Moodling for very young children

Moodling for very young children

by Leon Cych -
Number of replies: 3
Showing Moodle around to a variety of student teachers I have come across the fact that teachers of very young children are aware of what it does but feel it is not entirely appropriate to that agegroup. And as someone who taught very young children but also was a technical proofer for Friends of Eds Flash books I kind of see  their point but feel it could be made to be workable for very young children with rich media front ends.

I feel a flash or Ajax modified front end that handled all the login and other functionality might be possible. I'd want a drag and drop interface from logging in to most other tasks and most things involving rich media to make it compelling - Moodle would be the engine behind the sandwich of media.

Anyone else thinking along these lines and anyone willing to pull together a number of people to make it a reality...

I have cross posted this in the developers forum as well because I feel this is important for access for small people and their teachers smile

Leon Cych
Average of ratings: Useful (1)
In reply to Leon Cych

Re: Moodling for very young children

by Miles Berry -
Church Aston Infant School have been using Moodle at key stage 1 and foundation stage, but I think their approach has been to provide activities for parents to do with their children, rather than children logging on in their own right. This also seems to be the emphasis in the DfES guidance on Learning Platforms in primary schools. There may be folk outside the UK with Moodle experience at this level.

There's an interesting post over on Elgg, about the use of blogs to provide personalised learning for very young children - the blog is for and about the child, rather than by them.

None of which helps address the interface issue you raise. Personally I think there'd be a lot of interest from primary teachers, heads and LA types in a more 'child friendly' interface for Moodle, although my own pupils are quite happy with things the way they are, and appreciate the fact that it's not gimmicky or 'dummed down' - you might recall Drew's award winning 3D game-style portal to Moodle activities that he showed at the 05 Moot.

I'd be more interested though in seeing Moodle activites tailored for those for whom typing doesn't come naturally - drag and drop stuff in quizzes (without needing hotpot), voip integration, shared whiteboarding, etc. I believe some of this might be on the OU's agenda, but it would be hugely beneficial for younger primary pupils too.
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In reply to Miles Berry

Re: Moodling for very young children

by Leon Cych -
Yes I was referring to the interface. I would like to target younger children who may not have the parental access or backup and an icon, drag and drop driven environment might just do the trick in some cases...and to be honest Miles - if you're 4 or 5, Moodle, at present, just isn't fun enough is it?

But I wholly agree with the greater use of facilitators/ educators - not always teachers! becoming involved at this stage - in order to transform education completely this is the obvious model. But then it would be great if they became involved at a book level as well. I had the uncanny experience of passing a local library recently and on looking in - not one person was reading a book  but everyone was in front of a terminal!

I would be very interested to see if anyone from around the world is thinking along similar lines. I'm aware of Drew and Ian's interface and that is getting close to the sort of thing but with far more passing of variables across to the back end to make it viable and dynamic. This is just a trawl to see if anyone out there is pointing in that direction. Thanks for the link!




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In reply to Leon Cych

Re: Moodling for very young children

by Bhupinder Singh -

This is a good idea to develop ways and means to deliver to the young.

Shall keenly follow up on the developments.

Garry

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