Teaching online often seems like science fiction for some teachers. It’s alien as watching an episode of Star Trek or one of those movies where humans find themselves marooned on an alien planet. For many of us, understanding what learning might happen in a virtual classroom–as facilitated by Moodle course management system–can be tough as surviving the cold of space. In this article, you’ll be introduced to several ways educators around the world are using Moodle in their classroom.

As an avid reader of science fiction, one of my favorite tales is that of Enemy Mine. In it, two warring races, fighting for conquest of the space they co-inhabit, are forced to survive in a rugged, inhospitable environment. Only together can they survive, only together can they find life and a measure of peace and happiness. The harsh conditions force them to reach back to the very values that the movie implies all denizens of the universe share:

Truth is truth, but in schools today, some have suggested that our students are the enemy. Sylvia Martinez (GenYes.com vendor) shares a story about a presentation title at the NYSCATE  conference called, “The Enemy Within: Stop Students from Bypassing Your Web Filters“. The presentation is by Chris Ridgway (Sophos vendor) and is described in this way:

The presentation title has generated a lot of commentary and you can read the lengthy comments posted on the wiki for the Conference. However, as a school district administrator, it is not surprising to me that this perspective exists. Mr. Ridgway’s behavior is objectionable because he gave voice to the perspective THAT DOES EXIST in our public schools today. In fact, it would not be inaccurate to realize that while some school districts would never admit to it, they do perceive students and educators who use social media tools in the following way as enemies:

This perspective presents some challenges to school district administrators and teachers that should raise questions in our mind about the fundamental purpose of schools, teaching, and learning. As a reformed guerilla-teacher working to circumvent and build capacity at the classroom and campus level–often with the support of a principal tired of waiting for the school district to deliver on its promise of technical support and funding–I find myself trying to find ways to “engage” students and teachers.

OASIS IN VIRTUAL SPACE – MOODLE
Our approach as educators in schools today can often mean that we fail to consult the people we “advocate” for–our students. As fundamentalists engaged in jihad, we fail to engage in conversation the very learners for whom we pretend to serve. Adopting any technology, but Moodle course management system in particular, we are forced to reconsider our motivations and how we support teaching and learning in the classroom.  In fact, in an article by S. Lowes (available online), the following quote struck me:

As teachers begin to work online with their students, there is a clear recognition that “The Net Generation is growing up in a tool-rich environment and this needs to be taken into account in designing pedagogical systems” (Source: Philip, D. 2007. The Knowledge Building paradigm: A model of learning for Net Generation students. Innovate 3 (5). http://www.innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=368).

One of the primary tools you can use as an online learning facilitator is Moodle. This virtual classroom tool provides you with the benefits of a web site but with many more built-in learning activities for your students. You can easily arrange instructional materials, activities within this online space, as well as facilitate discussions online. Moodle allows you to create an online learning center for you and your students to work in that is safe and allows you to extend learning beyond the classroom walls. For many, Moodle is one-stop shopping solution for blogs, wikis, podcasts, survey questionnaires that print incredible graphs, quizzes; take grades, and institute online forums with attachments.

ENGAGING THE ENEMY
If our students are perceived as the enemy, then how do we engage these avid learners, so captivated by technology that facilitates very human ways of interacting with each other? One obvious way is to use tools like Moodle that enable the creation of virtual learning settings that can transform our world. Consider that Moodle, a course management system, can be used in many different ways.

Long-time Moodle using educators recently shared a variety of ways in which they are using Moodle in their classrooms. Below is a list of instructional scenarios that I found worth blogging about (Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org) and I am grateful to have the opportunity to share with you via onCUE. This list came my way via Ken Task in Texas, and to which fellow educator, Dan McGuire, volunteered to add more to. The following is a list of some of what you can do with Moodle, the free, open source course management system. The list comes from Ken Task, who cites ISTE Moodle Ning and Susan Sedro.

As you can see from Dan’s experience, Moodle was able to involve people from within and outside the classroom, engaging all in a learning conversation that benefited students.

This worked well with in conjunction with particular reading assignments. I would usually post the questions that I wanted students for student response. It is especially useful to then ask for volunteers to let me show their work on the projector and make comments in writing on the screen. This is one of the best writing teaching tools since the invention of the pencil.. Most students at this age are eager to have their work critiqued in front of other students. I’ve found they actually enjoy doing editing, which is certainly not the case when you ask a nine year old to rewrite 200 words they’ve just struggled to get on paper with a pencil. The computer gives them a power with making words that they don’t have with a pencil and paper.

I used both the forum module and the workshop module to do writing circles. The forum module is a little easier to manage. I found setting up the workshop module to be still a bit cumbersome. I hope to practice with it more this year because I think it has tremendous possibilities.

The trick to using the forum module was that students were required to write something new about each of the prompts that were the forum topics. This forced the students to read what others had written and then got them back into the text because I insisted on quotes from the text to support their opinions. Students were only permitted to disagree with another student if they proved their point with quotes from the text.

ENEMY MINE
Like enemies who have crash-landed on a barren rock, technology directors, students and teachers must get past their competing desires for comfort and particular approaches to find common ways to learn together. Rigid adherence to pedagogy, technology commandments writ by the hand of fearful administrators, and hurtful applications of technology inhibit successful learning environments. Why not use Moodle to establish an oasis in virtual space?