I'm ICT not a teacher. I work for an educational establishment that has decided it wants a moodle to support some 500 trainees (all graduates) each year. However whilst the teaching staff have decided that moodle is a must have geting them to allocate any time to designing it (let alone setting it up and supporting it) is proving very difficult. There seems to be a 'let ICT do it' frame of mind. I've got a meeting scheduled for next week to try and instill some commitment and urgency into them. It would be useful to have some concrete examples of the degree of effort required (and some 'horror stories' as to what happens if this is not forthcoming). Can anyone provide such evidence?
In other words, you need arguments _against_ Moodle?
The answer is simple, you had it on the title: Teaching and learning need _effort_, collaboration more so.
The answer is simple, you had it on the title: Teaching and learning need _effort_, collaboration more so.
Vish.
No I'm advocating Moodle but I believe it takes more effort than the training staff realise. They seem to think its a case of let ICT produce a magical colution to make life easier for them (and allow them to meet some promises made to Ofsted) - they're much too busy doing important things to get involved! I need some concrete examples to convince them otherwise. Many of them are ex headteachers and are not always easy to convince.
Tomaz Lasic's blog is a good read about the practicalities of getting Moodle used in a school. http://human.edublogs.org/
Hi Robert
My gut feeling is that the project lacks one ingredient: the vision. If that is the case, your problem is political, organizational or operational. It has nothing to do with Moodle.
Do the teachers believe it is the job of IT to conduct this course? Do they believe that computers are intelligent? Or are they simply lazy, or in their eyes there is no need for web-based training or this is not practical? I hope there is a project manager to clarify those things.
My gut feeling is that the project lacks one ingredient: the vision. If that is the case, your problem is political, organizational or operational. It has nothing to do with Moodle.
Do the teachers believe it is the job of IT to conduct this course? Do they believe that computers are intelligent? Or are they simply lazy, or in their eyes there is no need for web-based training or this is not practical? I hope there is a project manager to clarify those things.
I have been teaching with Moodle for perhaps 5 years and I am designing courses and getting other teachers online. The move to Moodle specifically or online/blended learning generally is akin to the move from the horse to the car. If your people want to remain blacksmiths - well good luck to them.
What is needed from knowledge age workers is adaptive capacity. In my experience, if people have an open approach and are prepared to think for themselves and problem solve, moodle is not hard to learn. The payback is relatively quick. There are major advantages to having resources and assessments on a web platform, accessible from anywhere there is an internet connection. We are also starting to see a generation of students who are expecting to use this technology.
The time costs of development are often overstated, simply out of fear, or to justify big development budgets. Assistance is needed there should be people available to coach teachers new to moodle. Ideally the people in the coaching roles will be educators themselves. If you don't have any available select innovators or early adopters and get them started first.
This may not be what you are looking for but i hope it helps.
What is needed from knowledge age workers is adaptive capacity. In my experience, if people have an open approach and are prepared to think for themselves and problem solve, moodle is not hard to learn. The payback is relatively quick. There are major advantages to having resources and assessments on a web platform, accessible from anywhere there is an internet connection. We are also starting to see a generation of students who are expecting to use this technology.
The time costs of development are often overstated, simply out of fear, or to justify big development budgets. Assistance is needed there should be people available to coach teachers new to moodle. Ideally the people in the coaching roles will be educators themselves. If you don't have any available select innovators or early adopters and get them started first.
This may not be what you are looking for but i hope it helps.
I feel your pain... "we'll just send you our teaching materials. Please make a great course out of it".
It's the same as anything else; if they have no enthusiasm they will produce nothing or something mundane. If they are enthusiastic they will/might do great things.
Bitter experience has taught me a couple of things. Never pander to laziness - don't do someone's job for them just because you want Moodle to be a success. Try and identify "champions" - a few people doing exciting things will drag others along with them.
It isn't easy - there's no point pretending that building courses in Moodle (or any other VLE) will magically save time or not require additional effort, it won't. You have to gently encourage. Small positive steps are often best.
It's the same as anything else; if they have no enthusiasm they will produce nothing or something mundane. If they are enthusiastic they will/might do great things.
Bitter experience has taught me a couple of things. Never pander to laziness - don't do someone's job for them just because you want Moodle to be a success. Try and identify "champions" - a few people doing exciting things will drag others along with them.
It isn't easy - there's no point pretending that building courses in Moodle (or any other VLE) will magically save time or not require additional effort, it won't. You have to gently encourage. Small positive steps are often best.
Maybe you can take a staged approach to it.
In the first year don't put any reference material up there. You already have that (I hope) in some sort of workable state outside of Moodle. Instead focus on the activities. Put forums, quizzes, glossaries, databases, blogs and databases into action. These will be fun and seen to add value as they are not just repackaging existing content. These can also be easier to set up than putting a lot of reference material in.
Before you do this though, come up with some guidelines for content, naming standards etc. A consistent look and feel will improve things considerably.
Once you get them working with it in this way and they are familiar with it it will be easier in subsequent years to say, ok now it's up to you to add other material.
In the first year don't put any reference material up there. You already have that (I hope) in some sort of workable state outside of Moodle. Instead focus on the activities. Put forums, quizzes, glossaries, databases, blogs and databases into action. These will be fun and seen to add value as they are not just repackaging existing content. These can also be easier to set up than putting a lot of reference material in.
Before you do this though, come up with some guidelines for content, naming standards etc. A consistent look and feel will improve things considerably.
Once you get them working with it in this way and they are familiar with it it will be easier in subsequent years to say, ok now it's up to you to add other material.