Secondary School

Secondary School

by bob bryden -
Number of replies: 26

hello and first of all this software is fantastic! it is going to change the face of our school!

i am the administrator for our school web site and then for moodle one it is up and running, but first we have to convince the teachers its a good idea, harder than you might think!

i was woundering if anyone had a english or maths cource i could 'borrow' just to show it off a bit, infact any cource would be good. i dont have the knowlage or the time to set one up my self.  it will only be used as a demo then deleted.

can anyone help me out?

thank you

bob.

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In reply to bob bryden

Re: Secondary School

by Phil Brown -
One of the stategies I use is to encourage teachers to put all their course plans, documentation, assignment material, etc up first. That is they treat the site as a download resource for their students. This means they can then access all their assignment instructions any time. It also means teachers don't have to give out pieces of paper.

The next stage is getting teachers to interact with students either by forums, journals or assignments. Once they get used to posting materials online then it may make the transition to more a complex use of Moodle a bit easier.
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In reply to Phil Brown

Re: Secondary School

by Jeff Wood -
Phil,

You and I are on the same "page."

As the site admin I too am encouraging staff to do as you suggest. 

Students are very receptive to this idea.  I have posted all my course notes for my physics class and virtually everyone has downloaded and printed them.  All my review and various handouts are on-line.

Our school is funny... the science department has adopted the "moodle" experience completely but I am the only one in the technology department to??!! Odd eh? (I'm from Canada - can you tell?)

My hope for Sept 05 is most staff will use the site to, at the minimum, post homework and use the calendar.  Parents love being able to check homework (and marks - I use a different program to post them).

Jeff
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In reply to Jeff Wood

Re: Secondary School

by N Hansen -
Jeff-Not so strange. We did a Moodle presentation here in Chicago and there were three of us speaking. One of the speakers was responsible for Moodle at an area High School and the department that first adopted Moodle wholeheartedly was the last one you would expect to adopt it-the physical education department! They apparently have a very active Moodle going on in that department.
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In reply to N Hansen

Re: Secondary School

by John Blake -
Interesting! We taught a group of teachers in a high school to use digital storytelling. The coaches were the first to have a true Aha moment. They recognized that they could use the game videos to teach their players how to do their job on the field. They got it. They asked the best questions.
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In reply to Phil Brown

Re: Secondary School

by John Blake -
Phil,

Could you explain to me a couple of ways or strategies you have used with teachers to encourage teachers to put their documents online. Did you have a worksession and show them how to use a scanner, save their worksheets, and post them to the right place in Moodle, or did you just give them step-by-step instructions? I have just finished a professional development training I facilitated. I tried to highlight the usefulness and value of them using Moodle based on my success in my classroom this past year. It was like talking to myself. I looked around at the teacher's screens and they were either checking their email or looking for deals on summer cottages at the beach. I was very frustrated. I made up my mind to just keep the magic of moodle to myself. Guess the teachers were just too burned out at the end of the school year to get into something they know ablsolutely nothing about. I create them a "technology bootcamp" course. Set up them to be enrolled in the forums and had them include their home email addresses. Here is the worst part: No of them have even logged into the Moodle class since the training. Lesson learned: you can lead a mule to the water, but you can not make him drink.

Got any ideas?

John
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In reply to John Blake

Re: Secondary School

by Jeff Wood -
Hi John (it's Jeff),

Teachers are sometimes the worst students.  I was at a Health & Safety conference last summer and during the keynote address other teachers were reading newspaper and talkingangry

I have made a few items for the staff at the school:
  • step-by-step handout for basic course setup (old version of Moodle 1.3?)
  • step-by-step view that shows the basic feature
If you're interested let me know.

Jeff
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In reply to Jeff Wood

Re: Secondary School

by Drew Buddie -
Yep...teaching teachers.  Not a job I ever relish doing as often there can be no ruder an audience of learners than us teachers (also teachers can be the most appreciative audience too).
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In reply to Jeff Wood

Re: Secondary School

by bob bryden -

hiya

can i see a copy of the handouts you made? it would mean i can get on and set it up without needing to worry about teaching them!!

thank you

bob.

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In reply to bob bryden

Re: Secondary School

by Jeff Wood -
Hi Bob, John, et. al.

Just took a look at my resources... the handout and the videos are for 1.4. Since most will be using 1.5 (now or soon) I need to update... sad Can you wait?! If not you are most welcome to it.

Other option is to look at some of the resources available at moodle.org under documentation... some good stuff here.

Jeff
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In reply to Jeff Wood

Re: Secondary School

by John Blake -
Hello Jeff,

Now that is just rude behavior. Gives educators a bad name.

I would love to have a copy of your steps handout and basic features. I am scheduled to facilitate at a curriculum institute June 13-17. I have been working this weekend setting up a "download" Moodle class for the participants. They are elementary school teachers and I think I am going to set the class up so all they have to do to login is to use guest. I will only keep it up for that week. If I have any of the teachers interested in being able to use the resources later, I will try using an enrollment key and let them create accounts. I still have time to think about the details. I think they would like to have a step by step basic feature sheet to see what a Moodle really is. I am using 1.4.4 version, but it is close enough.

Thanks for your input...
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In reply to John Blake

Re: Secondary School

by Helen Foster -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers Picture of Translators
Hi John,

I've found that students are great at encouraging teachers to put resources online! They become accustomed to easily accessing resources online for certain subjects then automatically go to their other teachers and ask if their resources can be put online too! smile However, it may take a little time to reach this pleasing state of affairs! wink

I'd also suggest the same as Jeff - handouts for teachers to use when they feel like it. Although Moodle is very user-friendly and intuitive, I've found that some teachers just like the reassurance of instructions on paper by their side when they're attempting something new online!

wild girl smile




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In reply to Helen Foster

Re: Secondary School

by John Blake -
Hi wild girl,

Nice icon. I have been facilitate technology training in our school district for over 10 years, and I have also see the smiles on the face of teachers when I hand them a step-by-step instructions on paper. We are all concrete learners when it is the first time we do things new. I recently wired a hometheater system in home. I had the step-by-step instructions and still had to call tech support. So, I can identify with their insecurities.

Teachers are under so much pressure here in our state (North Carolina) to prepare their students for state tests, the teachers are very hesitant to learn anything new. Moodle appears to them as something extra to do. I have been stressing that using the Moodle helps the students that are falling behind and are not organized enough to keep up with time management and much more. Teachers do not realize that most of their students have Internet access at home or at a member of their immediate family. We have a lot of teachers that do not have Internet at their home and many do not even own a computer. In my school, we bought iBook computers for our teachers to use. I have only had a few take time for the training. So, students are using the laptops. I think it really has more to do with the Principal in your school as to how much technology is used in the classroom. We have had two different principals in the past 4 years and they talked a good game about technology, but when they were teachers, they did not use them. We have a new (our third one in 4 years) and I am hoping things will change. Maybe not.
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In reply to John Blake

Re: Secondary School

by Mary Kaplan -

John,

Target one or two teachers who will buy into the theory, and eventually it will catch on. (I'm not an admin, I'm one of the teachers who bought in early and who is 'selling' moodle to others at our school smile) Students who are using it in one class will also talk it up to other teachers.

My experience is that teachers can put up lots of resources and quizzes for reinforcement for students for those miserable standardized tests so that teachers won't have to go over and over the same elements in class, but students who don't quite catch on have a place to try again and again. Quizzes with good feedback can be a real timesaver, and can really help students with review and reinforcement.

I also obtained permission from a publisher of state test materials to put them online (in a course that is only available to students at our school, so there are no copyright issues) since the school had purchased several class sets already. That means teachers don't have to invent their own materials, but can provide feedback to explain the mistakes. And students who won't do review in a book will do moodle quizzes and lessons online.

Good luck!

--Mary 

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In reply to Mary Kaplan

Re: Secondary School

by Art Lader -

Mary,

I think that you are right. Sometimes, the best thing one can do is find positive, energetic colleagues and spend 80% of one's time and energy on them. I am not saying that we can ignore the others. Not at all. It's just that most of our time has to be spent productively. Nothing evil or mean or malicious about it.

And when the others are ready, we will be there for them.

Right?

-- Art

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In reply to Art Lader

Re: Secondary School

by Martyn Overy -

Art and Mary....

This is the approach I have also taken. Three departments have shown enthusiastic interest, and have arrived at solutions which use a combination of  Content Management Systems, Course Management Systems ( Moodle) and other software applications including Gallery and Coppermine. Therefore, my energies have been devoted to collaboration and development of resources for these areas. Indeed, Coppermine by itself has provided a resource zone for a number of areas, as shown in www.webucate.org  , and Gallery has provided useful for integration within Postnuke, and stand alone applications, for Science the Art department. http://www.e-learn.org.uk/gallery/  and http://www.goscience.org.uk/gallery/ for example.

The departments now have total control over their 'learning zones'  .... so it is time to move on to new acorns!

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In reply to Martyn Overy

Re: Secondary School

by Art Lader -

Martyn,

I think that your results show that approach is a vaild, effective one. It was the right way to go for your school.

For me, it is a personal thing: Negative people make me crazy. If I am exposed to unreasonably negative people for too long, I become truly unhappy. Well, I get mad as hell, actually. 

So I spend most of my time with positive, enthusiastic, can-do people.

Like you. smile

-- Art

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In reply to Helen Foster

Re: Secondary School

by Martyn Overy -

Well...students can certainly be the driving force behind Moodle developments and other resources they need instantly!

E-learning can take many forms....and one approach I have used is to sit down with the Head of Department (or any interested member of staff) and discuss the possibilities...and also to listen carefully to their requirements. Some development time is needed before they are happy with the setup. Then you must allow it to evolve and develop according to the needs of students, teachers, and the school. Small acorns first.

Forcing-feeding  and trying to sell 'technology' to teachers rarely works, at least at our school. If the focus is on teaching and learning then there is much more likelihood of success.  There are numerous opportunities to develop teaching strategies and learning styles, accessibility to resources, providing individual guidance, and developing group/peer teaching and learning....

Do not underestimate the reluctance for some teachers to move away from their 'safe mode' of teaching....and to take onboard opportunities to innovate and take risks!

Successful implementation is not just dependent on a few enthusiasts, students or teachers, but requires a whole school approach. The importance and involvement of Senior Managment cannot be underestimated. Trying to move online learning forward from Middle Management can be a very difficult challenge...

I have placed a number of presentations of how we moved forward at our school on www.e-teaching.org.uk/golearn  .

School
Clear directions for e-learning
Plan of action for implementation
Plan of action for resourcing e-learning
No opting out!

Departments:
Take responsibility for their learning zone
Transfer e-learning policy into action

Teachers:
Embed online learning into lesson plans
Integrate e-learning into normal teaching
Adapt teaching strategies and learning styles
Jettison ineffective teaching methods
Focus on needs of pupils not teaching preferences.
Take risks
Innovate

www.webschool.org.uk

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In reply to Martyn Overy

Re: Secondary School

by John Blake -
Talking about food for thought! WOW. So from what Martyn has posted, it appears that buy-in my teachers is dependent on top down influence. I agree. It is called leadership. Stakeholders my have a shared vision of how Moodle is to become an additional instructional strategy, based on clear goals.

Here is the issue I am struggling with on this point. How do departments take responsibility for their learning zone, when all so much importance is placed on test results (How well your students do on a End of Course exam prepared by the state?

Teachers need assurances that their online learning lessons produce high enough mastery of the concepts and students retain the knowledge long enough to take the test at the end of the semester. It is not an easy sell to tell them to "take risks" when like in our state, your schools test scores are in the local newspaper, and are part of a school report card. The day of teachers using ineffective teaching method are being erased with AYP and NCLB here in the US. Teachers are fearful and rightfully so of anything they do not understand.

Martyn, I plan to watch your videos and share them with my admin (middle management). Maybe they can communicate this to the "big dogs."
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In reply to John Blake

Re: Secondary School

by John Rodgers -
Hi John:
I've been working closely with Moodle in our secondary school for the past year.  There are a few things I've come to understand about secondary education:
  1. It is paradigm driven.  Most of us believe the thirty student classroom is the end result of evolutionary perfection in learning design (they are generally unfamiliar with Bloom's two sigma problem).  Technologies such as Moodle are seen as an extra thing on the side perhaps for the odd student who is away.
  2. Extra things on the side have a high marginal cost and low marginal return. Teachers become discouraged if they spend a lot of time uploading materials only to discover nobody has looked at them.  Happily this isn't everyone's experience, but I can see a good possibility of it happening.
I have used a few approaches. Generally, I try to emphasize things that have low preparation and high returns and can be an integrated part of the program.  Hot potatoes exercises are an example of a  good gateway activity for some.  Journals are a good example for language based subjects.  Three months ago I provided a direct in service for our literacy teacher, a former web agnostic who now uses Moodle every day.

My advice would be to be sure teachers can experience early and visible returns for any of their efforts
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In reply to John Blake

Re: Secondary School

by Phil Brown -

Hi John,

This discussion has generated a lot of response. I think it must be a common problem. I think many times it is the Computer faculty or the IT department that 'stumbles' into an online Learning Management System. We started out with Manhatten Virtual Classroom before realising that Moodle was the best alternative the OS world had to offer. We already carry the 'Geeky' reputation so it's hard for English or LOTE or Geography to recognise the benefits.

I have made a few presentations to staff and received very good initial responses but it's the administration who must see the value to truly move ahead. I find they're good at giving me a pat on the head and saying "that's great, Phil" and then forgetting about it. Having pushed it now for nearly three years I find I need to be careful that I don't over do it. (the word 'Moodle' is beginning to be humorised) I find I have to measure my words when we have long, protracted meetings on the best ways of integrating computing into the curriculum. Many feel using a word processor is a really neat way of doing it and that learning to use a spreadsheet may help staff keep a grade book.

Am I bothered by all this? Not really. I put my time into staff that want to move forward. I try to do it as gently as I can because the whole concept of online learning can appear very complex and confusing. I try to be as encouraging as I can to everybody but I'm not going to die for the cause. The last three years has been incredibly exciting for me. I have learnt more about teaching and learning, particularly online learning, than in the past twenty years of teaching. I'm part of an international community of learners. Like you, I don't only network locally anymore - we network globally.

Moodle has the capacity to change many things. We can disengage the timetable, develop individual programs, run courses across many schools. We can see how to move out of the old paradigm of teaching and learning. Teachers roles can also change too. Some can set courses, develop resources. Others can mentor and scaffold students as they do the courses. Others can solely assess courses, post comments etc. Imagine employing a novelist to assess and comment on student efforts or indiginous people to take part in a forum with other students on cultural issues. Talk about brining the 'real world' into the classroom! I can spout on for ages but I think you get the idea. Like any major revolution of change, it will happen slowly although sometimes I feel my learning curve is so steep I'm concerned I might fall off and hurt myself. big grin

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In reply to Phil Brown

Re: Secondary School

by John Blake -
Phil,

Have you read the information on how Moodle and LAMS can be integrated? Checj this out. I have to get LAMS installed. http://lamsfoundation.org/integration/moodle/walkthru.html

If teacher think Moodle is a challenge to learn, they will probably retire before learning how to integrate these too great learning tools.

I understand your concerns. It is difficult for the classroom teacher to institute change. Adminstration must "see" or have a shared vision of exactly how any technology can solve a problem for them. For example, I teach in a small alternative school. We serve only two schools with approximately 1400 students total between the two schools. Last year, we served 59 students. The only thing is that we only have 4 teachers. Still, we get a pat on the head from our adminstration, but every one else thinks our school is "under utilized". I that this very personnally. They do not understand what we have to deal with on a daily bases. We have students with servere behavior problems. We get the students that none of their teachers can handle. Put all those into one place and guess what you get-- mostly a bunch of children that are not in school to learn, they are there to socialize. In my school year, I taught 6th grade science, 7th grade science, 8th grade science, 8th grade computer skills, high school sciences including Earth Science, and two more, Spanish II, and Strength and Conditioning. Sure, we have fewer students, but all I do is juggle textbooks and write lesson plans and grade papers. Our students read three to four grade levels below their actual grade level and miss at least one day out of 4 from schools.

That said, the only way I can manage the mountain of curriculum material is to use Moodle. After reading about LAMS, I think I have found something that will even help more with creating a learning environment that can include video clips, audio recordings (instead of just text responses for non-readers). I am hopeful that I can master these tools.

I have presented the idea to a school system in our area (that I do not work for) and they like the concept. They have actually provided a Moodle site on their web server. The past three weeks, they have been working on updating their servers and have not had time to work on Moodle. I can see the possiblity of our two schools systems collaborating on developing effective online learning modules for required courses. We can do a better job reaching all children, my vision on Moodle is not a do all be all, but it helps me with my kids so it has to help other teachers with their kids...

I like what you said about change/ revolution of change: it will happen slowly although sometimes our learning curve is so steep we might feel we are falling off and in danger of hurting ourselves. Instead of a revolution of change it is more like an EVOLUTION of CHANGE! mixed
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In reply to John Blake

Re: Secondary School

by Phil Brown -
I take my hat off to you. Teaching students with learning problems you describe is not an easy task; emotionally draining.

I have looked at LAMS and I am keen to give it a go. I tried to install it on my home computer but it lacks the grunt to function correctly. I have spoken to my techy at school and we are going to set it up in the school holidays. If Moodle integrates it in the future it will be good.
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