkins, M., & Pfaffman, J. (2006). Using a course management system to improve classroom \tcommunication. The Science Teacher, 33-37. Retrieved from \thttp:\/\/www.nsta.org\/publications\/article.asp<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Panettieri, J. (2007). Addition by subtraction. <\/em>University Business, August, 58-62. Accessed online 11 \tMarch 2009 http:\/\/www.universitybusiness.com\/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=845<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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