Return to 2010 Midwest Moodle Moot Page
Descriptions of scheduled presentations.
Category: Moodle Moot Lead Sponsors Back to top
- Remote-Learner and Moodlerooms - Remote-Learner and Moodlerooms are the two largest certified Moodle Partners in the United States. They provide Moodle hosting, integration, added capability, and training. Each company will give several informative sessions about Moodle and the services they provide.
Category: Introduction to Moodle Back to top
- Moodle The One Stop Learning Center - Do you want to use Moodle, but you’re not sure exactly how to use it in your classroom? This session will give you numerous ideas and examples of how teachers at various grade levels in the Bryan City Schools are using Moodle in a weekly format as well as a topic format. We will show you how it is used to post lessons, including movies, review sheets, and activities for students who are absent. Integragtion of Examview, Hot Potatoes and Wallwishers will be highlighted as well. Kathi Bauer, Integration Specialist, Byran City Schools.
- So You Think You Want to Moodle? - Have you been wanting to set up a Moodle page, but don’t know where to begin? This workshop will help you get started. You will briefly be introduced to ways teachers are using Moodle in the Bryan City Schools, then will be given time to set up your own page even if your district doesn’t have a Moodle server. Participants will be given instructions on settings, enrolling students, and uploading files such as documents, graphics and movies. Also we will go over links, glossaries, and doing a quick survey using "Choice.” Jamie Morris, Teacher, Bryan City Schools.
- Getting Up and Running with Moodle - This presentation describes methods for getting started with using the Moodle system. We will begin by asking the audience what they would like to learn more about and try to accommodate their requests into the presentation; however, we assume that some general topics covered will be how to organize content within the modules, best practices for getting students engaged, and handling assessments. While intended for users with little to no knowledge of Moodle, this would also be a great investment of time for those who want to see what others are doing with their Moodle courses. Liz Osika, Assoc. Professor, Chicago State University.
Category: Training Programs Back to top
- Public Safety Ed using Moodle or "How Moodle can Save Your Life" - Public safety agencies require extensive education and training to maintain proficiency and certification. Public Safety agencies frequently experience conflict with time demands and access to training and the need to responding to calls for police, fire and emergency medical services. The City of Madison Wisconsin has addressed these conflicts buy providing education and training asynchronously using “Moodle” as a 24/7 learning platform. This program will discuss the experiences of the City of Madison’s and use of Moodle to deliver education and training both asynchronous and as part of a blended education program for its police and fire departments. Jim Keiken, Asst. Fire Chief, City of Madison Fire Department.
- Using Moodle to Support a virtual Professional Learning Community - A presentation on how Bismarck Public School District is using Moodle to support both the grade level PLCs but also the district curriculum alignment process using various resource and activity modules to supplement our traditional face-to-face workshops. Moodle is providing a framework for face-to-face and online interactions to take place both in and out of the workshops. Through this framework, teachers experience collaborative online interaction where ideas can be shared and a consensus to understanding can be constructed in online activities, discussions, and interactions. David Sherwin, Staff Development, Bismarck Public School District.
Category: Best Practices Back to top
- Strategies for Managing Large Enrollment Classes Using Moodle - When we first adopted Moodle several years ago, it was used primarily for classes with small to medium enrollments (20-75). With improvements in Moodle from version 1.5 to 1.9, especially with groups and roles, we have been able to effectively use Moodle for large enrollment classes (up to 700 students). The aim of this presentation will be to bring together people who have had experience in teaching large enrollment classes and share their experiences. I will present the experiences I have had with helping to design a couple of large enrollment classes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Geoffrey Brewster, Instructional Technology Specialist, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
- The Six Ps: A Forum for Sharing Best Practices - Prior preparation prevents poor performance ... wait for it ... probably. What works? What doesn't? What happens when something that worked yesterday doesn't work today? This "presentation proposal" is designed to reserve a time for group discussion, primarily from a user perspective, of how to use Moodle more effectively, whether for document and announcement distribution, for gradebook maintenance, for class activities, or for whatever other uses people in attendance people come up with. Brent Graber, Director of IT, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary.
- The A.B.C.’s of creating your own “Online Day” through a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) - A presentation of an "Online Learning Day" created by Porter Township School Corporation (Valpariso, IN). Consider the following research: 1.) Over 20% of college students had at least one online course in their schedule in fall 2007; 2.) Michigan Merit Curriculum requires online learning experience as a prerequisite for high school graduation; 3.) More than half of all school districts in the U.S. offer online courses; 4.) Workforce training is done using online learning 30-50% of the time; and finally, 5.) What is your school system doing to prepare your students for online learning? Students who have access and experience to rigorous online coursework will be better prepared for success in college and in life. For those of you that can not have an online day there are still great advantages to use moodle for class lessons, presentations, student participation, and technology, to name a few. The presentation will include the following processes: 1. The introductory stage to students, teachers, and parents. 2. The education of staff and students in the use of Moodle to create and perform the activities for each individual teacher’s class. 3. How to perform an evaluation of the process and use of those evaluations to improve the entire online process. 4. How to incorporate your present attendance software and computer labs into the process. Woodrow Gary DeRossett, Principal, Boone Grove HIgh School.
- Managing the Moodle Mayhem (Make Administrating Moodle Easier) - This presentation will discuss in some detail creating custom user roles (student worker/teacher, special needs users), user account management, configuring your server correctly the first time, installing modules/blocks with ease, managing teacher requests. Will have some time as needed for questions and answers/general discussion. Chris Potter, Data Manager, Mason-Lake & Oceana ISD.
- How to Have a Successful eLearning Program, and the Five Biggest Risks to Your Program - This session will share tips, best practices, and risks developed from working with hundreds of organizations and thousands of instructors to develop successful eLearning programs. Perspectives will be shared from all five of Remote-Learner's core teams including: training, instructional design, information technology, development, and strategic advising. Jonathan Moore, VP for Business Development, Remote-Learner.
Category: Portfolios, Integration, Misc. Back to top
- Human Factors: Augmenting Moodle with Human Presence Design - Online "human presence" refers to the pedagogical practice that focuses on increased student engagement through personal interaction among student cohorts and between individual students and their instructors. A 2009 study titled "HUMAN FACTORS: INCREASING ONLINE STUDENT SATISFACTION, CLASS COMPLETION AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT THROUGH HUMAN PRESENCE DESIGN" used t-tests and regression analysis to reveal the direct relationship between increased interpersonal interaction online and increased student satisfaction, class completion rates and academic achievement. While undertaking this research, the author, a distance education dean at Santa Barbara City College (SBCC), worked with the Moodle community through Remote-Learner to create the Human Presence Learning Environment that allows online learners to see and hear each other synchronously and asynchronously and interact with their instructors through a level of human contact heretofore unavailable to them at SBCC. The study showed an increase in student satisfaction of close to 10%, as well as similar increases in both class completion rates and student mean GPA. These results are statistically and philosophically significant. Douglas Hersh, Dean of Educational Programs, Santa Barbara City College, CA.
- The Student Network: Building a Foundation for Learning - We use Moodle on a LAN designed by students in our Cisco Academy. Each student has a portfolio (course) The portfolio holds project information, particularly in the form of student-produced videos. Michael Price, Director of Information Technology, Trinity High School.
- Googlios: 21st Century Skills & Learing in the Digital Age - This talk will not be a "how to"; instead, it offers a "why to." The presentation aims to answer the following questions. How can educators best meet the learning needs of the millennial generation of students? How has learning changed in the 21st century? What are the essential skills needed to survive and thrive in today's and tomorrow's global digital workplace? Have educators been effectively integrating technology into the classroom? After a decade into the 21st century, it is time our learning theory catch up with technology. Constructivism learning theory is transforming into "Connectivism." Bloom's taxonomy is evolving into "Bloom's digital taxonomy." Gardner's multiple intelligences theory can now be seen through a "multimedia multiple intelligences" lens. By upgrading our learning theories to the 21st century we can connect the pedagogy to the technology and get the horse back in front of the cart. This presentation argues that Googlios (Google Sites meets E-Portfolios) could provide the 21st-century educator with an outcomes and project based approach in order to succesfully infuse technology into the classroom and transform education. G. Alex Ambrose, Academic Advisor, University of Notre Dame.
- ePortfolios - Using Mahara with Moodle - Demonstrate the capabilities of utilizing Mahara (www.mahara.org) ePortfolio System within a Moodle environment. I will share my experiences working with a Junior High English teacher utilizing Moodle and Mahara to organize a 8th Grade Media Literacy course. Mahara allows users to post various multimedia (video, mp3, digital images) as well as various document types including word processing and presentation files. Capabilities also exist to embed various Web 2.0 technologies including Youtube. Chris Wherley, Technology Coordinator, Williamsville CUSD #16.
- Can Your Moodle Do This? - Can your Moodle maintain all student information, do book-keeping, send group e-mails, print transcripts, make discipline referrals, and send NLCB reports? If not, then you are probably juggling with and paying for multiple programs when you only need one: Focus/SIS. In this presentation you will see how Moodle is greatly enhanced and is seamlessly integrated with Focus/SIS to save you time and money. Joel Brondos, Headmaster at St. Paul Lutheran School Brookfield, IL; Bob Sills Associate Director of Sales and Marketing, Focus School Software..
- ePortfolios: Desired Functionality and Integration - The use of ePortfolios has increased rapidly over the past several years in all levels of education. This usage has led to new ideas about how to use ePortfolio software that often push the limits of current software capability. Join this discussion and exchange of ideas about ways to use and improve ePortfolio software. Suggestions provided in this discussion will be forwarded to ePortfolio software and integration developers. Floyd Saner, Learning Contexts, LLC.
Category: Teaching and Learning Back to top
- Teachers and Librarians Together: Integrating Learning Resources - Three academic librarians will provide examples and lead a discussion of how quality information sourcces of various types can be made available within a Moodle course (OR within the Moodle learning environment). Teachers, librarians and course developers at all grade levels are welcome to join the conversation. Eileen Saner, Librarian and Director of Educational Resources, Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary; Lisa Gonzalez, Electronic Resources Librarian, Catholic Theological Union; Jennifer Woodruff Tait, Adjunct Professor, Huntington University.
- Moodle to the Rescue--Moodle as Emergency Digital Repository - A dying home-grown document server forced Earlham College to face the challenge of quickly finding a way to migrate hundreds of digital institutional documents into a new system. Learn how the project committee reviewed options, conducted usability tests, and decided to optimize a Moodle course to provide secure access to a wide range of community documents. Session will cover lessons learned, roll-out plans, training procedures, challenges, limitations, and hopes for future development. Lyn Thomas, Administrative Assistant,, Earlham College.
- Using Moodle to Teach the Liberal Arts in a Digital World - This paper will discuss issues encountered in using Moodle to prepare faculty to teach online courses. These issues include varying levels of technological expertise, fears that lack of face-to-face contact will reduce the quality of discussion and class participation, concerns about the connection of online teaching to business and marketing models of education rather than to the liberal arts, and uncertainties regarding Moodle course design. Through examples from a training course conducted at Huntington University, I will argue that these are all valid concerns, and discuss specific ways to address each, with particular attention to issues of vulnerability and presence in the online classroom, and to using Moodle to its fullest potential for creating a sense of online community. Jennifer Woodruff Tait, Adjunct Professor, Huntington University.
- Getting Pre-Service Teachers Thinking about Moodle - As a result of a perfect storm of sorts, Eastern Michigan University redesigned its introductory technology course for teachers so that every student was responsible for the creation of an online learning experience using Moodle. Michael McVey shares his experiences with the process and the results. Michael McVey, Ed.D.,Assistant Professor Educational Media & Technology, Eastern Michigan University.
Category: Activities and Modules Back to top
- Quiz Module + Feedback = Differentiated Instruction - Create a powerful learning activity by adding feedback to questions in the quiz module. Students can work at their own pace, reviewing as needed. Teachers can use item analysis to assess student progress easily. Take your technology integration to the next level with this simple strategy! Carla Beard, Teacher, Connersville HIgh School.
- How to Use Wikis in Moodle - Michelle Moore, Chief Learning Officer, Remote-Learner.
- Free Online Surveys in Moodle - Are you interested in evaluating students’ satisfaction with your online or hybrid courses in Moodle? The best way to find out whether the students are satisfied is to ask them. Online survey tools can serve this purpose. This session gives you skills to design, create and implement a survey in Moodle. It also shows you how to collect the data, and export the data to SPSS. Connie Haley, Instructional Technologist, and Kathleen Degnan, Asst. Professor, Chicago State University.
- How to Create Moodle Lessons - Michelle Moore, Chief Learning Officer, Remote-Learner.
- Making the Grade: Transparent Grading Systems - This presentation will explore how important transparent, easy to understand grading systems are when setting up the Moodle gradebook. Overly complicated grading systems are difficult for students to understand and even more difficult to set-up in Moodle. This presentation will provide examples of helpful grading systems and suggestions for implementing them in the Moodle gradebook. Pamela Williams, Asst. Moodle Administrator, University of Illinois.
- Higher Level Thinking with Glossary & Database Activities - This presentation describes two projects. The first was a senior class in which students were going to read a large corpus of poetry by two major women poets. The professor wanted the students to find connections and themes running through the body of work. Her request was for an online 'concordance' of poems, themes, issues etc into which students would enter information from each poem they read. She describes this as "a cross between an index, a dictionary, and a “mini-forum” for uncontroversial and extremely brief interpretation." This mapped very nicely onto the Moodle Glossary activity. The second project was from a professor who wanted to create a resource to discover musicians, venues, performances etc. Here the Moodle Database activity comes to the fore and we find that's it's quick to set up the data fields, easy to create necessary templates and, with the help of an HTML editor, the data entry and searching forms are straightforward too. The workflow that students follow is made possible by a simple use of the OUWiki module. Here again, Moodle shows it's strength in providing a tools (the database and OUWiki activity) that are easy to setup and use. Mark Pearson, Instructional Technologist, Earlham College.
Category: Moodle in the Classroom Back to top
- Moodling and Mimioing (interactive whiteboard) in the Elementary Grades - Moodle is an incredible "living" syllabus! In this workshop teachers will have an opportunity to develop a class, and then begin to find sites that would be appropriate to teach using especially websites. Teachers will be able to return to their classroom and have enough confidence and materials to immediately incorporate Moodle into their curriculum. Teachers will also see how after organizing a course in Moodle, this will assist them in using the interactive whiteboard, and how this can excite children about learning. Teachers will learn how this same activity that was develped to use in a group setting, can then be used at a station time or when children have access to a computer, and can also be accessed at home for additional support. Teachers will learn how to share their work with others teachers, so as to "lighten" the load. Nancy Bonewitz, Teacher, Fairfield Community Schools.
- CANCELED
Integrated System for Language Education and Training- In order to meet increasing language and culture training demands for military training, a distributed training system capable of content management and delivery as well as performance tracking and reporting is required. ISLET (Integrated System for Language Education and Training) is a 5-year project funded by the Office of Naval Research to research and develop an on-line culture and second language instruction system that integrates technologies essential to online second language acquisition. These technologies are being integrated into the Moodle platform. This presentation will demonstrate technologies integrated to date: media transcriber block, enhanced glossary, multimedia course content search, speech recognition, word association, challenge module, and much more! Tony Beld, Director of Technology, ACGE.
- Using Moodle Forums For Discussion in the English Classroom - This session presents research on using Moodle forums for discussion in the English classroom. The study focused on discussion forums and how the use of these forums affected student participation, motivation, and achievement during the study. Several questions were addressed in the study: a) In what ways will the use of discussion forums in Moodle affect student participation in the classroom? b) How will the use of Moodle affect the comfort level of the students during class discussions? c) What form of discussion will be more effective? Overall, using Moodle forums in the English classroom proved to be very beneficial and enjoyable to most students. I have continued to use Moodle in the classroom since my study. Brianne Kramer, Language Arts Teacher, Lima Central Catholic High School, and Adjunct Instructor, Owens Community College.
- 21st Century Literature Circles: Using Moodle and other Resources - Experiences on using Moodle and all of its resources to make 21st Century Lit Circles: a) How 21st Century Literature Circles Motivate Students. b) Resources used from Moodle: quizzes, chat, forums, dictionary, and wiki. c) Resources used outside of Moodle: digital voice recorder, blogger, pocket video recorder. Mark Engle, Teacher, Benton Elementary School.
- Promoting Active and Personal Learning with Moodle - This presentation will review ways to keep students active in learning using Moodle including sample qujizzes, adaptive mode quizzes, individualize feedback , combining narrated lectures with assignments and quizzes, uploading video and responding with uploaded audio and video. Lee Griffith, Professor, Anderson University.
- Moodle in the Foreign Language Classroom - As with most disciplines, the foreign language classroom is fraught with the need to pack in a large amount of content into very short periods of classroom contact time. This presentation will demonstrate methods of using Moodle to not only give students ample amounts of practice and review, but to also free up class time for communicative activities. The demonstration course presented will show examples of using Moodle modules Forums, Quiz, Glossary and a number of Assignments including both text-based and audio assignments. We will also look at how and why to incorporate activities generated by Hot Potatoes, a third party authoring tool for creating language exercises. Carly Born, Academic Technologist, Carleton College.