Moodle Reflection - Suzuki

Administrative Functions
Moodle provides several helpful administrative tools. There are options that allow the instructor to customize how course content is organized and displayed, as well as the duration for how long content can be viewed. The online gradebook function is very helpful for both instructor and student, and enrollment functions can be customized including self-enrollment options. Moodle also indicates when students have last accessed the site. We chose to organize our course using the “weekly” format, affording one week per module in the course.

Course Creation Functionality
Moodle had many different tools that we used to create our course. We used the main panel to give a brief description of the Camp Safety course and we were able to add a picture to provide interest. We also included a PDF and HTML link so that the student could view the course syllabus. In addition to the course information we also added a short pre-test to check what the student already knew about camping safety. When we created our lessons, Moodle conveniently allowed us to include all of the resource materials, including files and links to web pages, within each subject module. Links to different assessment and collaboration tools were also added to each subject module.

Editing Functionality
The editing features were overall easy to use. The ability to create and edit documents for course material was intuitive and functioned much like a word processor. Also, adding, editing and deleting files and pages were very simple using the drop down menus in Moodle. Creating quizzes were a little more difficult and I found that it took more time to get used to the tool. However, once you familiarize yourself with the editor, it becomes easy to manipulate all of the options available.

Pros and Cons
For a free open source program, Moodle does a great job as an LMS. There are many options and features that educators can use to create an interesting and engaging experience. There are many ways to incorporate multimedia sources and there is access to some collaborative tools, such as discussion boards and chat rooms. It seems easy enough for younger students to navigate and use given the adequate training time. Where I think Moodle could improve is by adding the ability to customize the interface and adding real-time collaborative tools like Adobe Connect or Horizon Wimba.

Course Description
Our course was called Camping Safety and was designed to be a set of lessons for new YMCA employees. Our first three modules for this course included the following topics: campfire safety, drinkable water safety and environmental safety. Using the materials provided the students would read or watch the instructional material and complete the corresponding assignments. Some of the deliverables that we included within the lessons were quizzes, assignments to submit files and multiple prompts for forum posts and blogs. Rubrics were created for each of our deliverables and included in the syllabus and in each module. At the end of each module there is a culminating event that requires the student to demonstrate their knowledge and mastery of the subject matter.

Course Evaluation
Although our testers were not from the target group (YMCA trainees), our evaluation for the course (using the provided rubric) was very favorable. None of the rubric categories had a rating below the “effective” mark. One important comment that a tester made was that he did not understand how to effectively navigate the Moodle site. I think that one of the possible changes for the course would be to include a brief tutorial in the area of the syllabus. Also, it would be interesting and beneficial to have a SME try to evaluate the effectiveness of the course. I would have liked to have somehow incorporated more real-time collaboration into the courses as well.

VDILS
We incorporated the following VDILS elements into our course design.
• Used a pre-test on camping safety to measure prior knowledge.
• Described the goals and expectations for each module.
• Explain the learning strategy: learners were informed of the methods they would be using in order to accomplish the objectives.
• Described the learning activities
• Specified the deliverables and explained how to present deliverables

My Contribution
For this project I was responsible for the creation of the entire Water Safety module. This included gathering the resources, creating the deliverables and their assessment rubrics. I also contributed to helping create the syllabus and crafted the opening window graphic and introduction the course. I was also in charge of creating the camping safety pre-test. I was able to find one person to evaluate the Moodle site.

Colleague's Contributions
My teammates were responsible for creating their modules – Campfire Safety (Jodi) and Environmental Safety (Melissa). They also contributed to the syllabus and helped with refining the Moodle site. Jodi was able to find one person to evaluate the Moodle site.