Implementation Model for introducing Moodle into a K-12 school

Implementation Model for introducing Moodle into a K-12 school

by Keith Richardson -
Number of replies: 4
Hi Everyone! wide eyes
This is my first posting here.
I am introducing Moodle into a smallish K-12 school where I am Head of IT and teach Science, IT and multi-media. We have set Moodle up on an old server (it works ok but is way too slow). Before I introduce it to the teachers etc, I will be moving it across to a new grunty server that should fly... [HP Proliant ML 370 (379910-011) twin processor 3.4 GHz CPU, 2GB RAM, 2x300 GB HDD, Tape Drive (100/200GB)]
I have been asked to prepare a proposal for this indicating the improvements I anticipate, how I will maximise uptake by teachers and students and all such predictable stuff. I hate re-inventing the wheel, and am sure that others have done this before me.
What I am hoping to find are some implementation plans, plus evaluation after implementation plus trouble shooting etc.
Any suggestions? Any warnings? Any shared findings?
In anticipation, many thanks!

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Here is something I have worked out so far...

Proposed Implementation Procedure

Stage 1

Henry Johnstone and Keith Richardson will first set up Moodle-courses for their own classes, and use these for 2-4 weeks, meeting frequently to identify concerns and apply corrections where necessary.

Stage 2

Henry and Keith will then involve a small team of teachers (approximately 12) across most subject areas from both Primary and Secondary, to put Moodle courses in place for their classes as a part of their normal teaching processes. This will be carried out for approximately 4 weeks, with frequent 1-on-1 meetings to ascertain its success. The group will actually be enrolled in a Moodle Forum where all involved teachers will be able to record progress, concerns etc. This will be moderated by Henry and Keith.

Stage 3

The expanded Moodle team will then draw up plans as to how best spread-the-Moodle-habit to other staff.
Nothing succeeds like success, and You can drag a horse to water but you cant make it drink and It pays to advertise are three truisms that will guide the Moodle Team as it seeks to extend to other teachers classes the benefits they have realised through using Moodle with their own classes.

Probably the best approach in Stage 3 will be to encourage (mandate?) all individual teachers to implement at least one Moodle activity with one of their classes following suggested structures.

The Stage 3 Moodle-Implementation would be coordinated by Keith and Henry using a moodle forum with all teachers as members. Each teacher would be required to submit (to the public forum) brief details of what Moodle-Activity they have created and set for which group of students, and then share with the forum how it is going.

This would then probably be followed by a staff meeting at which a number of the teachers are invited to report back.

Stage 4

A deeper penetration of the student learning activities would then be planned following constructive feedback from the Stage 3 evaluation.
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Keith Richardson
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In reply to Keith Richardson

Re: Implementation Model for introducing Moodle into a K-12 school

by Colin McQueen -
This is interesting. In a similar plan I am looking into for piloting Moodle in schools that haven't begun any form of blended learning I am particulalry interested in student views on the impact. Are you intending to gather student responses? The feedback module as well as forums could help you do this.
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In reply to Colin McQueen

Re: Implementation Model for introducing Moodle into a K-12 school

by Tony Santamaria -
I'm starting a small group of teachers in a large urban school (4,400 students) and would like to know how many high school schools, or districts, across the country have begun using Moodle. It seems like such a great tool for students to do more of what we should be doing: involving students more directly with learning and helping them move into the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy in their learning.

Teachers would also benefit from being able to work on common curricula, assessments, projects, accreditation, technology plan development, professional development, etc. whenever they have time to work on these projects. The "let's meet" and do any one of these tasks is not only outdated, but is impractical because teachers at our school do not have common conference periods to work together, because of IEPs and other meetings and because teachers often do curricula development during the summer or after school. There simply isn't time when everyone who needs to can meet and do these complex projects.

I would like to thank you and the course designer for the information on formal implementation. In our model, we were first going to concentrate on what teachers felt of the program and then involve out students and their parents in giving us feedback.
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In reply to Tony Santamaria

Re: Implementation Model for introducing Moodle into a K-12 school

by Chris Kenniburg -
Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers
We took a totally different approach. We tied it into LDAP and allowed all staff members in our k12 district to be course creators. We then turned them loose to just jump in and get started with no restrictions. We currently have 140 courses and about 3500 users out of a possible 18,000 students and staff. Once the tech savvy teachers got rolling, we focused on the teachers who were interested, but weary of learning a new tool. This was done on inservice days, after school, or whenever they could meet with me.

This is year one of implementation. Now the word is spreading to people who were initially uninterested and we are getting a few more coming in with wanting to use Moodle to test students by importing ExamView quizzes.

Just this past month we offered to allow students to create their own moodle clubs and be teachers of their own moodle course. So far no abuses. Many of the students are creating "game-making" courses - which is fine. The tech skills they learn programming simple games will ultimately spill over to their performance in class.

A different approach, but we already had 20-30 teachers demanding we use Moodle instead of Blackboard (Which was being provided for free from our Intermediate School District).

Even with allowing Instant Messaging, there has been very little abuse other than the teachers who sometimes get agitated because the students IM during class... When are we going to see a plugin for 1.7 which can set permissions for Instant Messaging and specifically being able to turn it off during school hours???

Best of luck.
Chris
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