Online Learning

Well.  I am going to focus my writing on Moodle.  Our district has offered for a few years now, the availability of moodle for us.  Most of the students are familiar with it by now and it seems as though the newness has warn off.   I envision this as a good thing.  The students have moved past the idea that they get to click around and play on a computer and have now settled in on learning why we are using online experiences!

With regards to content, it allows me to teach any content that I can find and post on my moodle page.  Currently, I have all of my homework assignments, screencasts of lectures and calenders posted there.  Not to mention the many neat enrichment websites, flash games, review simulations, and videos posted also.  My moodle is a one-stop shop for information regarding our class.  I have posted podcasts for my students there as well.

I have also taken advantage of the quizzing function which allows the students instant feedback on their assessments.  I have used this function for pretest inquiry to see where the students are with new information.  I have used it as informal summative assessment (exit slips).  I have also used it as formal assessment of content.

Moodle also has a journal function in which I have the student create online journals of their bellwork and other questions I pose.

It also has a forum feature that the students are able to pose questions to each other as well as to me.  This allows for collaboration and discussion among students which is key to student success.

Moodle has also cut out the excuse that "I forgot it at school".  Everything is online.  Even my book is linked to moodle.  It's absolutely fantastic!  This is the first year that I have used moodle and I am sure as I continue to use it, I am going to see a whole lot more possibilities!

Because its an online management system, a teacher can incorporate almost any pedagogical strategy and tie it to this system.  For instance, I could create an inquiry webquest where the students are inductively learning or I could create a webquest in which they are reviewing deductively topics that we have covered.  Collaboration, discussion, and reflection occurs with and between students.

As much as I would love to either create an RSS page for my classes or have them create one, I envision it being difficult to manage.  How much time do I allocate to making it?  How much time is allocated for searching for topics to write about?  Are the kids going to find science information to keep updated on?  Do the sites work due to filters?  Do they have availability to a computer daily?  For all of these reasons, I would find it difficult to incorporate RSS pages into my science classroom.