Sonoma State Faculty Center
At the end my second semester, with my thesis advisor's recommendation, I obtained a student assistant position in Sonoma State's Faculty Center. Working in the Faculty Center has allowed me to witness some of the challenges faculty members face as they adopt Moodle into their courses. There are, of course, the familiar technical issues such as navigation of a new program or interface or difficulty uploading a document. However, there are also pedagogical decisions that seem to be overlooked or are unsupported. Many faculty I have worked with appear overwhelmed at times when considering what features they should use within Moodle or what feature might best support the learning outcomes and goals of the course.
Shifting the Concept of "Text"
As I noted earlier on my Reflections and Artifacts page under Media Literacy and Online Learning, I saw many trends that were similar to my experiences teaching online. Many faculty members seem to adopt Moodle from an instrumental perspective (Burbules & Callister, 2000) in which Moodle is used as a tool to disseminate information. Students use Moodle to access PDF documents, quizzes, or view their grades. As educators copy,
paste, and upload their current print-based content into Moodle, there is
little discussion of how the shift in the delivery of this content will affect
their curriculum or the effects this new medium will have on the student
learning process, teaching methods, and relationships between educators and
students.
What is also concerning is the reliance upon print based documents as texts. Because of the continued use of print text as the basis of curriculum, the faculty find themselves forced into rote and automated learning practices such as the offering of multiple choice questions and assignments that are easy to grade. In order to engage students in more meaningful learning experiences, educators must, as Renee Hobbs (2007) suggests, "enlarge their definition of texts to include all the forms of symbolic expression that convey meaning from authors to readers"
What is also concerning is the reliance upon print based documents as texts. Because of the continued use of print text as the basis of curriculum, the faculty find themselves forced into rote and automated learning practices such as the offering of multiple choice questions and assignments that are easy to grade. In order to engage students in more meaningful learning experiences, educators must, as Renee Hobbs (2007) suggests, "enlarge their definition of texts to include all the forms of symbolic expression that convey meaning from authors to readers"
Faculty Support
There are examples of faculty members who are using Moodle to provide "learning for understanding" experiences. These professors incorporate the use of wikis, online collaboration projects, discussion forums, and use of classroom Facebook pages. These collaborative projects and communications become forms of shared knowledge and experience in relation to the course content.
Another example includes an art professor who has recorded podcasts of his lectures that were previously delivered in class which he uploaded to Moodle. Student homework assignments include listening to the lectures to be prepared for the next class meeting. This professor noted that he initially felt the LMS would "replace his role as an educator" when in fact, he has experienced the opposite result (Personal communication, November 2011).
The professor noted that his online process freed up class time to allow for valuable class discussion and group collaboration in which he feels more connected to his students and spends less time lecturing "at them" and more time engaging in meaningful face-to-face discussion. (Personal communication, December 2011).
I have had the pleasure of assisting many faculty members from the School of Education whose approach to selecting "tools" to implement within the course is from a "relational view of technology" (Burbules & Callister, 2000). Professors have come to the Faculty Center to learn about the features within Moodle that would best enhance their current processes. For example, I worked with a professor who has been very resistant to using Moodle. Having taken a class with this professor in the past, I had an understanding of the types of learning activities that took place in his course. I suggested the professor implement an image gallery where students are able to post pictures of the artifacts created in class. Before using Moodle, the professor had students use their cell phone to take a picture of the artifacts, email the photos to him, and he would then email the images to the students. With the implementation of the image gallery, this process was simplified and also created a space where the artifacts could be referenced, viewed, and commented on by all students in the course. The image gallery became another version of a "text," one which conveys the learning experiences and reflections of the students throughout the course.
Another example includes an art professor who has recorded podcasts of his lectures that were previously delivered in class which he uploaded to Moodle. Student homework assignments include listening to the lectures to be prepared for the next class meeting. This professor noted that he initially felt the LMS would "replace his role as an educator" when in fact, he has experienced the opposite result (Personal communication, November 2011).
The professor noted that his online process freed up class time to allow for valuable class discussion and group collaboration in which he feels more connected to his students and spends less time lecturing "at them" and more time engaging in meaningful face-to-face discussion. (Personal communication, December 2011).
I have had the pleasure of assisting many faculty members from the School of Education whose approach to selecting "tools" to implement within the course is from a "relational view of technology" (Burbules & Callister, 2000). Professors have come to the Faculty Center to learn about the features within Moodle that would best enhance their current processes. For example, I worked with a professor who has been very resistant to using Moodle. Having taken a class with this professor in the past, I had an understanding of the types of learning activities that took place in his course. I suggested the professor implement an image gallery where students are able to post pictures of the artifacts created in class. Before using Moodle, the professor had students use their cell phone to take a picture of the artifacts, email the photos to him, and he would then email the images to the students. With the implementation of the image gallery, this process was simplified and also created a space where the artifacts could be referenced, viewed, and commented on by all students in the course. The image gallery became another version of a "text," one which conveys the learning experiences and reflections of the students throughout the course.
Santa Rosa Junior College
Doyle Library and Technology Center
photo by: Tim Maloney
In the fall semester of my second year in graduate school I received a request for Moodle course development support from a faculty member who taught online courses for the Santa Rosa Junior College. "Sharon" served as adjunct faculty to the English Department. The school was in the process of replacing their older LMS by slowly adopting Moodle. Sharon felt unsupported by her current facility which did not offer one-to-one training sessions on Moodle.
Sharon's need to seek help outside the classroom highlights the importance for today's higher education institutions to have academic technology departments that meet the pedagogical aspects of course design and encompass more than technical support.
Sharon and I worked together on acquiring the technical skills she needed to navigate Moodle; but also furthered her understanding of which features might be the most suitable for her students and the goals of her Introduction to Online Learning course. The majority of students were taking their first online course. Sharon and I concluded that although most students came to the courses seemingly technologically prepared with the necessary computer equipment, consistent internet access, and basic computer literacy skills; many students lacked media and information literacy skills which compromised their ability to successful complete their courses.
In an effort to meet the media and information literacy needs of her students, Sharon and I recreated her course to incorporate multimodal experiences for students rather than the "text-heavy" screens of the previous LMS which Moodle replaced. By offering "low barrier" (Jenkins, 2006) features such as creating their personal profiles, completing an assignment in a wiki, and participating in blogs, students were given an opportunity to not only refine their media and information literacy skills, but also to engage with other students in an environment that encouraged collaboration.
Sharon's need to seek help outside the classroom highlights the importance for today's higher education institutions to have academic technology departments that meet the pedagogical aspects of course design and encompass more than technical support.
Sharon and I worked together on acquiring the technical skills she needed to navigate Moodle; but also furthered her understanding of which features might be the most suitable for her students and the goals of her Introduction to Online Learning course. The majority of students were taking their first online course. Sharon and I concluded that although most students came to the courses seemingly technologically prepared with the necessary computer equipment, consistent internet access, and basic computer literacy skills; many students lacked media and information literacy skills which compromised their ability to successful complete their courses.
In an effort to meet the media and information literacy needs of her students, Sharon and I recreated her course to incorporate multimodal experiences for students rather than the "text-heavy" screens of the previous LMS which Moodle replaced. By offering "low barrier" (Jenkins, 2006) features such as creating their personal profiles, completing an assignment in a wiki, and participating in blogs, students were given an opportunity to not only refine their media and information literacy skills, but also to engage with other students in an environment that encouraged collaboration.
References
Burbules, N. C., & Callister, T. A. (2000). Watch IT: The Risks and Promises of Information Technologies for Education (pp.1-17).
Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Hobbs, R. (2007). Reading the Media: Media Literacy in High School English. Columbia: Teacher's College Press.
Jenkins, H. (2006). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Retrieved from: http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-
E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF
Burbules, N. C., & Callister, T. A. (2000). Watch IT: The Risks and Promises of Information Technologies for Education (pp.1-17).
Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Hobbs, R. (2007). Reading the Media: Media Literacy in High School English. Columbia: Teacher's College Press.
Jenkins, H. (2006). Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Retrieved from: http://digitallearning.macfound.org/atf/cf/%7B7E45C7E0-A3E0-4B89-AC9C-
E807E1B0AE4E%7D/JENKINS_WHITE_PAPER.PDF