Moodle Training at ROMS, 3-26-09

On Thursday, March 26, 2009 a group of ROMS teachers attended an introductory Moodle training class. The training was done by Laura Cummings from Oakland Schools, and Chris Delaney from Royal Oak Schools. After the training, many of you stopped me in the hall asking, "What is Moodle?" Moodle is an open source software (like Drupal, our web design software) that is used to create online classes. Many Universities (like Wayne State) use a competitive product called Blackboard, which is proprietary software that has much higher user costs.
Moodle online classes allow for teachers to create syllabi (weekly or by topic), outline goals for the class/project/paper (i.e., rubric), create discussion boards for student participation (forum), and allow for students to submit (with due/deadline submission dates) their assignments online to the instructor. Teachers can do things like comment on submitted student assignments or grade the assignments. Students can view the comments and respond back. Discussion groups are created for students to participate in teacher (or student) created strands (discussion topics).
An example of a teacher strand may be: “ In the book The Giver, Lois Lowry (author) helps create an alternative world by having the community use words in a special way. Though that world stresses what is called “precision of language,” in fact it is built upon language that is not precise but deliberately clouds meaning. What is the danger of such misleading language?” Students then respond to this question, which assesses their understanding of the book content. To extend the lesson/topic, students can also read a book like 1984, by George Orwell, and discuss the same type of concept of required, misleading language called “newspeak”.
The Giver has an ambiguous ending where the reader interprets whether the hero lives or dies at the end of the book. Students can state their viewpoint on the discussion board, and support their argument with details from the book. Moodle can create an authentic, constructivist environment that engages students and allows for medium and time flexibility. As Chris Delaney mentioned at the training, some high school students respond back to classroom discussions at 2 a.m.
Teachers can also create links and attach streaming videos, links to other web pages, or pdf files. The software looks very powerful, but like with all software there is a learning curve. Our homework assignment is to start using the software, come back in four weeks and have our questions addressed in part two of the training, which is to be held on April 29, 2009.