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The Lms - a school's best friend
- 1. Learning Management Systems A school’s best friend Charlie Smith “It’s all about the learning”
- 2. Me and the LMS
- 3. Context – eLearning tools
- 5. Students in class • Starting is hard • Many barriers • Differing competencies • Pacing is tough • Cognitive overhead • Splintered classroom experiences
- 6. Students at home • Getting over the hump (procrastination monkey) • Home learning • Exam preparation • Resourceful students • Non-resourceful students • Power to act – “learner agency” http://waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html
- 7. Removing Barriers – for students • No password or account hassles • Skills from one subject transfer to others • “One stop shop” • Real time results • Notices • Exam timetables etc etc • LEARNING! • Making connections - simply
- 8. Removing barriers for teachers • Not for everyone – resourceful teachers need freedom to do more • Controlled environment • Learn once, use everywhere • Low overhead • Develop competence in safe environment • Making connections - simply
- 9. wfm – my experiences • Maths and Digital technologies • LOTS of videos (screencast-o-matic) • JIT – Just In Time resources • Click-along-with-me not fun in DTC • Glossaries great for collating knowledge • Links • Files • Power users – MANY tools! • Connecting
- 10. Some Moodle specifics Con • Needs managing • Designed by programmers • University centric • Can be daunting Pro • Huge active community • Getting easier to use • Getting prettier • Plenty of e-Learning tools • Scope for power users
- 11. Staff training - tricky • Whole staff • Faculty based • Use “champions” • LOTS of JIT resources (knowledge base)
- 12. Takeaways • Big schools need structure • LMS is a part of that structure • LMS is not the whole answer • The LMS removes barriers • LMS makes the easy stuff easy • “Removing barriers” is the sell to your staff
- 13. Moodle demo – if time http://moodle.pakuranga.school.nz
Editor's Notes
- Originally a maths teacher, have gradually shifted to digital technologies First fully digital maths class was 2008 Strongly involved in choice and implementation of Ultranet Strongly involved in transition and implementation of Moodle Moodle advocate, admin and trainer on-site Have tried to stay true to blurb – this is about what the LMS does for your school, not about Moodle. Mostly. Aware that the LMS is not the sexiest topic in e-Learning, however, at Pakuranga we consider to be a crucial part of the digital ecosystem, that enables good stuff to flourish more widely
- Our philosophy is that teachers should use the right tool for the job. This involves choosing the tool which gives the desired learning outcomes, but also with which the teacher is comfortable. We have innovators and digital evangelists who are happy to try anything (not as many as we would like, of course!). We strongly encourage them to use these tools, and to share their practice with colleagues. This does make the digital landscape a somewhat daunting place for some teachers and students. Teachers: have the feeling that they are missing out on the bandwagon, that they are falling short of what is required of a 2015 teacher. Students tend to be more resilient, but some do get a bit of cognitive overload from “yet another e-learning tool”. Especially as the product names take great pride in not being descriptive of their services. (“What did he say? How do you spell kahootz? What’s socrative for?”)
- BYOD is undoubtedly the face of the future, and we’re already seeing trends. We choose to be platform-independent. Others make the valid choice of mandating a platform, but we see the digital landscape as being somewhat broader. Either way, makes little difference as the learning is what counts, and this session is not about BYOD. So we see many platforms, each of which has their own quirks and ecosystem. All our students have wireless access, but no access to network shares. This can be challenging for teachers. A web-based solution is the only option (to state the obvious…)
- Also going to look at how we support home learning. What do we want? Students to: Have a safe learning environment Have clarity in their learning – what, why, how Have efficient learning experiences – minimize downtime To get to the learning without a lot of overhead, cognitive or otherwise To have control over their own learning (on their device, not on teacher’s board) – learner agency To be 21st century learners. Not rote learning, not copying out, but constructing, synthesizing etc Again, clarity A lot of this happens despite the e-learning tools, not because of them (good teachers can overcome anything). But Moodle is in place to mitigate some issues, and promote some better learning experiences. For instance: After a couple of lessons, the teacher needs only say “Go to the Moodle page….” with no further instructions. Students who aren’t listening can see on friends’ screens where students are accessing resources – they don’t need to ask as it is familiar to them. This has the following benefits: Teacher can deal with BYOD issues Never underestimate how long it takes for a whole class to get to one particular resource. Moodle allows more asynchronicity in students accessing resources, and allows a bit more shorthand in teacher instruction No need to manage log-ins (Gangsta420BlazeIt), instruct as to how to register etc. Not all sites have these issues, but for some it is a huge barrier to entry. Recent personal examples – code avengers, lucidchart Full knowledge that students are in safe environment, not going to be able to follow a single click to something nasty, or be exposed to massively inappropriate comments Better opportunity for students to get out of step, progress through learning at their own rate, access resources when they need them, not when the teacher makes them available etc
- Exam week is looming, different types of students: Annika – always hungry for “more”. Moodle allows you to feed these students, without endlessly being badgered with emails. Aidan – if he can put it off, he will put it off. The procrastination monkey will take him off task. But the panic monster will make him finally get to something. What LMS gives: Low barriers to “getting going” “Do now” stuff Easy entry point, good information All asynchronous
- Same password for everything – SSO is a “bag of hurt” but totally worth it Don’t have to re-learn or re-invent from lesson to lesson. Boring baseline stuff is standardized (how do I access resource, how do I find the video etc) Also a good place to offload the boring nuts and bolts stuff, with low cost and overhead
- Teachers can find digital landscape daunting. Moodle is a safe place for them Quick ‘n’ dirty way to get resources out there Simple tools for gathering student voice Simple constructive collaborative tools (glossary, forums in theory) Low barrier means to “get the job done”, both with BYOD students, and with students preparing for exams Easy to make visually interesting courses
- Some practical “Works For Me” thoughts – may not work for you! Skills-based subjects, maths and digital technologies, so lots of videos Nuts and bolts – files and submitting work. Students are not great listeners (like us – use personal examples!) Need JIT instruction Screencast-o-matic super quick and simple Glossaries great way to share out challenging tasks Privacy principles English – character profiles etc Checklists – monitoring own learning Also wikis, quizzes, workshops Not the right tool for other stuff – also extensively use Google Docs for collaboration, Google Classroom for ongoing work monitoring and a million subject-specific tools
- Only if we have time Main problems with Moodle are mistakes in implementing and poor “sell”. Has made huge improvements in recent versions and has a great future. Changes in funding model will have positive effects (more user say in where the effort goes) Genuine understanding that GUI needs to move into 21st century. Progress has been made.
- Only challenge is getting people to use it – everything else is just minor technical stuff You need an advocate and a constant “sell”