Online+Learning+Presentation

I chose to focus on Moodle this week. I took some time and explored the site to see what was available and possible using the site. I presented to the staff at my school during a staff meeting (since the administration is always looking for peer presenters). I felt that the staff did not see the wide range usefulness in the classroom. I work with a group that is sometimes resistant to change and the lack of technology in the building does not encourage its use in the classroom. Did anyone have a similar experience?
 * Jamie Lukey:**

I was relieved when a small group of peers approached me after and were anxious to try using Moodle in their classroom. They were going to use Spring Break to explore the site further and then incorporate it in their classroom for the last quarter of this school year. I knew I would not encourage the change of all in the building, but was happy when a couple decided to try this new format.

Jamie,

I am sorry that the group your work with is not open to new technology, that is unfortunate. It makes me grateful my colleagues who all love hearing about new technology and strategies. Our administration always encourages us to use new programs and strategies. I would maybe try showing them some successful online programs and how schools are using this tool to better meet the needs of their students. It might open their eyes if they see success stories.

Kayla Shandra

I gave my online learning presentation to 3 colleagues and my assistant principal. We all sat down in my classroom and I was able to use my Smartboard to give my presentation. The presentation went very well and everyone seemed interested and engaged in the presentation. They were even asking me questions throughout the presentation. It was nice because we were having a small group discussion about online learning.
 * Kayla Shandra:**

After the presentation I went to the Moodle site and showed them some features that Moodle offered. I also showed them the Florida Virtual School website as an example of how schools are using it. Although my assistant principal loved the whole idea, she said that it probably would not be possible to include online courses at our school. She did however agree that teachers can use sites like Moodle in their classrooms in other ways.

Ben to Kayla -

Have you used moodle.com before? There are several teachers at my school that have all of their assignments, lectures, notes, and assessments on moodle.com. I know it takes a lot of work to set it up but once it is up and running these teachers are able to focus on the needs of individual students. I am going to start using moodle.com in my classroom next year. Do you have any advice for me? Thanks.

Ben Hanson


 * Heather Sauer:**

I shared my presentation with four other teachers and an assistant principal. The presentation was well-received and my colleagues asked some good questions. In retrospect, I should have sought out some audience members who are not as comfortable with technology; all the teachers in my audience are known for being on the cutting edge of technology. I had enlisted the help of another math teacher who uses Moodle with her students; she was able to provide details and examples of an LMS in action, and she navigated her site with us on the SMARTboard.

The biggest concern was brought up by the English teacher, and it was a concern that I shared: we had both recently integrated the use of Edmodo into our classes, and we're both knee-deep in that. He and I both love Edmodo, but we also like all the advanced features of Moodle. It seems that every time we've finally embraced a new technology tool, there is something "bigger and better" to replace it. Anyone else feel this way? How do you handle that?

__Jamie to Heather:__ I feel the same way, I love Edmodo and feel comfortable with it. I take the time to getto know one tool and then I think that I will use this summer to get ready to use Moodle. I know that is can be overwhelming for the teacher, but also the students to keep changing the tools in the classroom. I am glad that your presentation was so well received... it is hard to get all on board, but you seemed to do a good job at that! Jamie

I presented the PowerPoint presentation to three teachers and my principal during one of our grade-level meetings. During the 10th grade meeting I presented my class usage and the presentation to the teachers and talked about what I have been doing and how the students been using the LMS. I wanted to let people know that I have taught this to myself and that it is not easy for most people to take the time to learn this system on the fly. I presented the different pieces of the system and how I have used them in my class, and I even discussed the pieces I have not tried yet.
 * James Pier**

My administrator (new principal) was very happy with my achievement over the year and he asked me how I see using this system besides in a classroom. As a small school we have trouble offering an extensive array of classes (electives). We do offer electives and AP classes but it is hard to offer a particular class more than once. I could see this system to be used as a way to offer extra sections of classes to students willing to participate in the class. Also, I wanted to explain that we have some students (around 10 – 20) that have very high absentee rates (more than 50 days in a year). This system can help some of these students stay with the content throughout the year.

Most of the negative comments or pessimistic attitudes came from other teachers. Their comments were more about contractual issues and payment and time constraints. With many issues pending with time to work on the sites many teachers see this as extra work or having an online class might conflict with our current teacher contract. If a teacher has an online class does that count towards their work day or is it extra time that must be reimbursed. All are valid concerns and with our changing times and society these are things that representatives and districts will need to address.

I presented information on moodle.com. Both my administration and coworkers are eager to learn more because the Colorado Department of Education is changing the teacher evaluation system. Our administration would love to have more teachers utilizing moodle.com because students can watch lecture videos, participate in online discussions, and take mastery quizzes that assess their strengths and weaknesses.
 * Ben Hanson**

There are several teachers at my school that already use moodle.com on a regular basis. I spoke with them and they agreed to lead a professional development secession to train everyone on all the different uses of moodle.com. I am particularly excited because a fellow chemistry teacher is one of the teachers that uses moodle.com. Together we plan on looking over her sight this spring to see where we can make improvements. That way I will be ready to use moodle.com next year in my classroom.

I presented about a school purchased website that my district is trying out this year. The website is called schoology.com and it allows for online test, discussion, photos, links, and other types of assignments. I shared my information with a fellow Algebra 1 teacher, my math department head, and an assistant principal. The other Algebra 1 teacher was not impressed with the added educational tools that the website provided because she was convinced that students would just cheat. This lead to a good conversation about making assessments that looking up questions online would add to their learning and not just provide them with the answer. Next I showed my department head, and unknown to me, she already used some of the features on schoology. She uses writing in her classroom so we talked about how the discussion board in schoology would provide her with a place that students could share what they have written with the rest of the class so that students could read them and add to their own learning. My assistant principal was most impressed with the security it provided that it would allow classrooms to connect across the globe.
 * John Edmonds**

I was worried that I would be met with more resistance about the online learning format, but I was pleasantly surprised. I think that all teachers deeply believe that what they do in class is meaningful to students in more than just academic ways. I tried to use that idea as a starting point and then suggest that schoology and other websites like it just gives teachers the ability to expand learning to even more of the day because students would be able to log on at any point in the evening.

Ben,

I was wondering if that other teacher would be willing to allow your students to join his instead of you beginning a whole new class. This could be a great way to have students work together especially when they are getting instruction from two different sources. Peer tutoring or communication about the same topic in a different way can be a powerful learning tool for them.

I had the opportunity to share my presentation with colleagues in the math department Ms. DeGain and Mrs. Olojo as well as my instructional coach Mr. Pettway.
 * Trena Braswell**

The feedback was good. It required a question and answer session. Ms. DeGain is a techie so learning modules was very exciting to her. She liked the idea of achievement trackers and having students upload their assignments. She plans to do more research to see which CMS would best suit her needs.

Mrs. Olojo, on the other hand, was not too excited. Technology is not her strong suit; therefore, integrating it into the classroom scares her. I tried to get her to incorporate the educational social network Edmodo. She still has not joined. However, she likes the idea of being able to get rid of paper and pencil, and giving immediate feedback. She questioned whether or not weighted averages for grades could be set, and do the students have access. I mentioned that I was not sure about weighted averages, but I would look into it.

Mr. Pettway was ecstatic. He wants everyone using the learning modules. He immediately envisioned more engaged students, an increase in student learning and achievement, and an increase in student motivation. The one downfall that immediately stood out was the fact that we share laptops. We do not have a one-to-one student laptop ratio. He likes the idea of allowing two teachers to pioneer the initiative. This way he would have a baseline of what went well and what did not go well.

Sharing this presentation does not stop at these three people. I plan to share this with all of my colleagues. I also plan to push for more laptops and Ipads.