I've been using moodle for 3 years and found primary students do participate in my courses but when we're in the classroom. After schooll they aren't so eager. I wonder how is it in British primary schools. Do students are entusiastic?
The second problem is how to make my collegues to write their courses and to believe that the idea of VLE is what we should develop and implement alongside with classroom old teaching. Do you have any knowledge how it goes in schools in Britain, do teachers are eager to implement e-learning?
The third question is more complex, There is a word here in Poland that The MInistry of Education wants to launch a big project to open a Moodle or Fronter platform that would be central for all primary schools in the country. Another would be for secondary schools. I think it is a wrong thinking, but perhaps I am wrong. Browsing the Internet I did not find such project anywhere.
My thought is that centralized platform won't be enough flexible to deal with needs and differences each school has. But on the other hand if teachers don't want to write courses (they may not have time or they lack knowledge how to do it) such a platform could do and be a place for storing resources.
Reading about Miles Berry's work might be helpful http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=66864#p300743
Hi Marek
> primary students do participate in my courses but when we're in the classroom. After schooll they aren't so eager.
No wonder. I played with other children at that age!
> how to make my collegues to write their courses and to believe that the idea of VLE is what we should develop and implement alongside with classroom old teaching.
You are talking about teachers in public schools? Well, the government employed them because they are competent to handle the job, don't you think?
The third question is really a hard one, sorry no idea.
> primary students do participate in my courses but when we're in the classroom. After schooll they aren't so eager.
No wonder. I played with other children at that age!
> how to make my collegues to write their courses and to believe that the idea of VLE is what we should develop and implement alongside with classroom old teaching.
You are talking about teachers in public schools? Well, the government employed them because they are competent to handle the job, don't you think?
The third question is really a hard one, sorry no idea.
"The third question is more complex, There is a word here in Poland that The MInistry of Education wants to launch a big project to open a Moodle or Fronter platform that would be central for all primary schools in the country. Another would be for secondary schools. I think it is a wrong thinking, but perhaps I am wrong. Browsing the Internet I did not find such project anywhere."
They exist actually, but they are hidden, well, not hidden as such, but obscured. The issue is actually simple I suspect. The Government in Poland may be considering a single platform, we already have it running here in South Australia. We use Moodle, but if you were to hunt for it, you will not find it.
The State developed a complex set of servers to service all state schools, and tried and are still trying to make some aspects of it work, like Blackboard (after how many years and how much money?). About three years ago, they decided to try Moodle and it is up and running.
Moodle can use a duplicated service standard, that is, a single platform, a single code set but multiple instances. While they have not said so, I suspect this is what they have done. Every school in the State has their own Moodle but I cannot see the State setting up a whole new Moodle for every school. Be really poor planning and use of resources if they did. Instantiating Moodle can make it flexible enough to be able to cope with the needs of each school, and is one of the real strengths of Moodle.
There is also a central repository for Teachers to access resources, but that is all it is, an electronic library - more or less. Just resources that we can access on-line or download to use. That is the other part to doing Moodle.
So a central Moodle can be a good idea, if it is done correctly.
They exist actually, but they are hidden, well, not hidden as such, but obscured. The issue is actually simple I suspect. The Government in Poland may be considering a single platform, we already have it running here in South Australia. We use Moodle, but if you were to hunt for it, you will not find it.
The State developed a complex set of servers to service all state schools, and tried and are still trying to make some aspects of it work, like Blackboard (after how many years and how much money?). About three years ago, they decided to try Moodle and it is up and running.
Moodle can use a duplicated service standard, that is, a single platform, a single code set but multiple instances. While they have not said so, I suspect this is what they have done. Every school in the State has their own Moodle but I cannot see the State setting up a whole new Moodle for every school. Be really poor planning and use of resources if they did. Instantiating Moodle can make it flexible enough to be able to cope with the needs of each school, and is one of the real strengths of Moodle.
There is also a central repository for Teachers to access resources, but that is all it is, an electronic library - more or less. Just resources that we can access on-line or download to use. That is the other part to doing Moodle.
So a central Moodle can be a good idea, if it is done correctly.
Hello Marek,
I would agree that a centralised Moodle platform with localised content to reflect individual school needs would be a sensible approach.
Take a look at GLOW - the national digital learning network for schools across Scotland to share and access learning resources, and work collaboratively. This wasn't done in Moodle - it's actually Sharepoint with additional functionality, but the basic structure would be similar to what you're looking for, and the background information would be worth reading.
GLOW has different levels of security access and publishing rights depending on the user role, allowing local, regional and national participation and sharing:
- you can publish content for your class of students, and they can access it, upload their responses and communicate via the network
- you can share resources within your school education region
- you can share resources nationally
Hello Gordon.
I've read about Glow and seen some vids form iTunes U and it seems to work well. I wonder if moodle is able to serve well for so many accounts, does it depend on the application or rather servers? Do you know if the content in Glow was written by teachers or by other professionals?
I've read about Glow and seen some vids form iTunes U and it seems to work well. I wonder if moodle is able to serve well for so many accounts, does it depend on the application or rather servers? Do you know if the content in Glow was written by teachers or by other professionals?
Hello Marek,
Content in GLOW is primarily written by teachers (and students), though there are also central resources developed by Learning & Teaching Scotland - the national organisation that supports teachers in Scotland and manages GLOW. Biggest problem is likely to be IPR, as in some regions anything teachers create is contractually owned by their local education authority - some of whom might take the view that others should pay for content created by staff working for them.
I'm not absolutely sure of the mechanics of user support - I think each school has its own server installation with GLOW/sharepoint, and taps into the regional and central resources online, but best place to check would be with people at GLOW.
Hi Marek,
There are some examples from German schools in centralized Moodle systems. Specially in Bavaria and Berlin we have huge systems more than 20.000 students and more than 65.000 students on one system.
To handle such a system with hundreds of schools need some modification for user administration, roles and structuring course categories.
To be honest, its not my favourite solution for Moodle. There are two other options:
There are some examples from German schools in centralized Moodle systems. Specially in Bavaria and Berlin we have huge systems more than 20.000 students and more than 65.000 students on one system.
To handle such a system with hundreds of schools need some modification for user administration, roles and structuring course categories.
To be honest, its not my favourite solution for Moodle. There are two other options:
- Moodle hub/network. Each schools gets an own Moodle system they are connected on local or regional area and can use central systems for content and course sharing.
- MoOdalis. This is an administration interface with a lot of advanced tools for user and group handling. You can define schools and classes as groups and give them access to separate areas. Students will see only a course catalogue from their own school or class.
In background one or a unlimited number of Moodle systems can work independently.
More information at http://moodalis.de
I came across this while browsing for exemplar sites to show as examples of how different institutions are using Moodle - this is from an American school district where the different schools in the district can all be accessed via dropdown menu.
Well it is a good piece of news to me as it means moodle can handle many sites and students and incorporate it in a single site. If so, there's no need to buy Fronter as it is intended here in Poland.
Oh no, no need to buy anything actually. If you need to connect sites there is a full Moodle Network capability built in. Never used it myself but apparently it is easy to set up and allows shared content and enrolments. You will have to do a bit of reading, but the bottom line is that the expenses can be shared over greater range of other things instead of spending too much on software.