Moodle is an online course management system that is very much like Blackboard, but much less expensive-it is free to download. Being able to access it anywhere at anytime for both teacher and students is benefitial. The teacher is able to decide how to set up and use the Moodle and make adjustments as the need arises. With the ease of accessibility of the Internet; safety is a major concern, especially for young users. Moodle is designed in that only the teacher and those that enrolled in the class are able to access it with the issue of a user name and password. At anytime the teacher may choose to unenroll a student. Some of the tools that are available for use include: forums, chats, quizzes, lessons, glossaries, wikis, blogs, databases, and surveys. There is also a calendar, but I found this to be unfriendly to use.
My project began very much like Gilligan’s Island. Last year I signed up for a student management course using Moodle through my district. I thought that I understood it well only to discover that I was indeed very lost once I tried to get it up and running with my students. Due to the frustration the project never went anywhere. It was during my ED 632 Internet in Education that I decided to renew my attempt at Moodle and felt that the added pressure was the needed motivation. As the assignment came to create a project that would be used in the classroom that would use many of the tools that was learned through the Internet in Education, I became hopeful.
If we are honest with ourselves we know that yes there is such a thing as a dumb question. What makes it worst is when you discover that it is you who is asking the dumb question. This came about as I was struggling to change the older version of my Moodle, the one never used, to make it functional. All that I needed to do was create new topic labels. Unable to find help on the Moodle site I called our district tech people; Moodle is supported in my district, for help. Brett was the unfortunate one who got my call, after trying to explain it to me for the third time, it dawned on me that I was not listening and therefore asking the same question repeatedly, hence the question became a dumb question. Brett had to come to my school and show me the steps and I was off and running.
Once the frustration was gone and help was obtained in the form of an actual book complete with table of contents and index as opposed to the severely lacking online help from Moodle, I became excited at all of the possibilities. In the end my Moodle site for next year’s students contains headers for each subject along with a welcome and events section. In each section different activities allow students to participate in various forms. For example; students may choose to journal, respond to forums, surveys, follow lesson plans, and follow links for online educational games. At a later time I will be able to record brief, less than two minutes, lessons or step by step procedures and post it for students to retrieve at home for added assistance. This will be done with the recording option on the Promethean board, much like a screencast. I have also posted a materials list and books for the Battle of the Books 2009-2010 school year.
What works well:
-price: free
-easy to download
-accessibility
-student friendly
-wide range of uses / options: post lessons and recordings
-books available for user (administer) help
What needs improvement:
-help at the Moodle site
-some difficulty when setting up for student use
-terms are listed, but not how to set it up
-calendar still needs to be easier to navigate
Overall, the program has a lot offer to both students and teachers. Students are able to access it from home and perhaps catch up on work missed due to absences. The process of setting it up went far smoother once I obtained a copy of Using Moodle: Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management System by Jason Cole and Helen Foster. The book was the saving grace, as well as Brett, in this project as it had summaries of resources and applications along with the steps necessary to implement them.
To access my Moodle visit: http://moodle.matsuk12.us/
select elementary classes
select Mrs. Minkler’s Fun Class
You may need to use a password and user name-if so contact Jason Ohler for his password and user name. Please, do not enter any data or respond to the surveys or forums.