basic whole

Moodle at PWSDCollaboration, Online Education

and Classroom Extension.

Outline What is Moodle How Moodle came to PWSD Needs Moodle can fill Who is using Moodle now? What is it Jon Does? What’s coming up next?

How Moodle came to PWSD

The Need

The Promise

AISI projects needed a way to share and work when they were not together.

PREP was on schedule to deliver document sharing and other collaboration tools.

The FailureAfter many attempts, PREP under IBM was laid to rest.

The Solution December 2006 Jon was approached to

build a place for AISI to work using Moodle With Jon building and Joan Coy training

and promoting collaboration finally got off the ground. By

Needs Moodle can fill

Collaboration

Deliver full courses online for credit.

Classroom extensionSupport brick and mortar schools with learning objects, online testing, extra help, discussion groups and more.

Online education

Bring professional learning communities together•Share documents•Discuss ideas•Co-author materials•ePortfolios

What Moodle is not …. An Asian noodle dish A Portal A “good” file repository Dreamweaver replacement A for-print exam bank An ePortfolio solution,

but more on that later.

Who is using Moodle now

collaboration.pwsd76.ab.ca 282 real users, who have accessed the site

since September 2007.

19 Active professional learning committees

Site visits are nearly doubling each month since July 2007 and we are currently receiving an average of 126 visits and almost 5000 hits per day!

collaboration.pwsd76.ab.ca Stats

eCommunity.pwsd76.ab.ca 3 full-time core science courses (BCP) 4 course supplements (blended learning) 2 school websites 6 trial courses (just playing in the sand)

This site just got started and has not been promoted yet around the district. It was build to host the BCP courses.

Teacher comments “Collaboration such as we have done is great! In

small schools, we often work in isolation. The Moodle site overcomes this problem to some extent”

“Meeting, working and sharing ideas with a large number of math teachers is beneficial in test development. Moodle is an excellent tool for communication. The shared resources allow options within the classroom.”

These are teacher comments from the qualitative questionaire completed in June 2007. The population is the16 teachers from Numeracy Division 4

What exactly does Jon do?

What it takes to keep Moodle running.

Technical Install and support

Machine setup – virtualization Server OS Moodle packages Database backend: mysql Add-ons: scripting languages, feature extensions

Security Anti-virus Backup Access rights

Troubleshoot Network bandwidth / or speed of access

Communications Help desk

Email and call support for users Support AISI coordinators as they build their

areas. Create starting areas or templates for schools

or PLCs Presentations or in-service work

Present at AISI meetings Visit schools Meet with any group wishing to start a PLC

Author Site Design

Create constant navigation across all areas Create and update front page Maintain site-wide theme

Course and Content Author Create training materials Publishing BCP courses (with help from Joan and Wanda) Create science professional learning

communities Create science course extensions

Other Predict and prepare for future needs Research how others are using Moodle Test out new add-ons or extensions

Trial installs of new additions of moodle Gather data for presentations

Did not work for today Promote online collaboration

Moving Forward The current Moodle role should be divided.

For me, I’d like to decrease in technical.

Increase in authorship, seminars, in-services, and team building.

What’s coming up next

Short Term Collaboration

Complete the in-servicing of all AISI Establish science learning communities

Online Education Complete the hosting of BCP courses Establish several new offerings with PAVE

Classroom Extension Complete the hosting of online assessments for Science

10, 14, 24, and Biology 30 Find and work with one or two teachers who would like

their students to blog or discuss online.

Technical: oodle meets mahara

The time has come for ePortfoliosAthabasca is using ELGGWe’re looking at mahara.org

Long Term Collaboration

All groups comfortable and active Online Education

Full course offerings available Classroom Enhancement

All schools with a presence Classes that want have robust online activites

Technical Separate file repository Bring online several physical servers Tie into new Portal