In creating this course, the Moodle LMS platform offers many ways to add content, create lessons, and a variety of ways to create deliverable assignments. The characteristics that I found useful were the simplicity with which to add external files to an existing course or lesson. In particular, it was simple to create an interactive powerpoint presentation, and easily drop it into a particular lesson. This allows the user (learner) to work at their own pace through the content portion of the lesson. For the administrator, this makes the process easier, because you can create the lessons outside of Moodle and quickly drop them into the interface without too much hassle.
Another feature that I found useful was the built-in Quiz function. This function offers the course designer multiple ways to assess, including multiple choice, true/false, open response, short answer, etc. It also allows the designer flexibility in assigning points and rubrics to the assessment portion of the quiz.
The discussion forum feature provided an added benefit, in that students can complete this assignment as homework, without much direction from the instructor. It is very simple to create a prompt and add the forum to a particular lesson.
Furthermore, I like the hierarchical nature of the page. This allows the user to organize a course into an outline format, discretely identifying the various lessons and components within the course. The WYSIWYG editor is easy to use, and flexible enough to allow changing font, text properties, and including various objects in the text.
I also liked the progressive nature of the lesson design. Students learn concepts in a step-by-step fashion, and then apply that knowledge at the end as a group. Both individual and group roles are clear, and Moodle can be used to tie all of this knowledge together, with the help of some outside software programs (MathType, Geometer’s Sketchpad, to name a few)
My participants included English Language Learners enrolled in a 4-week summer school remediation course focused on Algebra Core - the essential elements of beginning Algebra. Because these students struggle, some of the concepts were more difficult than others. For example, the graphing part was more understandable than the solving part. The students were guided through the lesson, and kept a journal of their impressions of the course as we went through it. Some of the initial feedback was interesting. First, they said they liked the powerpoint lessons, because they could go back and check over things that they needed to review and could work at their own pace. A couple of students said that the second powerpoint, on graphing equations, contained too much information on each slide, and was hard to follow. To change this, I would probably break the second powerpoint up into smaller ‘chunks,’ allowing the students to digest the information better. Also, I would include a practice after each type of problem, instead of just one practice at the end. Basically, I would provide more chances for feedback during content exposition.
Aside from the content of the powerpoints, the students said it was difficult to navigate through the course, in particular, to find the second powerpoint. When they pull up the second lesson (solving quadratics), they are taken to a folder directory. They have to then look for the correct presentation. To help with this, I would probably change the interface for the second lesson, and include more text directions on what exactly to do. One student said he really needed to see verbal directions on the main page, such as “now click here,” etc. In order to address this, I would probably need to add some more clear directions on the main page.
The students really liked taking a quiz online, as opposed to taking it on paper during class. They said it was easier for them to transfer their thinking to the computer, than to on paper. They also liked how some of the questions gave instant feedback if they got the question right or wrong. The discussion forum was pretty straightforward, and they didn’t have a problem typing their reflections. Some students didn’t like the forums, most likely due to their language acquisition difficulties and challenges in verbal expression.
One place where the students struggled was understanding how to navigate and complete the wiki. Although they are accustomed to working in groups, the online format of wiki proved to be a little bit difficult for them. This could also be complicated by the fact that the content was slightly over their ability level. To counteract this, I would make the wiki a little bit more step-by-step and navigable, so that the instructor wouldn’t have to repeat him/herself and the students could figure it out without an excessive amount of assistance from the instructor.
In designing our Moodle Course, we focused specifically on four VDILS objectives. Following each objective below is a summary of how our project addressed it:
1) Clear and achievable objectives are presented at the beginning of the course and emphasized within each session. Each lesson has specific goals and objectives and directs the user to authentic and challenging learning experiences.
Objectives were presented in the syllabus of the course and at the beginning of each lesson (both powerpoints and the wiki assignment). Students are well-informed about each of them at each stage of the lesson, leading to meaningful experiences and activities that both teach and reinforce these learning goals.
2) Resources and materials for learning have been documented and are incorporated throughout the course.
Resources are mentioned both in the syllabus and in the wiki assignment. More resources could be added to the first two lessons, although they are mostly self-contained.
3) Lessons have been designed to include available real-time chat features and collaborative forums for topic discussion.
Both the discussion forum and the wiki take advantage of these online features for both collaboration and peer reflection.
4) Options for immediate feedback from peers and instructors has been designed into each session.
The “Help Me!” forum is available at any point in the course to ask the instructro for help. Also, the instructors’ email is provided to student for feedback and questions. Students can obtain immediate feed from the instructor on the quiz, and feedback from peers on both the discussion forum posts and replies. Finally, the wiki offers students a chance to not only collaborate, but provide immediate peer feedback.
My primary responsibilities in contributing to this project were the construction of the powerpoints for the first two lessons, along with the quiz for lesson 1. Also, I primarily assisted in keeping our timeline for completion of the project, including setting meeting times and short-term goals for completion througout the project. Toward the end of completing the project, I provided the missing details in the syllabus, including the assessment/rubrics section, as well as formatting and proofreading.
My partner Andrew was entirely responsible for creating the wiki portion of the course (the third lesson), as well as providing the first draft of the syllabus. Finally, he was mostly in charge of the aesthetic design and overall organization of the course interface. He assisted in the import of the powerpoint lessons into the moodle interface, as well as create the discussion forum for the second lesson. Together, my partner and I finalized the entire course to make sure it followed the High Quality Online Course Rubric.
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