eTECH 2010 Conference Notes and Ideas

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Permalink Reply by Tom Jenkins on February 4, 2010 at 1:15pm

Below are my raw notes. If you would like clarification, please let me know.

Moodle in the Middle School Classroom
(National Trail School) (Session I)

Why Use it?
Increase Efficiency

Free

Great Grading Software

Any Device with Internet Access

Keep Parents, Teachers, and Students in the loop

Can personalize

Link other internet pages, internal Moodle pages, documents, pics, vids

Calendar (w/details)

Monitor student activities (activity reports)

Assessments (many different types, some auto grading, timed, retakes, etc)

Moodle can be downloaded into DASL for report cards

Can be linked to standards (can issue detailed reports for each indicator)

Activities- Many, Many Different Types (journals, blogs, assignments, etc)

Use data bases for collaborative projects- store info class to class for all to access

If limited on # of computers- create digital work stations

Assessments in Moodle (Session II)

Multiple ways to assess (can date and all will show up on the calendar)

Add stat standards as one of the add ons

Journals are wonder vehicles for one on one feedback. Edit and relay notes back and fourth.

Upload single files in multiple ways

Chat and Forum- way to discuss and share as a group (record is kept and saved)

Student Choice, Survey, Feedback= ways to obtain critical feedback in an easy to read format (including graphs, etc)

Database allow the students to upload and share files, can also peer grade

Podcasts, Webcasts, vodcasts, wikis, etc.

Test and Quizzes (timed, reordered, limited choices) Many different types only short answer and essay have to be graded by the teacher. All others are autograded, unless changed by the teacher. Can upload pictures/graphics. Also can randomize simple math problems. Great for make ups, retakes, etc.

Also has Hot Potatoes Quizzes that you can download for free off the internet. http://hotpot.uvic.ca/
This program offers multiple chances to retake the same question (losing a fraction of points each time), hints, graphs,
connect to standards, etc.

All assessment scores can be downloaded into an excel format.

Move to other- notes- Dasl pic Is integrated automatically into a moodle account

For more information regarding Moodle please view my two webinars.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Jenkins on February 4, 2010 at 1:28pm

Hot Potatoes Testing Software
Ray Stewart

Completely Free

Integrates into Moodle seemlessly

Can turn quiz into an html to create an interactive webpage that students can use without having the Hot Potatoes program or any plug in on the computers.

Multiple Choice, short answer, hybrid, multiple select

Fill in the blanks
drop downs

Can insert graphics/pictures into the html source code or put in pictures using toolbar

Can also embed videos

Can have set up whereas students log in to Moodle and Hot Potatoes will direct all information directly from HP to Moodle database

Sentence/Word Scramble

Crossword (can add things like timer,etc)

Matching= Flash Card

Many have drag and drop and can be printed

Hyperlink to source material for review

Get Hot Potatoes

If don't have Moodle and still use the Hot Potatoes Site to host

Help with Hot Potatoes

Tutorials

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Permalink Reply by Lori Ramsey on February 9, 2010 at 11:04am

Hi Tom,
Mary suggested I check out this forum and it looks great! I also attended several very interesting sessions. I didn't attend the Moodle session you are referring too but I have used it myself. In my case I used it in a graduate class (I was teaching the class) and really found it to be user-friendly and robust. That said, the specific class I taught was focused on technology use in classrooms. One of the assignments was to create a Moodle class for their grade level. It was great to see all the ideas they came up with! I think that all of your "why use it" notes are right on the mark. I haven't used it for assessments myself but see that it could be a very useful tool in that domain. That said, I wonder about the ability of the average classroom teacher to set up a moodle site on their own. Do you think that this is something that schools/districts should support and then teachers would be able to take advantage of it independently. Once the server is running it is pretty easy but otherwise I think it might be difficult. Any thoughts are welcome!

Tom Jenkins said:

Below are my raw notes. If you would like clarification, please let me know.

Moodle in the Middle School Classroom
(National Trail School) (Session I)

Why Use it?
Increase Efficiency

Free

Great Grading Software

Any Device with Internet Access

Keep Parents, Teachers, and Students in the loop

Can personalize

Link other internet pages, internal Moodle pages, documents, pics, vids

Calendar (w/details)

Monitor student activities (activity reports)

Assessments (many different types, some auto grading, timed, retakes, etc)

Moodle can be downloaded into DASL for report cards

Can be linked to standards (can issue detailed reports for each indicator)

Activities- Many, Many Different Types (journals, blogs, assignments, etc)

Use data bases for collaborative projects- store info class to class for all to access

If limited on # of computers- create digital work stations

Assessments in Moodle (Session II)

Multiple ways to assess (can date and all will show up on the calendar)

Add stat standards as one of the add ons

Journals are wonder vehicles for one on one feedback. Edit and relay notes back and fourth.

Upload single files in multiple ways

Chat and Forum- way to discuss and share as a group (record is kept and saved)

Student Choice, Survey, Feedback= ways to obtain critical feedback in an easy to read format (including graphs, etc)

Database allow the students to upload and share files, can also peer grade

Podcasts, Webcasts, vodcasts, wikis, etc.

Test and Quizzes (timed, reordered, limited choices) Many different types only short answer and essay have to be graded by the teacher. All others are autograded, unless changed by the teacher. Can upload pictures/graphics. Also can randomize simple math problems. Great for make ups, retakes, etc.

Also has Hot Potatoes Quizzes that you can download for free off the internet. http://hotpot.uvic.ca/
This program offers multiple chances to retake the same question (losing a fraction of points each time), hints, graphs,
connect to standards, etc.

All assessment scores can be downloaded into an excel format.

Move to other- notes- Dasl pic Is integrated automatically into a moodle account

For more information regarding Moodle please view my two webinars.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tom Jenkins on February 9, 2010 at 1:37pm

Yes. If a district does make an effort to set up a Moodle server, then people will start to use it. It may be just a few "techie" teachers at first, but it'll spread to the typical teachers. Of course, like anything else the best way to do it is to take a block of time and play with it. One thing for people to remember is that there is no way to break it and everything that is changed can easily be reset.

Additionally, their are a few other pluses....

-One can actually download ready made "canned" classes from Moodle communities (including
How to do Moodle)

-Online assignments are becoming more common and in some cases expected

-As I understand it, some states may start accepting edays in lieu of calamity days. Moodle is a
perfect vehicle for an eday

Lori Ramsey said:

Hi Tom,
Mary suggested I check out this forum and it looks great! I also attended several very interesting sessions. I didn't attend the Moodle session you are referring too but I have used it myself. In my case I used it in a graduate class (I was teaching the class) and really found it to be user-friendly and robust. That said, the specific class I taught was focused on technology use in classrooms. One of the assignments was to create a Moodle class for their grade level. It was great to see all the ideas they came up with! I think that all of your "why use it" notes are right on the mark. I haven't used it for assessments myself but see that it could be a very useful tool in that domain. That said, I wonder about the ability of the average classroom teacher to set up a moodle site on their own. Do you think that this is something that schools/districts should support and then teachers would be able to take advantage of it independently. Once the server is running it is pretty easy but otherwise I think it might be difficult. Any thoughts are welcome!

Tom Jenkins said:

Below are my raw notes. If you would like clarification, please let me know.

Moodle in the Middle School Classroom
(National Trail School) (Session I)

Why Use it?
Increase Efficiency

Free

Great Grading Software

Any Device with Internet Access

Keep Parents, Teachers, and Students in the loop

Can personalize

Link other internet pages, internal Moodle pages, documents, pics, vids

Calendar (w/details)

Monitor student activities (activity reports)

Assessments (many different types, some auto grading, timed, retakes, etc)

Moodle can be downloaded into DASL for report cards

Can be linked to standards (can issue detailed reports for each indicator)

Activities- Many, Many Different Types (journals, blogs, assignments, etc)

Use data bases for collaborative projects- store info class to class for all to access

If limited on # of computers- create digital work stations

Assessments in Moodle (Session II)

Multiple ways to assess (can date and all will show up on the calendar)

Add stat standards as one of the add ons

Journals are wonder vehicles for one on one feedback. Edit and relay notes back and fourth.

Upload single files in multiple ways

Chat and Forum- way to discuss and share as a group (record is kept and saved)

Student Choice, Survey, Feedback= ways to obtain critical feedback in an easy to read format (including graphs, etc)

Database allow the students to upload and share files, can also peer grade

Podcasts, Webcasts, vodcasts, wikis, etc.

Test and Quizzes (timed, reordered, limited choices) Many different types only short answer and essay have to be graded by the teacher. All others are autograded, unless changed by the teacher. Can upload pictures/graphics. Also can randomize simple math problems. Great for make ups, retakes, etc.

Also has Hot Potatoes Quizzes that you can download for free off the internet. http://hotpot.uvic.ca/
This program offers multiple chances to retake the same question (losing a fraction of points each time), hints, graphs,
connect to standards, etc.

All assessment scores can be downloaded into an excel format.

Move to other- notes- Dasl pic Is integrated automatically into a moodle account

For more information regarding Moodle please view my two webinars.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Tom Jenkins on February 9, 2010 at 1:43pm

STEM Resources PBS

Engineering Your Future www.futuresinengineering.org

Background Information
Streaming Video (dvds can requested @cost plus shipping, pretty cheap)

Teachers Domain www.teachersdomain.org

Media Library - Nova, Nature, Building Big has thousands of down loadable videos
Lesson Plans
Interactive web pages
Flash Games
Made need to make sure plugins are up to date (flash, quicktime, etc)
Can save in folders, share, rate, etc

Ohio on iTunes U http://www.etech.ohio.gov/ohioonitunesu/ohioonitunesu.dot

Apple needs to load a plug-in
K-12
Aligned to standards
Many different resources/subjects
Newer section for STEM Education (created by pbs/thinktv)
Download/play videos, podcasts, vodcasts, assessments, teacher training videos
can download and embed in personal web pages

Debi Thevenin
dthevenin@thinktv.org
PBS Videos at cost. Ex 6 New videos for $15 + shipping

Mary Anne Kirk
mkirk@thinktv.org
Help on any of the above resources.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Jenkins on February 9, 2010 at 1:52pm

WordPress MU, or WordPressµ, Kent Schools

Made the district website consistent (individual buildings and teachers)- too many districts use combinations- frontpage, word, dreamweaver, etc

Web based- update from anywhere w/o software

Easy to update (for teachers to use)

Strong developer community

Easy to install

Easy to transfer existing content to new server

Rss feed for each individual blog so updates can be went out to personal devices automatically

Many widgets

Easy to add media- including video

Different settings (private or public)

Turn comments off or with approval

Over 4,000 downloadable themes

www.kentschools.net (some examples)

On a personal note: Our district just set up Word Press late last summer. I love it and I still have yet to sit down and learn all of the bells and whistles.

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