Recommendations for Introducing Moodle to an Institution

Re: Recommendations for Introducing Moodle to an Institution

by Tim Hunt -
Number of replies: 1
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Welcome back Anthony smile

I think you need to focus on the teachers (assuming that teachers are going to be building their own courses). When are you expecting them to do that? (Do you need to free up some time.) As they are doing that, how are they going to know what to do? Do you need some sort of just-in-time support, if so, how? Also, as much as possible, you want the teachers focussing on the teaching and learning, not the technology, but they have to understand what the technology can do for them.

Finally, have the teachers been in the position of being a student in an online course? (They almost certainly have been students in traditional lecture courses.) How can they experience models of good practice? (Clearly everyone should take a year out and study an Open University course wink)

Finally, make sure you speak their language. I have been using the name of the Moodle role (Teacher), but that is probably not how they think of themselves. How can you get into their world?
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In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Recommendations for Introducing Moodle to an Institution

by Mary Cooch -
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Hello Anthony! I would definitely second Tim's comment about getting them to do an online course as a student,and preferably a Moodle one. It's part of the structure of the Learn Moodle MOOC we've been running twice yearly since 2013 (although at the moment it is slightly different as it is self-paced and ongoing, for a few weeks more anyway) New Moodlers experience online studies as a student in order better to devise activities as teachers.
And indeed yes, use of language appropriate to them is important too. I remember being invited to a school to introduce them to Moodle and I did a whole 45 minutes intro to Moodle and how great it was going to be for them and at the end I asked for any questions. One woman put her hand up and asked shyly "Excuse me but what is Moodle?" and her friend nudged her and said "It's the VLE". Now - she was embarrassed because she felt she should have realised, but in fact, the error was mine in that I never thought to ask them what terminology they used.
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