Greetings from Belize! I am now the Pastor of a parish and the Local Manager of a primary school and wanting to see how Moodle might be used at the school. I have been away from Moodle for quite some time but recall that Mary had done some work on making Moodle easier for younger and perhaps less literate learners. I'm curious if there might be a recommended resource for getting myself back up to speed about best practices for working with younger students especially if there are newer features that have proven helpful. I'd love to hear from folks about their experiences of using Moodle in primary/elementary education (successes and challenges). Peace - Anthony
Hi Anthony, lovely to see you again.
For getting up to speed with Moodle basics, then 'Moodle Teaching Basics' at https://learn.moodle.org/ is probably a good place to start.
I will let other people answer the rest.
For getting up to speed with Moodle basics, then 'Moodle Teaching Basics' at https://learn.moodle.org/ is probably a good place to start.
I will let other people answer the rest.
Hi Anthony, Welcome back!
I used Moodle in my Primary school a few years back and although it has changed significantly since then, the two tips I would start with would be
1. pick/use/create a visually friendly theme for the children
2. disable features that are unlikely to be used - less can sometimes be more
Beyond that, I would certainly second Tim's comment about Mary and Helen's excellent course. I know you are quite familiar with Moodle from a couple of years ago, but that will help re-introduce some of the recent changes.
I used Moodle in my Primary school a few years back and although it has changed significantly since then, the two tips I would start with would be
1. pick/use/create a visually friendly theme for the children
2. disable features that are unlikely to be used - less can sometimes be more
Beyond that, I would certainly second Tim's comment about Mary and Helen's excellent course. I know you are quite familiar with Moodle from a couple of years ago, but that will help re-introduce some of the recent changes.
I have nothing of substance to add...Just
Anthony! Good to 'see' you again!
Anthony! Good to 'see' you again!
Anthony,
Welcome back! Glad to see you on the forums again.
I think a couple of things that might help are:
- The Fordson theme is designed for younger school kids and has a ton of features, many of which you can hide if not using. Chris, its developer, works at a K-12 district and is very open to new features for users that age. https://moodle.org/plugins/theme_fordson
- There's a Kids English language pack now (not sure if that was around back in your previous Moodle life
- Check out the H5P tools. Many of these are much more friendly to kids, having large images, icons, etc., and definitely more interactive, fun to make and use.
Randy
Welcome back! Glad to see you on the forums again.
I think a couple of things that might help are:
- The Fordson theme is designed for younger school kids and has a ton of features, many of which you can hide if not using. Chris, its developer, works at a K-12 district and is very open to new features for users that age. https://moodle.org/plugins/theme_fordson
- There's a Kids English language pack now (not sure if that was around back in your previous Moodle life
- Check out the H5P tools. Many of these are much more friendly to kids, having large images, icons, etc., and definitely more interactive, fun to make and use.
Randy
Thank you all for the warm welcome back and many great suggestions. I'm excited that my day job once again is opening up some possibilities for me to make use of Moodle. I'm busy learning about the realities of education, politics and life in Belize. Belize has a great deal of potential to benefit from collaboration, open source, etc. so hopefully I will be able to foster some of that among folks here. I'll certainly checkout the course, the kids language pack, H5P, and the fordson theme. All great suggestions!
Hello Anthony! I have been following this thread for a while now but just thought I would come in and say "hello" and welcome back. It does sound a very exciting (challenging and satisfying!!) role you have now in Belize - so all the best
Hi Anthony,
Welcome back to Moodle. There are three plugins I maintain that might be useful for primary school aged kids:
Hot Question - lets kids post questions and vote on question posted by others. Can be used for more than just questions. e.g. Suggestion box, Feedback, Quick Poll, etc..
Diary - Can be used as a daily journal, diary, place to write essays, etc.
MooTyper - Can be used for teaching from basic to fairly advanced keyboarding techniques. Keyboard layouts and lessons can be customized to the local equipment and languages used. Typing exercises can be created by any teacher or admin to fit the age group of the students.
Welcome back to Moodle. There are three plugins I maintain that might be useful for primary school aged kids:
Hot Question - lets kids post questions and vote on question posted by others. Can be used for more than just questions. e.g. Suggestion box, Feedback, Quick Poll, etc..
Diary - Can be used as a daily journal, diary, place to write essays, etc.
MooTyper - Can be used for teaching from basic to fairly advanced keyboarding techniques. Keyboard layouts and lessons can be customized to the local equipment and languages used. Typing exercises can be created by any teacher or admin to fit the age group of the students.
Hi Anthony - You might be interested in the work done by Tamarind Tree School in India (https://opensource.com/article/18/1/tamarind-tree-school-india).
Hello Anthony, welcome back to Moodle world!