Moodle is NOT a Verb, or is it?

This was my last week teaching Full Sail/emdtms’ LMO (Learning Management Systems) course and I couldn’t end our time together without a little conversation about Moodle. Enjoy.

Moodle is not a verb, or is it?

I’ve been hearing about Moodle at ed/tech conferences for longer than I can remember. In the early years it seemed to be an “under the radar” project bringing together the open source tech community and educators. More recently, with district administrators making decisions to roll-out Moodle, the concept seems to have shifted from a roll-your-own thing to something imposed upon teachers with little training, assistance or attempts to generate buy-in. In either case the platform has appeared to be largely text-driven and visually challenging. Wikipedia has an excellent overview of Moodle at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moodle.

The following video is intended to help those unfamiliar with Moodle’s module-mentality (and also for big fans of Legos!):

This next video is a good overview of the Moodle interface that includes a few commons tasks teachers might do:

For those curious for more in-depth training I located a course available through Lynda.com at
http://www.lynda.com/home/DisplayCourseN.aspx?lpk2=47547

Other tutorials are available at: http://moodle-tutorials.blogspot.com/search/label/Moodle%20Video%20Tutorials and
http://docs.moodle.org/en/Teacher_documentation.

One of the most important thing to remember about learning platforms, whether we have a say in their roll-out or not, is that it’s an opportunity to enlarge your reach with your students and that it’s your input that changes these things from being just tools to becoming learning opportunities.

Please review these videos and info and come to our Wimba session ready to talk about Moodle.

Sources:

* moodle logo. http://docs.moodle.org/en/License retrieved on 12/13/2009

* youtube video/image: Moodle explained with LEGO short version posted by moodlefan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XPZl6LLvik retrieved on 12/13/2009

* Youtube video: What’s Moodle? posted by jenericjarvis. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jY9KcHwIWI&feature=related retrieved on 12/13/2009

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The Role of Technology in Education

Over the past few weeks I’ve been working with my Full Sail EMDT students teaching and learning more about online learning management systems. I’ve been using online tools for teaching and learning for over nine years and tech in my classrooms for over 15-years, so I generally don’t think twice about the role of tech in education. But what got me thinking was the depth and complexity of the tools we’ve been studying and the largely unrewarded efforts it will take for our students to get some of these systems rolling. It can be such an uphill battle just to get meaningful online access in the classroom. So I started thinking that some very basic questions needed to be considered in order for my students to be fully prepared to translate what we’re studying into something that they can use in the classroom. The following thoughts and videos were posted for my students to read before our weekly online meeting.

The Role of Technology in Education

As you work through this course’s reading assignments and create your Udutu project you might notice that you might be the only one among your peers working at such a high level of expectation as far as the integration and useage of technology in the day-to-day functioning of a classroom. Why is that? The normal excuse on the part of educators tends to be the lack of time and on the part of administration the lack of funds. And even when technology is brought into the classroom the purchasing process tends to be such a top-down "what do we need now" event, lacking any long-term vision or implementation plan that it’s no suprise that thirty-years after the arrival of the first small computers into the classroom, we’re still having this discussion.

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Change/Follows/Learning

Emdt student Kevin Hayes created this video with the catch phrase: “If what you learn doesn’t change what you do, then why you learnin’ it?”

Kevin is a very committed believer and has shared the connection he feels between his beliefs and his actions. There’s something amazingly simple and powerful in this. And in his video he illustrates it so well with the example, if you really believe that the world is beautiful than you should be doing something about it, like picking up the trash and recycling. So simple and so powerful.

I think I know what Kevin means, if we believe in something it should effect how we act and how we live our lives. A frustration that I have, that Kevin may or may not share with me, is the obvious gap between what I consider the prime-directive left by Jesus to his followers and how his followers seem to live with one another:

“”A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13: 34-35 NIV)

Having moved from Southern California to Central Florida, where there seems to be one church for every city block, and sometime two, I’m not sure that I’ve seen much in the way that would convince me that I’m now living among His followers. Perhaps that’s not very fair. Let’s put it this way, I haven’t seen much of a difference between those who have shared their faith with me and the rest as far as quality of life, compassion, you know “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” kind of stuff.

Now there’s a possibility that this region, this place is so saturated with religion and basic Christian principles that the guy in the bar and the guy in the pew are both looking for the same things in life and going about it pretty much the same way, except for one guy sleeps in on Sunday morning and the other doesn’t (and don’t assume which one is which). I don’t know. If someone is trying to persuade me that their faith has something to offer, than I have an expectation that I’m going to see a difference in their life that I wouldn’t see in someone who doesn’t share that belief. I think Kevin was talkin’ about more than just trash when he hummed, “If what you learn doesn’t change what you do, then why you learnin’ it?”

Sources:
YouTube: Change is good by Kevin Hayes, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_Jma04y40I retrieved on October 16, 2009.
Bible Quote: John 12:34-35, http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+13%3A34-35&version=NIV retrieved on October 16, 2009

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Shaking Hands with EcceRobot

Seminal Sci-fi author William Gibson retweeted the link to the following video and the comments of @twiliteminotaur: “Creepy-cool in that old Gigerian sense of cyberpunk. Terminator’s in the anatomical details.” Fellow fan and skeptic of all things robotic, Lisa Smith, wondered why they’d go to such lengths to make the robot so human-like in function and construction when having a variety of anatomical structures would be more in keeping with the variety of requirements we’d need from future robots. Of course, the answer is that the more human-like they are the more likely we’ll accept these robots into our lives. And an added benefit is that all one would need would be a hot-glue gun to melt the robot’s skeletal system. Take that future robotic over-lords!

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Why Should We Let You Into Our Doctorate Club?

Last time I talked to Dr. Sparks (“Sparky”) we were enjoying a late night dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill following a week roaming the streets of DC and the halls of power with my Pepperdine cadremates. He wasn’t completely satisfied with my consultancy project and charged me with the assignment to get a better grasp on what I really wanted to do with my doctorate degree. Of course he had no idea that seven days later I would get kicked out of the program for failing to get a B or better grade in a different class (see Sound of Doors Closing). So the question shifted from what I wanted to get out of getting a doctorate with Pepperdine to what justification do I have for taking up this costly battle again at some other institution. What are my intentions?

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Will Buying Heal Old Scares

One of my students commented in his blog that he’d just had a relaxing weekend, noting that he’d actually had time to do some yard work with his wife and how much better the experience was versus the typical weekend of continuous running around. Interesting. As I continue my own house-hunting adventure I wonder how this change from life-long renter to first-time buyer will change my own disposition towards a “relaxing weekend doing yard work.” In a Pepperdine assignment on mentoring for my Masters degree I’ve already gone on record writing that I’ve already done my time doing yard work as a child and adolescent. Maybe that’ll change. maybe not. Here’s the Pepperdine essay:

Mentoring Analysis – The Benefit of Learning By Example

I can’t believe how my brother betrayed me. There he was, just rambling on, completely oblivious to the betrayal. I can’t believe he’d forgotten the vows we’d made during those numberless sweaty Saturdays out in the backyard under the heartless afternoon sun as our father rained down on us pruned branches to be cut and dissatisfaction at our efforts.

I thought that it was understood that once we’d successfully escaped our father’s unsatisfiable tutelage that we’d never ever again spend another day toiling under the sun, pruning trees, or doing anything beyond the minimum necessary to keep the lawn from over-growing and swallowing up the patio furniture. But there he was proudly displaying his garden and the huge ears of corn he was expecting in a few weeks. Damn. I guess new homeownership does that to a person.

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Roll Over Beethoven and Copy… Right!

Part of my course at Full Sail is about media issues, you know, stuff like Copyright, Fair Use and Creative Commons. The “M” in our program title (EMDT) is Media and my students, who are in their ninth month of a year long Masters degree program, are expected to stare down this huge subject and come up with a reasonable approach to something that I tell them occupies the life’s work of an army of lawyers, policymakers and troublemakers. As I lay down guiding principles to understanding the moving target that is Copyright/Fair Use/Creative Commons the discussions tend to be quite lively and informative for all participants. One thing that I’ve never fully appreciated is how difficult and expensive it can be for teachers who want to follow copyright law who teach band, or theater or any of the other arts.

One teacher wrote in her class blog:
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Intellectualism and conservative religion

Is there a fundamental conflict for someone to be an intellectual and a believer in conservative religion? The recent Bill Maher film, Religulous, would have one believe that most people surrender their minds when they surrender their hearts to religion.

Having attended four private Christian universities my impression has been that there are very smart people on both side of the discussion. In fact, in the movie, Maher expressed frustration when addressing the “Truckers for Jesus” gathering that they appear to be intelligent gentlemen, but he couldn’t reconcile that with how they could believe in a literal talking snake from the Expulsion from Eden narrative in the book of Genesis. Looking for a different take on this possible conflict between rationalism and religion, I explored a book titled, “Did The Greeks Believe In Their Myths,” by Paul Veyne (1988), professor of Roman history at the University of France.

When I began this exploration I assumed a basic Western point of view, being that before the Renaissance and the following Age of Reason and Science, that the centers for learning, philosophy, government and culture were interpreted through religion and faith. Given this general understanding one might also be led to assume that the Ancients were somehow less intelligent than modern men. Stone and bronze tools versus lasers and computer-precision tools, astrology versus astrophysics, mythology versus historical critical analysis, one might see some credence to this sense of “less intelligent.” Of course all of this comes crashing down when one considers the surviving record left behind by Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, Galen the physician and the obvious brilliance of the whole chorus of ancient voices. So how did these brilliant thinkers deal with the religion and mythology of their day? For some reason the lyrics, “Same as it ever was” runs through my mind. Same as it ever was indeed, but Veyne would point out some noted exceptions.

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Relevant Media vs. Cool Stuff – Online Learners Pick the Former

One of my students recently wrote about his experiences as an online curriculum development person who works for an online university that has a division that partners with traditional higher-ed institutions to help them bring graduate programs online. He noted that the upper management was all crazy about stuffing as much media into every course, then joked that they were much less energetic about paying for the media or what it takes to create it. That’s kind’a typical. Then he made the following comment about student usage of this media content:

Careful analysis of click-tracking data is showing that only around 50% of the students are actually watching the media elements integrated into the courses. We are trying to understand the reasons why students aren’t watching the media. Sometimes, it is clear that they are just not seeing the value in the media pieces. And admittedly, not all the media is uniformly excellent. However, we are also finding that our online students are incredibly task-focused. They do exactly what they need to do to complete the assignments and nothing more. As an online student myself, I guess I understand that one! (d. lungren)

My words of wisdom to this student:
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Broke Bookends

Remember how impressed I was last time when I was using online research tools? Yeah, in the meantime I’ve run headlong into a less than amazing experience. I went so far as to pay for the upgrade of my copy of Bookends, only to get weird error messages when it can’t read PDFs and doesn’t seem to work with my school’s online databases. Damn. I’ll probably continue to use Zotero and RefWorks to gather data and we’ll see how I might get the data into my documents. Ack.

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