great use of moodle - otago polytechnic workshop

Great Use of MoodleDavid Sturrock, NMIT

david.sturrock@nmit.ac.nz | @dnsturrock http://www.delicious.com/dnsturrock/OP-SDDay

Not a total online campus management solution for your institute.

Not an excellent content development tool. Not a concurrent users’ king. Not a Web 2.0 sensation.

Zaid Ali Alsagoff (2009)

What Moodle is not:

Useful package of tools with common interface

Tracking & other tools to reduce administrivia

Tools to support peer-learning. Institution support services. Easily embed & link to external content Quiz engine. Calendar. Glossary.

Strengths of Moodle:

How will we know our Moodle course is great?

Starter for 10

Meets the needs of the learners

A great course...

1. Putting up the handouts (Resources, SCORM)

2. Providing a passive Forum (unfacilitated) 3. Using Quizzes and Assignments (less

management) 4. Using the Wiki, Glossary and Database

tools (interactive content) 5. Facilitate discussions in Forums, asking

questions, guiding Moodle Docs - http://docs.moodle.org/20/en/Pedagogy

Typical Moodle teaching progression

6. Combining activities into sequences, where results feed later activities

7. Introduce external activities and games (internet resources)

8. Using the Survey module to study and reflect on course activity

9. Using peer-review modules like Workshop, giving students more control over grading and even structuring the course in some ways

10. Conducting active research on oneself, sharing ideas in a community of peers

Moodle progression cont

Your Moodle Course is an Airport

http://zaidlearn.blogspot.com/2009/11/moodle-is-airport-not-total-solution.html

2a-e-Filing Cabinet: Passive repository of resources, enabling on and off campus access to baseline course information.

  2b-Technology Supported:  Courses using a few active online elements

in addition to passive resources.   3-Technology Enhanced: Courses with significant online activity using a

range of online tools to support class work, independent study and peer interactions. Online activities required.

  4a-Blended: Courses with a blend of online and classroom learning

activities with compulsory components in each mode. Online activities extend class work and support significant independent student work on both individual and group tasks.

4b-Fully online: As for blended mode, but emphasis on full distance delivery

NMIT Levels of Blended Learning

Level of blend Airport visitor purpose

E-Filing cabinet Pick up

Tech-supported Sending off family member

Tech-enhanced Going on a trip

Blended / Fully Online

Frequent flyer

Purpose

Level of blend

Visitor purpose Now Next year

E-Filing cabinet

Pick up 22 18

Tech-supported

Send off 13 16

Tech-enhanced

Going on a trip 4 15

Blended / Fully Online

Frequent flyer 20 25

Purpose – where do you fit?

What are the important factors that will determine whether the Moodle course is great?

Task: Split into level/visitor groups5 minutes to come up with 5-10 critical

factors or elements of course design

Important factors

Knowledge of teacher/designer Quality Simple to use: clear instructions, navigation, consistent

layout, intuitive Activities Knowledge of Moodle Time efficient Less emails Great resources – quality, time & money issues Sharing resources Track students access Communication File sizes & formats

E-Filing cabinet (group feedback)

Less emails/easier to keep track Quizzes online helps with marking Knowledge of Moodle Student participation/student tracking Prior knowledge before a course starts Version control/updating content

Tech-support

Individual & group involvement Student led & selected activities Less text-rich media Not too overwhelming – depends on student profile Skills-access issues: support, orientation Range of resource types for different learners Scaffolding tasks Clear instructions

Tech enhanced

Navigation/layout, Organised Rationale for being online/blended Interaction & Engagement Pastoral care & developing a community Connectivity – feel part of the group Monitoring – participation Technical specifications & training/support Less is more Take account of past experience Assessments online: assessment formats Feedback: quick, can be automated Different types of activities Flexibility: access Sense of connection: social learning environment, personal,

students-teacher, student-student, community

Blended / online

Group 1 summary

Group 2 summary

OP guidelines & NMIT guidelines Best practices for course design - Michelle Moore E-Filing cabinet template Online course template Moodle demo – sample courses Course format cheating – Moodle Fairy Course formats – more coming in Moodle 2 Programme/school home pages Cool Moodle Courses (requires Moodle.org account) Rubrics – OP & Moodle Course Creator Challenge

Tips for course layout/format

The name of an activity module doesn’t need to define it’s function

OP activity descriptions Creative uses of Moodle modules 47 interesting ways to use Moodle Best ways of using Moodle Moodle Database & Glossary examples Moodle Tool Guide Moodle and Blooms Taxonomy Designing eLearning – Flexible Learning Fra

mework

Matching learning tasks with Moodle modules

Database: Book reviews, critical analysis templates (arts), simple photo gallery

Glossary: students sharing and critiquing images/artists, students defining course terms

Forum: private/public “blogs” Wiki templates Turnitin: students take responsibility

Examples from NMIT

Is your Moodle Course an Airport?

http://zaidlearn.blogspot.com/2009/11/moodle-is-airport-not-total-solution.html