Thursday, July 17, 2008

Moodle Resources

I spent yesterday presenting about Moodle at a 1:1 conference for NC schools that are either interested or on their way to ubiquitous computing. They were excited and scared all at the same time, but it was great that they were getting an opportunity to share that. I had agreed to do a "hands-on" session which even though I knew that would be impossible I wanted to at least talk to them about Moodle could do. I was astounded to find that most of these teachers would soon be using Moodle and had never recieved any training. Not only that, but they had never used an LMS before and this was a new concept. I quickly changed my presentation from an overview and playtime with Moodle, "How the heck do I get started?" AKA "What do I need to do first?" What scared me the most though was that I couldn't help them. I couldn't go to their schools and teach all of them and I didn't know who could. So I decided to come up with the resources I could to help them. I hope to create a wiki page soon to bring all these together.

The Three Activities You Should Use the First Time You Use Moodle (Scaffold yourself - start here then move on next semester)
1) Forums
2) Assignments
3) Resources

Online Documentation: http://docs.moodle.org/en/Teacher_documentation
Getting Started with Moodle http://docs.moodle.org/en/Getting_started_for_teachers
Moodle Teaching Certificate http://moodle.com/certification/

Moodle Training (Corporate Moodle Partners)
Classroom Revolution
Moodle Rooms
Remote Learner

GlobalClassroom.us
Provides FREE Moodle classrooms to use with your students

NC Learn - Moodle Training - Carolina Online Teacher Program


Hope to include more soon.

6 comments:

Sarah Hanawald said...

Hi Bethany,

I found you! I was the one from NC on the panel Vinnie Vrotny was live blogging at the Laptop Institute last week. From your post, I found out about the NC 1:1 group, about which I knew nothing. We've been 1:1 for 8 years now at Greensboro Day School. I'm going to look around and try to get involved. I'd love to collaborate!

Sarah Hanawald

Anonymous said...

Yea for Moodle! I'm getting ready to set up my first Moodle site so thanks for the resources. I've also added your wiki to a new SH page on Web 2.0. Thanks for the good work!
Beth

Bethany Smith said...

Hi Sarah,

It is amazing how it takes the Internet to meet people in your back yard! I'd love to talk more, feel free to email me bethanyvsmith at gmail dot com.

Bethany Smith said...

Hi Beth,

Moodle totally rocks (can you tell I like it :) Good luck with setting up your new site - are you doing it for the Science House or personal? Love to know what server you are using - I always get asked how other people implement things.

Talk to you soon!
-Bethany

Anonymous said...

Bethany,
I visit a lot of schools using Moodle. The teachers (and the students)love it. We have 170+ 1:1high schools in Indiana and hope to expand it even further. I find even more "seasoned" teachers taking to it quickly.

Bethany Smith said...

Hi Gary,

I'm glad to hear that "seasoned" teachers are taking to Moodle. I have had push back from a few that like the way they used BlackBoard and don't want to change to a new tool. Either way, I just want them to use an LMS :)

-Bethany