Moodle Student Tutorials

Found a couple different tutorials geared towards students. If they seem useful we could update/modify them and make them relevant to our situation. We could also create our own from scratch, it might be a good idea to do a survey of some sort and find out which components of Moodle students struggled with most. Even just asking the TA's would probably get us that information.

http://moodle.tougaloo.edu/mod/resource/view.php?id=1191

http://www.bakeru.edu/images/pdf/Res_workingadult/student_moodle_tutorial.pdf

Found these for teachers.

http://www.moodlenews.com/2010/learning-to-moodle-basics-for-teachers-an-open-moodle-training-course/

http://www.moodlenews.com

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Couple more - 2010.12.14

--What is the right Moodle tool for what you are trying to do?

http://www.cats-pyjamas.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/MoodleToolGuideforTeachers_May2010_JS.pdf [pdf]

--Avoiding the 'Scroll of death', interesting idea to keep students from having to scroll too far.

http://www.moodleblog.org/?p=319

Calibrated Peer Review for Writing Assignments

Do you believe it is essential for your students to be able to think critically and convey their opinions clearly to others because students understand more deeply when they write about what they are learning?

Do you think writing assignments would help prepare students for their future careers because many jobs incorporate peer review to evaluate proposals and reports?

Do you refrain from assigning as many writing assignments as are needed because it would greatly increase your grading workload?

Assigning writing tasks in courses seems intimidating to instructors. Having to read all the writings could take a lot of time, that on top of course content creation. Also, instructors in scientific fields often feel that they have not received training in writing and editing themselves and therefore are not confident that they could assess the writings (and so the cycle continues).

One of the ways writing assignments can be made more interesting to students, and hopefully not unduly burden the instructor, is by designing the assignment in such a way that students have to give each other feedback. This can be done in many CMS systems by requiring students to post their essay and then having student critique their writing. The obvious disadvantage is, of course, that this would not always be anonymous and it does not have the incentive that students may need to be very honest and critically (but nicely) critique their peers’ writing.

There is an innovative free Web-based program (developed by a Chemistry professor at UCLA with NSF funding) that can be of some help. This program can be used across many different disciplines.

(A two-page review of the program can be downloaded at: http://www.educause.edu/ELI/ELIInnovationsImplementationsC/156773)

Calibrated Peer Review (http://cpr.molsci.ucla.edu/) manages the entire peer review process, which consists of:
1. Assignment creation (CPR also hosts a vast library of assignments used previously).
2. Electronic paper submission
3. Student training in reviewing (this tutorial must be completed before students can proceed to the reviewing exercises)
4. Student input analysis (Students evaluate work of their peers after which students review their own work). Students thus graded in three ways:

• a. Evaluations from their peers.
• b. The degree to which each student’s assessment of other students’ writings conform to the rubric and peer consensus.
• c. Self assessment of their own writing.

5. Final performance report preparation

CPR's approach to peer review is thus:
• “double blind”: students do not know who authored the essay they reviewed. And the author does not know the identity of the reviewer. However, neither author nor reviewer is anonymous to the instructor.
• By using “calibration” techniques the feedback that a student receives is reliable and meaningful.
• CPR encourages student autonomy (probably appreciated by online students), however, there will be continual feedback from the instructor, peers, and a final report from the CPR system.

Best-use scenarios for using CPR.
• Assignments should require relatively short essays (1 to 3 pages)
• Works well in very large introductory classes, class should have at least 15 students.
• Instructors will have to spend time on creating a grading rubric and the settings for student assessment – meaning there may be quite a lot of work up front for the instructor to ensure the assignment’s success.
• The software is very good for improving formulaic writing (such as lab reports).

For more information on how to incorporate CPR into your course visit the CPR webs site. At the University of Illinois the staff at CITES’s Ed Tech office will be able to help you incorporate CPR. At one of their brown-bag seminars Prof Hurst from Geology gave a presentation on how CPR worked in his course. This link has links to his powerpoint presentation and a video.
http://www.cites.illinois.edu/events/learningtech/brown_bag/2006/hurst.html

Below is the response I received from my ION instructor on the topic:

Thanks for your description of this product and for going the extra step of linking us to link to the review of this program. I have had some instructors in EC in past terms who have used it and liked it. I think it's especially interesting that this tool for peer review of writing was developed by a science instructor! So many instructors that I know avoid (like the proverbial plague) having students do any writing assignments. I appreciate "another student in this EC course" sharing her experience in regard to working with instructors across the disciplines in this regard. I like that the use the tool allows for promoting writing across the disciplines.

I think your concern about the initial work in using the tool is on target. Instructors I know who have used the tool have mentioned that there is quite a bit of upfront work for them. However, once the instructor does the upfront work for a class, that will carry over to future classes and -- ultimately -- reduce work. So, when instructors have large classes (and if the instructors want to require writing assignments), a peer review tool such as this may actually foster efficiency!

In any case, CPR was written under a grant and is free for anyone at any institution and their students to use. Below, I'll put a link to one school's upfront instructions to their students about what CPR is and how to use it. I think they've done a great job of clarifying and communicating the tool to their learners! So, if anyone here might want to give it a try for any of your disciplines, you may want to adapt the student handout at the following link to ease some of the front end instructor work.

http://www.chem.tamu.edu/class/fyp/cprhelp.pdf

Moodle2 - New features (Part 1)

You can find the official release notes for Moodle 2 here, but I figured I would write up some features that look interesting.

Moodle 2 has overhauled it's message system. Before it was not robust enough to really be useful.

The system now communicates using three different methods: email, IM, and an in-site system. The nice thing is these all work together. If a student sends you a message you can receive it using any combination of the methods above. You can also set different methods for contact for different activities and features, ie get emails when students submit quizzes, but use the in-site system for personal messages.

The different options are:

• Assignment notifications
• Confirmation of your own quiz submissions
• Personal messages between users
• Subscribed forum posts
• Feedback notifications
• Notification of quiz submissions

Moodle2 also keeps a log of your conversations so you can go back and see what was said.

How I picture this being used is setting up the IM client (very easy) on your various computers. Then when a student sends you a message you do not need to worry about having Moodle open to receive it.

If using the in-site system they will then see a little pop-up in the lower right of your message reply.

For office hour type situations or quiz or assignments with set start/end time it would allow you to be available without having to watch the webpage.

Using 'myUdutu' for directed learning modules

I am sure by now you have noticed the term 'SCORM' showing up in various places around Moodle.

SCORM is a set of standards for how to manage e-learning resources. Wikipedia : SCORM

With SCORM we can create robust online content. You are able to incorporate websites, videos, quizzes, discussion topics, objectives, presentations, audio,... into one directed learning activity. This incorporates nicely into Moodle, allowing you to grade SCORM quizzes and see how long time was spent on the activity (like other Moodle reports you have seen).

There are a fair number of SCORM content generating software options available. I looked at most of the free tools listed on Moodle's site, and in my opinion myUdutu's online tool is the best. I also liked eXe, but it lacked some functionality (incorporating ppt's) that makes it hard to recommend.

myUdutu is a completely free online tool, from a company that sells hosting for the content you generate in myUdutu. Just create a free account and you are off. The Getting Started Guide does a great job of introducing you to the software, and once you login there is also a link for 'how to use myUdutu', (which is a myUdutu generated project) which is also helpful.

One shortcoming seems to be the inability to have short answer assessments. I think you could however mix Moodle tools in (wiki, quiz, forum) to get them a place to give a short answer to a question.

Using Wikis in Science Classes

iaw "What I learned in my ION class this week".

I am not sure how well our own courses lend themselves to wiki development, but I think we should definitely make teachers aware of how wikis can help them teach science in a more collaborative and inquiry based way to their own students.

This article has some great examples of the strengths of wikis (working with other schools all over the world to collect data, for instance).  It also explains the ways you can control access.
http://www.suite101.com/content/using-wikis-in-science-classes-for-collaboration-a67853

Many educators now use Bernie Dodge’s building blocks for a successful WebQuest:

• The Introduction orients students and captures their interest.
• The Task describes the activity's end product.
• The Process explains strategies students should use to complete the task.
• The Resources are the Web sites students will use to complete the task.
• The Evaluation measures the results of the activity.
• The Conclusion sums up the activity and encourages students to reflect on its process and results.

Bernie Dodge’s webpage: http://webquest.org/index.php
This seems an excellent model to follow if you want to assign a webquest task in an online course.

An example of a wiki created by a K-12 class using these building blocks:
http://scook.cuip.net/~speretz/wikiwebquest/webquest.htm

Jim Witte's Tips for Effective Online Discussion (Nov 10 -2010)

This afternoon I attended the "Teaching Excellence" workshop presented by Jim Witte entitled: Online Discussion Strategies.  Jim basically went over all the tips for good online discussions that he has assembled over years.  A link to the pdf explaining all the tips can be found at:

http://jimwitte.com/workshops/11-10-2010-online-discussion#attachments 
(I highly recommend you download the pdf jwitte-online-discussion.pdf for future reference since it has some great suggestions.  Below I list the tips (the pdf has far more details).

1. Create discussions that have a purpose
2. Develop comfortable discussion questions focused on specific problems rather than broad, opinion-type questions.
3. Separate procedural communication from learning discussions.
4. Classic 1-week online discussion activity structure:  Initial posting (close and only then start) / 2 response postings.
5. Develop a rubric that lays out expectations, but is easy to apply.  Include # postings, required replies, deadlines. (pdf has examples)
6. Develop some guidelines for posting, general "rules of engagement".  This is a general extension to the grading rubric, applies to all postings. (pdf has examples)
7. Provide explicit instructions for each discussion activity.
8. Teach your students how to participate in an online discussion.
9. Practice "guide on the side".  Work hard at keeping moderators from becoming the locus of discussion.
10. Connect online discussion to F2F lectures (if applicable).
11. In large enrollment courses, use online discussion activities to break down the large into smaller.
12. Provide resources (readings, websites, media, etc.) for discussion activities.  keep the focus on the issues/topics, rather than the search form information.  It's good to give students a choice in materials (protects you from linkrot, accommodates student interests and abilities).
13. Consider using a variety of online discusson activities.  Choose discussion types that fit the goals for your course.  Activites that provide students with a choice can provide students with a way to make the course more relevant to their own interests, goals.
• reflective posting - write a reflective posting. Typical topics: asking students to write about their goals/interests in the course, or a summary of what the student thinks has
  been the most important or relevant points, or to relate the topics in the course to their own circumstances, job, studies, etc.
• jigsaw posting - students investigate multiple perspectives/aspects of an issue, bring back to the group as a whole. For example, instructor may develop 20 questions on a topic, and assign students to specific questions. Instructor should provide a few resources for each question. It's also possible to assign multiple students to the same question, and ask them to work together.
• critique posting - students create an artifact (a powerpoint, an outline, an analysis, a diagram, etc) and fellow students provide constructive feedback to make suggestions
  for improvement.
• pre/post lecture questions - in conjunction with a guest speaker (delivered f2f or via synchronous online videoconferencing), students can post questions in advance which could help inform the content of the guest lecture, or post followup questions for the guest speaker afterwards. In large courses, the function of the moderators might be to distill postings down to a smaller, more manageable set of questions.
• problem set postings - in some math/science/engineering disciplines, problem sets are common. General discussion space for problem sets, or individual discussion spaces for each problem make it possible for students to help each other.
• role play - students post in the voice/from the perspective of someone else, and post responses in that voice. The summary/wrapup might ask participants to look for extensions/elaborations to the perspectives presented, consider what perspectives might be missing, or identify common ground/differences.
• discussion jobs - In addressing a discussion topic, some students are assigned discussion jobs, like "idea generator", "skeptic", "wrapper", or "moderator".
• student-contributed readings - students can take turns posting websites, news articles, or articles from the library that pertain to the topics of the course.
• connect to informants - students connect to informants (perhaps students in other countries, in industry, in the field, etc) in order to gain information to be used in a report, presentation, web site, etc.
14. Ask about course discussion (online or f2f) in your informal mid-semester feedback, or use a poll/survey to get quick informal feedback.

This pdf file also goes into the positive aspects of online discussion compared to F2F discussion.  In addition Jim suggests some things on what things you can do with "discussion forums" other than discuss. 

One main point that kept coming up: STRUCTURE IS GOOD!

Other pdf files that are at the link are a short activity ( that may help you think of appropriate discussions for your course. (discussion-tps.pdf)
Ask yourself these questions:

1. What topics will your learners discuss? How will learners benefit from the discussion(s).
2. How might the activity be structured? Who will be discussing? (learners-instructor, learners learners, or perhaps someone outside the course?) How long might the discussion activity last? How many postings will learners make, and when? Do any of the formats listed in Tip 13 look promising?
3. How will learner postings be assessed? How will you judge the success of your online activity? What sort of information do you expect to need in order to improve your online activity the next time it's offered?

Another file shows you with figures the difference between course and activity discussions (Tip 3) and the chronological structure of a discussion (Tip 4). (discussion-figures.pdf).

I think the tip sheet will be a great resource to use when making sure that my discussions will be useful and varied.  I also like the idea of first having initial postings be open and then close, only after the close will the response postings be allowed.  That is different from ION courses.

Greetings, M.

Notes from CITES's Innovative Approaches to Blended Learning

Hi all,

I just got back from the CITES discussion that was entitled, "Innovative Approaches to Blended Learning."

This was a very catchy title as we all seek to be innovative or at least should be en route in our search. The problem with this talk was that the title was not what the talk was about at all.

Blended learning was defined by the audience as a way to get us all involved in the discussion, however that was the last time the term was used.

Instead, E.T. Hansen showed us his idea for a new way to teach our students, a web-page using, Square-space.

Building his argument for this, he used the United States Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan's remarks at a recent meeting of the state of educational technology director's association forum. He is correct that with this next generation of college student that there will be even more things to grab their attention and education must compete.

Hansen is open to a community approach to his learning community. In this case, the University of Illinois and the University of Syracuse, where he is also employed.

His site, ShiftLearning.com, is an unique approach but, it does exactly what Moodle, Compass, etc. does.

Security is an issue as authentification is not needed. The course page is a public site that anyone can join and become a member of the learning community. In this case, of course, their work will not be graded with others.

The most interesting I gained was that we could revisit the idea of using Google docs as his students that give him feedback love it.

This was not as advertised so actual notes on innovation in blended learning does not apply here.