Well my year long elearning fellowship has finally come to an end and I will be back into regular teaching alongside my role as eLearning Director at Wellington College starting next year.
This year has seen me test and research a model of learning which I had used previously with a Year 11 History class. The research explored how student interactivity can be enhanced through the use of a blended learning approach and sought to discover how students could become more engaged in their learning when offered an environment that encouraged interaction and collaboration.
I used a Moodle LMS where students prepared for upcoming classes by engaging with online readings, quizzes, forum discussions and a variety of other resources and activities. They would then come to class and participate in activities including discussion around the content that had been covered. I found that the students were interacting with the content, me and each other with a deeper understanding than they might have previously. One of the most significant findings was that engagement equalised, that is to say that lower ability students became more engaged in discussion now that they felt more confident in their knowledge of course content. I finish my report with a discussion about how I believe that emerging technologies will impact on the future of blended learning and high schools in general.
My completed research report is available for download in PDF format here (2.14MB). It will be made available on the efellows site shortly.
I have also discussed my research project and year in general in an edtalks video which can be viewed below (approximately 7 mins):
This is a follow-up to my previous post a month ago on Collaboration Webs and Mobile Tools. What has brought it about is the November issue of Interface magazine article titled “Would you look good with a mini?” (well worth a read). The article discusses the emerging trend of Mini Laptops and how they have become more appealing with the particular attractions being size and price.
It is hard to believe that only 13 months (October 16, 2007) ago the very first viable mini, the Asus Eee PC, entered the market. Interface now mentions 6 standard models in addition to the recently released Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (image shown) which I purchased recently. I first started looking at the minis about 4 months ago as an option but was reluctant to touch them because of the key board size and screen size – but I changed my mind once the keyboards came in at 90% standard and the screen could handle 1024px width (600px height) to prevent the nightmare of side-scrolling. Another feature I like is that it runs on Windows XP which, love it or hate it, is the standard for most schools including mine.
This is a truly fast evolving resource and I predict that Mini Laptops will become the standard wireless access tool for students NZ High Schools within 2-3 years.
PS. I am not an apologist for Dell but I do love my Inspiron Mini 9…
Well I have just about recovered from the U-Learn 08 Conference held in Christchurch last week. It is the largest eLearning conference for teachers in the country. The conference more than anything confirmed my belief that we are headed rapidly towards a combination of Collaboration Webs and Mobile tools which will take over our teaching. This year’s Horizon Report confirms that these will be adopted within 1-3 years.
For this reason I will be helping to implement a project at my school to facilitate a shift to the use of Mobile Tools and Connected Learning in the classroom. Currently teachers need to jostle over the limited computer room resources, similar to most schools as we know. We will be dedicating one classroom of laptops to allow 5-6 teachers from a range of subjects and Year levels to have online access on demand. The teachers will become a collaborative team with ongoing professional development in the use of online tools to implement student centred learning. The focus of this project is on developing the staff so that they can become team leaders the following year when we purchase a number of sets of cheap mini laptops such as the Classmate PC (as shown above).
Already there is strong interest in participation in the project. I see it as just one project among many where rapid growth can occur by exploring and modelling what is possible.
Clearly the expectation is that Mobile Phones will become the web tool of choice for most teenagers and possibly adults too. However, until the more web-capable iPhone & T-Mobile become more affordable then we see the use of the mini PC as an affordable choice to help prepare our staff and students for what lies ahead.
Here is a link to my presentation to Department Heads which was use to promote discussion of our “Collaboration Webs Project”:
It is my belief that the implementation of an interactive Learning Management System such as Moodle is best accomplished using a ground up rather than top down model.
The following two videos show what Belmont City College in Perth, Western Australia accomplished within a short space of time. After 10 months over 50% of teaching staff were using Moodle. The videos (part 1 & 2) step through the process of the schools implementation of Moodle and also demonstrate what is possible for teachers, students and administrators with the Moodle LMS.
This is a great presentation which I thoroughly recommend:
If you or your school have decided to start using the Moodle LMS then this post may be of some use to you.
Self Hosting or Managed Hosting?
Although Moodle is a free open source Learning Management System downloadable from Moodle.org, it does require some ongoing technical support if you are wanting to go down the Self Hosting track. Even hosting it on a cheap overseas site such as GoDaddy.com or Bluehost.com can incur problems down the track, particularly if your site attracts a lot of traffic such as multiple users logging on and multiple daily emails. Even if your school hosts the site then you will need to be have some good technical assistance.
One option for self hosting is to contract a Moodle specialist such as Catalyst who can set up the site to your specifications. They can then monitor and manage from off-site. This could initially be the safest self-hosting track
Managed hosting is easier but more expensive. Companies such as Catalyst or HRDNZ are both Moodle specialists and would be the way to go. Just be aware that with managed hosting there may be limitations on the number of add-ons that you can install. I chose the managed hosting solution with my classes as my school chose to use Microsoft SharePoint (Ughhh!) and I wanted something more interactive etc (see my earlier post “Why Choose Moodle” for more on this). Managed hosting initially allowed me to gain confidence with Moodle as a learning tool without worrying about technical issues.
Training
HRDNZ earlier this year started a 12 week MoodleBites Course. One important aspect of this is that you take on the role of a student – it is important to see Moodle from the users point of view as you are constructing your course. MoodleBites also gives you training and tips on the many tools that you can incorporate into your online course. You can also interact with other “students” and ask questions in the discussion forums.
Northtec has been running a course called CeLDD (Certificate in Elearning Design & Development) for the last 2 years.
This course is approximately 12 months but is more comprehensive than MoodleBites. It discusses wider eLearning issues and pedagogy and there are some tasks to complete – it is well worth looking at.
Moodle School is a great website to become more familiar with Moodle. They have free short courses and links to a great range of resources.
Julian Ridden of NSW Australia runs Moodle Playpen which showcases latest moodle developments within a Moodle site. He also has a great Moodle Blog.
Finally, there is an annual conference in New Zealand called Moodle Moot. This year it is in Napier in the second week of these October holidays.
Well hopefully that gives you a few pointers from someone who has been moodling along for 2 years now…
At a recent presentation I was asked by a Secondary School Senior Manager: “How do I decide what Learning Management System to use?” I have come across this question many times and my answer is to at least NOT let your school technicians influence the decision. The decision should be made on the basis of an investigation of Management Systems and whether or not they provide the tools that the users require. The next question is “who are the users?”
An LMS should first and foremost be considered a Learning tool rather than a management tool and thus it should meet the pedagogical requirements of the users who are the Teachers rather than the Senior Management or Technicians. I have listed below a set of requirements that I looked as a teacher when evaluating different LMS’s:
Content can be organised in the way that I want
It is highly interactive for students
There are many features available from which I can choose from
It is highly intuitive for the users – both the student and the teacher
It is robust enough for anyone to use without breaking
It is reliable and can handle many users
You will note that I did not include cost. As a teacher this is not a concern for me – it is management’s job to make sure that the best LMS is used and to then consider how to cover the cost of implementation.
I chose to use the Moodle LMS because it met the requirements set out above. I will be making additional posts about Moodle and its many features and advantages regularly. Below is a snapshot of one of the courses that I have taught using Moodle with a Year 11 History class. I have also included some labels to highlight some of the features of the course homepage:
"Schools should explore not only how ICT can supplement traditional ways of teaching but also how it can open up new and different ways of learning" -The NZ Curriculum (p36)
