http://moodlelearnings.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/moodlelearnings/

An example of the streamlining that Moodle created is the easy way in which discussion forums can be used to create announcements and deliver them to students via  the automated messaging system and email integration (something many Moodlers may take for granted),

I personally faced issues when we wanted to pass information to students.  We either had to tell them in their classes or paste notice on the notice boards… When we asked [students] “have you read the notice board?” they [hadn't] read it and some students even told us that notice was not their on the notice board.

We tried displaying notices on our website, but volume of the notices were so large that website was not able to handle this.  We also had to ask the website admin to upload the notices, again an issue!!

How many other schools have struggled with something similar?

One point that Guarav doesn’t pull punches on is that while Moodle is a “simple” piece of software, the learning curve could be upwards of 6 to 12 months to learn (if you have no previous exposure to a learning management system).

Links:

• Check out the Inmantec Institution Moodle at http://cms.inmantec.edu/
• Read Gaurav’s post or subscribe to his blog http://moodlelearnings.wordpress.com/

William is a third grade certified eMINTS Teacher located in Hallsville, Mo.

Related:

• 1st post: http://www.moodlemonthly.com/2010/moodle-in-real-life-part-1-west4me/
• 2nd post: http://www.moodlemonthly.com/2010/moodle-in-real-life-part-2-west4me/
• William’s Twitter: @west4me
• Blog: http://moodleiselementary.blogspot.com/
• New classroom project: http://www.hallsville.org/elementary/cunningham/moodle/wordpress/

Part 3 – Add-ons and Mods

William’s Moodle (http://www.hallsville.org/elementary/cunningham/moodle/) is both attractive and useful.  The integration of web 2.0 apps and 3rd party site information extends his site far beyond the traditional role that Moodle plays in the classroom.  His class uses it to schedule tasks and chores, designate seating, provide additional support for the content and topics students are learning and more.

Here’s a short list of only some of the sites and services that are integrated into William’s Moodle:

• Wordle (http://wordle.net)
• Twiddla (http://www.twiddla.com)
• Wall Wisher (http://www.wallwisher.com/)
• Wikipedia Search (http://wikipedia.com)

This is not to mention the long list of Moodle integrations and modules that have been added to the site.

MoodleMonthly:  What are your favorite add-ons (write board, wordle, twiddla, etc)?

William:

I think my favorite add-ons at the moment are Notice Board and Wordle.

Notice Board is nice because I can have my students put up notes rather quickly. All I need to do is put up a note asking a question or directing them in some way and let them at it. My students have been really interested in Wordle lately. My students writing time is mostly free writing- they get to choose the topic, and there had been amazing interest in the natural world do to a project  were are conducting.

Greening Up My Room, stop by, it is in development as my students create the content.
http://www.hallsville.org/elementary/cunningham/moodle/wordpress/

With the interest in the natural world they are doing a lot of research. The use Wordle to help them decide the most important information to include in their writing. They go to Wikipedia or some other site to find information, copy it and past it into Wordle to see what is emphasized. This really helps them stay organized on such broad topics.

Stay tuned for the final installment…

William is a third grade certified eMINTS Teacher located in Hallsville, Mo.

Related:

• 1st post: http://www.moodlemonthly.com/2010/moodle-in-real-life-part-1-west4me/
• William’s Twitter: @west4me
• Blog: http://moodleiselementary.blogspot.com/
• New classroom project: http://www.hallsville.org/elementary/cunningham/moodle/wordpress/

Part 2: Uses of Moodle in the Classroom

MoodleMonthly: What level and subjects to you use Moodle for?

William:

I teach students who are in the third grade. These students are age 7-9 years old.

I teach all the major subject areas, reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. I also teach my students about technology and emerging trends in education.

MM: What classroom tasks do you use it for? (I see that you assign jobs, seating assignments, etc., any other novel uses?)

William:

I have enhanced my site in some ways to help me stay organized. The jobs, making lunch choice, daily information, and seating assignments are all created outside of Moodle and are automated. I got tired of changing the information daily and sought outside help. I got some help from a student in New Jersey who was doing some freelance work.  He helped me so much and we are friends to this day. He also made a site to track my student’s progress in multiplication and division.

MM:  How much time you spend on it (to get it ready to use, to build the courses, to maintain it weekly/daily basis)?

William:

I am always working on Moodle. I never stop. I subscribe to many RSS feeds to keep me up to date. I also use Google alerts to keep me informed.

My courses are in constant development. I want to keep them as current as possible. I also try to think of ways I can incorporate emerging technology to promote social collaboration.

More coming tomorrow!

William is a third grade certified eMINTS Teacher located in Hallsville, Mo.

Related:

• William’s Twitter: @west4me
• Blog: http://moodleiselementary.blogspot.com/
• New classroom project: http://www.hallsville.org/elementary/cunningham/moodle/wordpress/

Part 1: The Start

MoodleMonthly:  So William, how did you get started using tech in the classroom?

William:

I began developing web pages for my class and I was writing them by hand in a simple text editor. I quickly realized that all I was doing was creating lists of links to other peoples sites. I wanted a way to interact with my students and a way to quickly deploy changes.

MoodleMonthly:  When did you begin using Moodle?

I started looking and learned about content management systems, which led me to Moodle. It was perfect, I could create interaction between my students and I. It also allowed me to quickly make changes without the need to edit html and then FTP to the server. I was sold.

This is just the first part of an email interview series which will be released this week.  Tune in for another installment tomorrow.