Administrative functions available in Moodle
The course administration block has sub menus for the course: backup, restore, Assign roles, grades, activity logs/reports, Files and Course settings. Most of the links in the administration block in a course are only visible and available to teachers of the course. Features in the administration block allow teachers to manage course settings, student and teacher enrollments and their groups, view the course gradebook, create custom grading scales and access the teacher forum. We did not utilize any of these functions for this project, but they would be important in an actual course.
Course creation functionality within Moodle
The course homepage format is broken into course sections, which can be by week or by topic. Other options include social format, SCORM, and LAMS. Resources and activities are added to each section. When writing text in Moodle you have a range of formatting options, including using HTML. The Course settings offer different ways to format the course. Teachers can also select themes (colors, font sizes and page layouts) for their courses. We chose a topic outline, although the week format would have worked out as well. Having all the course resources in one place is a definite advantage. The quiz feature is also a time-saver, as the grading is done by Moodle automatically and grades are pushed to the gradebook.
Editing functionality within Moodle
A teacher must use the "Turn editing on" button on the course homepage to add or alter activities or resources. The same button will also turn editing off. When editing has been turned on, a variety of editing icons appear next to all editable objects in the course. The teacher can see the course page as a student would see it by clicking the "Turn student view on" button. To add items to a section, the pull down boxes for activities and resources are used. Editing was generally easy, with the exception of changing a font, which had to be done one paragraph at a time.
California History: The Missions was designed to be used by fourth grade students. Students are able to tour the missions via Google Earth and write about one of them. In a project based lesson, they take on an assigned role and participate in a discussion as though they actually lived during that time period. They research a particular mission and create an informative PowerPoint presentation about it. All of the activities are based on California State Standards. Our course was designed to be a blended learning experience, combining classroom instruction and supporting activities with online learning.
Feedback received from participants
I had my granddaughter, who just completed 4th grade, and my grandson, who just completed 5th grade, view the site. Neither of them had any prior experience with an online course, although they did have basic computer and Internet skills. A great deal of explanation was required, as the overall format was not familiar to them. A lot of vocabulary was unfamiliar to them, such as "rubric," "template," "module," and even "upload." Orientation to this type of website and the vocabulary used would be important for this grade level.
Once the participants started clicking on the links, they had less trouble. However, they were not familiar with the process for downloading a file such as the PowerPoint template. All of these computer skills would need to be taught before students of this age were ready to take on an experience like this. The online quiz was very successful, as they both had prior experience with this type of interface.
Overall, the participants felt that participating in this type of learning would be interesting and exciting. They hoped they would have opportunities such as this in their future education. As a teacher, I was pleased with the course and the site, as I think that learning to use an online format is important even for fourth graders.
Aspects of VDILS used
1. Goals, objectives and activities were described for each session.
2. Appropriate instructional materials were presented.
3. Learning activities were explained, step-by-step.
4. Deliverables were specified.
5. Presentation of deliverables was explained.
Contributions made to the total effort in completing the project
I acted as one of the subject matter experts on this project, along with Mario, as both of us have taught fourth grade for several years, and have experience with the curriculum. In creating the proposal for the course, I was responsible for creating the goals and objectives and description of content. I created the lessons for day 2 and 3. I found material for the quiz which Mario placed on the Moodle site. I provided the PowerPoint rubric which Kim placed on the site. I added the webquest site for “The Next Mission,” and the Mission PowerPoint template. I did some preliminary editing.
Kim handled most of the administrative tasks. She set up the Moodle site, added graphics, adjusted the settings, and chose the layout. She created the syllabus. She did the final editing. In the project proposal, she was responsible for the collaborative interactions, the deliverables, and the assessments and rubrics. Mario created the quiz, and provided the link to the video and the mission orientation website.
Course Success
Overall I was very pleased with the success of the course, and the learning experience it provided for myself. I am very eager to continue with Learning Management Systems in elementary school. I am not sure if Moodle is the best avenue for that, but it certainly taught me a lot.
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