Michigan is getting ready to for students to graduate with more technology requirements that have to be met. There are teachers out there who will say this is unnecessary; however, it is very much needed. The students who are in grade schools right now will be faced with a tremendous amount of technology that will be wired into their life. (Pun intended.) Technology is becoming cheaper and more available to the average Joe. It is becoming an integral part of our life. Just look at the number of "smart phones" that the public uses. Due to this integration, it is very important that our youth learn to handle this technology appropriately.
One tool that I have begun to use in my class is MOODLE. This is a course management system or learning management system (depends who you ask) that has been integrated into my class. I have to admit that this is very much a trial by fire implementation. Essentially, my class has become a "hybrid" class where the buzz word/phrase is "blended instruction." The students experience the normal class which has a mix of lecture and lab activities (I teach science), but it also not has an online component.
MOODLE serves as a launching point for many different projects in my class. Supplemental activities like the STAIR that was developed for my CEP 811 class are hosted on this site. This allows the students who are having a hard time keeping up a chance to better understand what is covered in class. MOODLE also gives the students a place to upload their assignments. In doing this, the paper used in the class is reduced. Many assignments are done online.
One benefit that MOODLE and other CMS/LMS components have is that they can cover several of the requirements set up by the Michigan Merit Curriculum Guidelines. MOODLE and its siblings are capable of hosting wikis, discussion forums, and word processing tools. All three are able to help the student become familiar with lifelong skills that involve technology. Students also are able to interact with other students from different classes as well as different schools through the discussion forums. Another teacher in my school had her class discuss a novel they were reading with another school in our ISD. The kids had n excellent time doing this.
A constructivist model of education can work well with a tool like MOODLE. A WebQuest can be posted on this system and the students are then responsible for completing the quest. In doing this, the student then embarks on a project that is inquiry-based. The student must search out the answer to the problem that is given using websites that the instructor may provide, or ones they find on their own.
One type of technology that I think would be somewhat hard to do with middle school students would be online interactive discussion. From what I've noticed with my students, this would be an excellent tool if it was in the format of a chat room. In this area, middle schoolers excel! I see a video conference with other students being somewhat awkward for many of the students.
In the next couple of years, it will be interesting to see how schools adjust to the new requirements in implementing technology into the classroom/school environment. I noticed last year that our ISD really pushed for teachers to have training in MOODLE. Now after reading this week's articles, I wonder if this is happening to help the schools handle this tech. requirement. Hmmm.
It sounds like MOODLE is really working for you and your class. The idea of communicating with a class from across the world is very intriguing to me (a social studies teacher). I hope to incorporate these things in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteI think the online discussion would be a great tool if you are having students do a group project or some type of lab. This way, students can discuss what works well and doesn't in an open forum, and you can see what they are working on. We've just started using MOODLE as well. Hopefully it works out!
ReplyDeleteOur school just started MOODLE as well, but unfortunately none of the teachers use it as of yet. I was still the only teacher signed in as of last week and I do not even utilize MOODLE at all. One of my goals is to learn more about this program this year and hopefully glean the knowledge I would need to implement it in my own classroom.
ReplyDelete