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Category: Curriculum and Educational Practices

In the Beginning

Over the past few years, school districts have equipped their schools with the latest in technology equipment.  This process has been accelerated with the requirements put forth by NCLB, whereby technology literacy has been mandated for students by grade eight (Boyle, 2005). Schools have set up computer labs, state-of-the-art media centers, and computers in the classroom in preparation for technology integration.  However, simply having the equipment in place does not guarantee that the teachers will achieve technology integration: “Successful integration of technology requires not only the knowledge of the technology and its potential use but also the skill to plan and execute a good lesson (of which the technology is only a part)” (Painter, 2001, p. 23).

As I entered into the doctoral program in Educational Leadership at the University of Delaware in September of 2003, one of my goals was to focus on technology integration or the lack thereof in schools.  The big question was how do we make technology a part of, not the end of, a process?  What do I mean? Too often, students' end of a unit of study culminated in a PowerPoint presentation.   The focus became the PowerPoint presentation and not the content of the material being studied.  Students would nervously await their turn to present and be thankful when the experience was finally completed.  And what did they learn from this experience? How to create an animation, transition, or add sound to a presentation?  But what topic were they studying?

In one of my classes at the university, a fellow student mentioned Moodle during a discussion.  A Learning Management System (LMS) was primarily hosted on a Linux-based server.  At the time, I was using a server-based hosting service on Windows 2003.  Needless to say, I was mildly interested but really didn’t give it much thought afterward until I attended the NECC 2006 conference in July of that year.  The main topic of discussion throughout the conference was open-source software. One of the most talked about open-source software topics was Moodle.

Moodle was designed to support and promote users interested in developing constructivist, student-centered learning environments (Dougiamas & Taylor, 2003). Moodle is a CMS that has adopted a social constructivist theory.  “Social constructivism is based on the idea that people learn best when they are engaged in a social process of constructing knowledge through the act of constructing an artifact for others” (Cole, 2005, p. 5).

After returning from the NECC 2006 conference, this was a point where I told people all of the planets began to align themselves regarding my doctoral studies.  How?  First, I must go back to the spring of 2006. At the time, the superintendent mentioned the idea of teachers forming a collaborative plan to replace the traditional PIP at a faculty meeting.  At the same time, I was in the beginning stages of developing my dissertation.  In speaking with three teachers, we agreed to submit a collaborative plan.  We wanted our collaboration to be web-based. In a previous class at Delaware, I created a web-based project related to an endangered species unit in the sixth grade science class.  I thought I would take this same model and work with these teachers to create the same type of web-based project.

Prior to NECC 2006, I had already begun to work on creating these web-based projects. However, I soon realized that I was more enabling teachers than allowing them to collaborate.  This is when I went to moodle.org to research further the concept of using Moodle.    After reviewing the information on the website, I saw a real opportunity in front of me.  The first step was to set up a Linux-based website utilizing a web hosting service.  The website (http://www.techinedonline.com) would serve as the host for this Moodle collaboration.  As I began to explore the ins and outs of Moodle, I put a halt to a web-based project I had begun to create.  As I mentioned previously, the planets were truly aligning for me in both my doctoral work and the collaboration with the three teachers.

Getting Down to Work

            As September of 2006 arrived and we returned to school, each collaborative teacher had a course set up within Moodle.  We set up release time to allow us an opportunity to meet and have them take a look at this “Moodle thing.”  Needless to say, once they saw it they were hooked.

            So why were teachers so hooked?  Teachers appreciated the power behind Moodle.  In the early stages of development, they used it primarily as a repository for information related to their class.  Teachers began by posting homework assignments, calendar of events, presentations given in class, links to other websites (including their online text book), RSS feeds, and Jeopardy games for students to prepare for tests.

            As teachers became more comfortable using Moodle, they became more curious about what they could use it for.  Teachers discovered that they could setup forums that could be utilized for student discussions.  Students liked the idea of participating in discussions but requested more input into what could be discussed.  In searching the moodle.org website, a module was available that allowed students to create their own forums. 

            Modules are add-ins that further enhance the features available for Moodle.  The module above, Forum Plus, gave students the opportunity to become active participants in the process.  Other modules were added to the Moodle as teachers often would say, “If only I could do….”  Another example was a teacher who wished there was a way for students to be able to save files so that they could move back and forth from home to school.  Once again, a search on Moodle.org found a module, My Files, and added it to Moodle.  Another popular add-on was a module allowing teachers to directly add YouTube videos into their Moodle course.  My recommendation is for anyone establishing a Moodle site is to keep an open ear to what teachers are requesting and encouraging teachers to explore the add-in modules to see if one fits their needs.

            Another great part of using Moodle is the Moodle community.  The online support is made up of other users.  You can post questions to the various forums, and people are very quick to reply. An example happened last year when a Language Arts teacher wondered how others used Moodle for novel studies. She posted a question in the Moodle in K-12 Schools forum at 10:48 AM, and by 12:26 PM, she got her first reply.  Again, I encourage teachers to use the Moodle community as a great support system.

            The ultimate goal is to move beyond simply having a Moodle site as a repository for classroom activities.  Students wanted more of a real-time option to post questions to other students or teachers.  We opened up a live chat for students to use.  Students began to use this to post questions about homework. Some students even used the live chat to ask each other questions in preparation for an upcoming test.  Another feature, the journal, allows students to have a one-to-one dialogue with their teacher concerning their writing.  On-line assignments, surveys, and questionnaires further enhance student interaction.

Where We Go from Here and Obstacles to Getting There

            There are countless ways to enhance a Moodle site further to make it a truly interactive experience for students.  When students become involved with the material, their motivation level increases. For example, the 6th-grade social studies class was putting together a podcast to post on Moodle.  We had a small group of students who would serve as the podcast's anchors.  When did they work on this podcast to complete it? Students would come to my room during recess and lunch each day for several weeks to work on this podcast.  I didn’t have to prompt them or beg them to show up. In fact, there were times I was running around the building working on other things and would show up a few minutes late. There they would be, waiting at my door, tapping their feet, acting like “Where have you been!!!”

            I told this story at a recent conference I presented at in Florida (FETC 2008), and teachers were excited to hear how motivated these students were.  Allowing students to participate in their own education reaps many rewards.  Classroom management becomes less of an issue, students are actually learning and applying the material rather than simply memorizing and regurgitating onto a test, and teachers feel a renewed sense of connection with their students.

            The other interesting aspect of presenting at this conference was how many people attended my session, “Using Your Noodle on the Moodle.”  It was a Friday afternoon, the last session of the conferences that had been going on for three days.  I thought I would get two or three, if lucky, a half dozen people attending this late afternoon session.  To my surprise, the room was filled to capacity, and the energy level of the teachers was incredible.  They all wanted to learn more about using Moodle.  When they ask, “How much does it cost?” I tell them it is free. Well, I don’t need to tell you their reaction.

            But what stops more teachers from using Moodle?  The first thing is that people are not aware that it even exists.  That is why I travel around the country, presenting at conferences.  There are now over 330,000 Moodle users worldwide.  Word is quickly spreading. I’ve set up my own Moodle site: www.techinedonline.com/moodle, for educators to use.  I now have users coming from as far away as Korea to participate in this Moodle.

            However, the biggest obstacle to teachers using Moodle, which is true of all technology integration, is the lack of professional development.  Too often, I’ve seen districts purchase equipment that sits there and is not being used.  It looks good to have the equipment. However, it really isn’t about the show.  Or I see the equipment used in a traditional teaching style whereby the teacher is in the front of the room with a PowerPoint presentation projected onto an Interactive Whiteboard while the students sit there in a fog. It reminds me of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, where the teacher is in front of the class giving a lecture while the students sit in their chairs, “Anyone….anyone.” 

            We need to stop thinking of professional development as a one-shot deal.  It just doesn’t work!  We need to get into the classroom with the teachers and work beside them to better understand their world and how technology can be a part of the learning process.  By having the time to work side-by-side with teachers and showing them how Moodle might be an opportunity to integrate technology into the classroom, teachers see the value of technology, not just something else they have to learn.

            The excitement of the Moodle is real!  I’ve seen the impact it has had on teachers and students.  Once they begin to put it to use, the possibilities to expand are endless! I started off collaborating with three teachers in the district. Since then, it has grown tremendously. I’ve trained nearly 40 teachers in a district of just over 900 students. I’ve presented, and continue to present, to conferences around the country, and I’m still amazed at the excitement that it generates.  And this is just one of the exciting technology areas available to educators today! I haven’t even touched on other Web 2.0 tools. And did I happen to mention Joomla? Well, that is an article for another time!  And by the way, yes, they are all free!!!

References

Boyle, A. (2005). "A Formula for Successful Technology Integration Must Include Curriculum." MultiMedia & Internet @ Schools 12(1): 30-2.

Cole, J. R. (2005). Using Moodle: teaching with the popular open source course management system. Sebastopol, CA, O'Reilly Community Press.

Dougiamas, M. and P. Taylor (2003). Moodle: Using Learning Communities to Create an Open Source Course Management System. World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2003, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, AACE.

Painter, S. R. (2001). "Issues in the Observation and Evaluation of Technology Integration in K–12 Classrooms." Journal of Computing in Teacher Education 17(4): 21-25.

Details

Category: Curriculum and Educational Practices

Remember back in the days when frames were the big rage for websites? Websites jumped aboard the use of frames in creating websites that allowed access to multiple pages with the ease of a simple menu selection. The NJAET site was based on frames and made it easy to navigate through the website.

NJAET Website of Old

During numerous NJAET Executive Board meetings, discussion ensued as to how disjointed things were becoming.  We used one service to process the annual fall conference fees, another to email our newsletter, we blogged on another site, and registration forms had to be manually manipulated and sent back and forth between members.  It seemed it was time for an extreme makeover whereby members could go to one place to get everything done and open communications. But how do we get there?

Along came Joomla to ease our pain.  Joomla is a Content Management System (CMS) that allows users to build a website with many extensions that add to its versatility.  The great thing about Joomla is that it is open source, which translates to IT’S FREE!  All editing is web-based. So what does this mean? I don’t need to have a web-authoring software package to edit my website.  I can author, edit, revise, and publish web pages if I have an internet connection.  Users can be assigned different roles, which determines their responsibility level on the website. For example, a user can have the role of author, which allows them the ability to write articles but cannot publish them to the website.  This would allow another user with more privileges, to review and approve the publishing of the article.  What is great about this is it opens the door for more collaboration regarding website development. It allows users to collaborate online without having to exchange emails back and forth, attempting to revise an article.

With a multitude of extensions available, it makes it easy to add to the power of your website.  For example, there are currently 20 form extensions available on the Joomla.org website (www.Joomla.org). Commercial (cost) and non-commercial (free) form extensions are available to download and add to your website. Installation is very simple to do. When logged in as an administrator, you browse the Extension Manager to find the extension you downloaded. Once you’ve located the compressed (zipped) file, upload/install the file. It’s that easy!  There is no need to uncompress or ftp the file to your web server.  The upload/install automatically does this for you.

Joomla Extension Manager

Once installed, you are ready to use your new extension.  With the forms extension we used (Chrono forms), the NJAET website now had a form component that made collected data easily available to authorized users.  The other nice part of this extension was it allowed copying and pasting source code into a new form, tweaking it (if necessary), and publishing the form.  What is great about this is if I find a form online that I really like, I can copy the source code and have it available immediately to gather data.

Another great thing about the available extensions is there are extensions for just about anything. Jomla.org ( http://extensions.joomla.org/) breaks down the extension categories into 22 different categories, with numerous sub-categories within these categories.  The best way to utilize these extensions is to be a good listener. When we were first planning to revise the NJAET website, I paid close attention to what members were looking for and what frustrations people experienced trying to share or collect information, and I listened to those “if only we could” messages.  Based on what I heard, I initially set up a mock website and demonstrated it to the executive board, adding extensions that I heard were requested.  When people saw the power of Joomla, they were sold on the idea of reinventing our website.

As with anything new, it can be both scary and exciting at the same time, scary in that it means learning a new way of constructing a website and exciting in that it is a whole new way of looking at what a website can do.  As we move towards Web 2.0 implementation of the NJAET website, collaboration online can become a reality. 

The New Look NJAET Website

If you want to get started using Joomla, visit the Joomla website (www.joomla.org).  Also, there are several good books to explore:

·       Joomla! A User's Guide: Building a Successful Joomla! Powered Website by Barrie M. North

·        Beginning Joomla!: From Novice to Professional (Beginning from Novice to Professional) by Dan Rahmel

·       Building Websites with Joomla! 1.5 by Hagen Graf

I like having a book(s) to refer to while I’m building my websites. These books provide additional support.

I’ve used Joomla to redo my website (www.techinedonline.com) and continue discovering new ways to put Joomla to work.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Details

Category: Curriculum and Educational Practices

This was an article published in School Leaders Magazine in November/December 2008

The trick to using technology in schools is to properly integrate it, and to make technology a part of the learning process—not the end goal. For example, I have often seen students assigned a PowerPoint presentation at the end of a study unit. Too many times, the focus became the presentation and not the content of the material being studied.  Students nervously await their turn to do their PowerPoint and are thankful when that experience is completed.  What did they learn from this experience? How to create an animation, transition, or add sound to a presentation, perhaps. But what of the topic they were studying?

So when I came across Moodle in my graduate school studies, I was intrigued.

Moodle is an open-source (meaning the code is open –and not proprietary—and users can use and change the software, and redistribute it, if they wish) software that enables teachers to create an interactive classroom online. Teachers can post homework assignments, videos, lectures and podcasts; teachers and students together can post blogs or messages in forums.  While many schools have pages on their Web sites that allow teachers to post homework or documents or links, one of Moodle’s strengths is how it can combine many tools. A big advantage of Moodle, particularly in these times when school districts are strapped for cash: it is free.  Districts can learn more and can download it at www.moodle.org.

As a technology teacher, in the past, I have worked with teachers on creating web-based projects. For example, a few years ago I worked with some sixth grade teachers to create a web page for an endangered species unit they were teaching in science class.

But after looking into Moodle, I felt that using this program would allow the process with the teachers I work with to be much more collaborative.  Key to this was having a program that teachers and student could easily use without needing to know how to code HTML or use a complicated software editor program, or needing someone to upload files to a server whenever the teacher wants to make changes to a page. 

Here is how we set up a Moodle in Indian Hills Memorial School in 2006, and the teachers embraced it.

Getting Down to Work

The first step was to setup a Linux based Web site utilizing a web hosting service. (Moodle is primarily hosted on a Linux based server.) The website (http://www.techinedonline.com) would serve as the host for this Moodle collaboration.  (Districts can also have another site host it, although that would involve some cost.)

When we returned to school in September, each collaborative teacher had a course setup within the Moodle.  We set up time to allow an opportunity to meet with the teachers and to let them take a look at this “Moodle thing.”  Once they saw it,  they were hooked.

Why were teachers so enthusiastic? They appreciated the power behind the Moodle.  In the early stages of development, they used it primarily as a repository for information related to their class.  Teachers began by posting homework assignments, calendars of events, presentations given in class, links to other websites (including their on-line text book), RSS feeds, and Jeopardy games for students to prepare for tests.

But, as teachers became more comfortable with using the Moodle, they became more curious as to what more could they use it for. They discovered that they could setup forums that could be utilized for student discussions.  Students liked the idea of participating in discussions but requested more input into what could be discussed.  In searching the moodle.org website, a module was available that allowed students to create their own forums.  One of the advantages of Moodle is that there are downloadable modules that allow users to customize the program.

Modules are add-ins that further enhance the features available for a Moodle.  The module we used (Forum Plus) allowed students to create their own forums and gave them the opportunity to become active participants in the process. 

As teachers would express a desire to use Moodle in a different way, other modules were added.  For example, one teacher wished there was a way for students to be able to save files that they could move back and forth from home to school.  Another module, My Files, was found and added to the Moodle.  Another popular add-on was a module that allowed teachers to add YouTube videos directly into their Moodle course.  My recommendation is for anyone establishing a Moodle site is to keep an open ear to what teachers are requesting and to encourage teachers to explore the add-in modules to see if one fits their needs.

Another great part of using a Moodle is the Moodle community.  The on-line support is made up of other users.  You can post questions to the various forums and people are very quick to reply. An example happened last year when a Language Arts teacher wondered how others were using a Moodle for novel studies. She posted a question in the Moodle in K-12 Schools forum at 10:48 AM and by 12:26 PM she got her first reply.  Again, I encourage teachers to use the Moodle The ultimate goal is to move beyond simply having a Moodle site as a repository for classroom activities.  Students wanted more of a real-time option to post questions to other students or teachers.  We opened up a live chat for students to use.  Students began to use this to post questions about homework. Some students even used the live chat to ask each other questions in preparation for an upcoming test.  Another feature, Journal, allows students to have a one-to-one dialogue with their teacher concerning their writing.  On-line assignments, surveys and questionnaires further enhance student interaction.  

Where We Go from Here and Obstacles to Getting There

There are countless ways to further enhance a Moodle site to make it a truly interactive experience for students.  When students become involved with the material, their motivation level is increased. For example, the sixth grade social studies class was putting together a podcast to post on the Moodle.  We had a small group of students who were going to serve as the anchors of the podcast.  Each day for several weeks, students would come to my room during recess and lunch to work on it.  I didn’t have to prompt them or beg them to show up. In fact, there were times I was elsewhere in the building and would show up a few minutes late. There the students would be, waiting at my door impatiently tapping their feet.

I told this story a recent conference and the teachers were excited to hear how motivated these students were. Allowing students to participate in their own education reaps many rewards.  Classroom management becomes less of an issue, students are actually learning and applying the material rather them simply memorizing and regurgitating onto a test, and teachers feel a renewed sense of connection with their students.

What stops more teachers from using a Moodle?  The first thing is people not being aware that it even exists.  That is why I travel around the country presenting at conferences.  There are now over 330,000 Moodle users worldwide.  Word is quickly spreading. I’ve setup my own Moodle site: www.techinedonline.com/moodle for educators to use.  I now have users coming from as far away as Korea to participate in this Moodle.

However, the bigger obstacle to teachers using a Moodle, which is true of all technology integration, is the lack of professional development.  Too often, I’ve seen districts purchase equipment that sits unused, or equipment that is used in a traditional teaching style where the teacher is in the front of the room with a PowerPoint presentation projected onto an Interactive Whiteboard, while the students sit there in a fog.

It has become clear to me that the way to truly integrate technology into learning is through professional development.  Technology specialists need to get into the classroom with the teachers and work right beside them to better understand their world and how technology can be a part of the process of learning. 

The excitement of the Moodle is real!  I’ve seen the impact it has had with teachers and students. Once they begin to use it, the possibilities to expand are endless. I started off collaborating with three teachers in the district. Since then it has grown tremendously. I’ve trained close to 40 teachers in a district of just over 900 students. I’ve presented, and continue to present, to conferences around the country and I’m still amazed at the excitement that it generates. 

Did I mention it is free?

Alan J. Taylor is the lead technology teacher at Indian Mills Memorial School in the Shamong Township school district. He also runs the Web site Techonline.com and frequently presents programs on technology at educational conferences. Taylor is a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership at the University of Delaware; his specialization is technology.

He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.