BP9_Moodle

Moodle was recommended by one of my Critical Friends. He uses is to conduct "class" environments for his students to attend from home outside of normal school hours. He finds that his students are more attentive and ultimately progress faster when a portion of their learning is done away from other students. His after hours classes consist of student posting and video/audio presentation. The students can only respond with chat, but Dan is presenting in audio mostly.


He will be helping me to start my own Moodle classroom to incorporate additional learning that will benefit my students (above and beyond the required classroom work). On the off-chance that my school does not already have a Moodle administrator, I will use the Wimba platform that our District does have set up.


I intend for the use of Moodle in my program and my ARP to create an inclusive atmosphere that will generate buy-in for the attitudes that I am trying to instill. Our classes will look at the Graphic Communications industry, hiring practices, free-lance sites, pay-scales, job-requirements and actual hiring companies. I'll dispense advice based on my industry experience and we will get feedback from students, who are already working free-lance, about their experiences.


The main challenges to this approach will be to create an atmosphere, by using Moodle's security settings, that is safe for my students to use and creating a learning environment that is productive. I expect to have to use extra-credit or regular credit promises to get the initial participants. Many teachers use attendance at local productions (plays and musicals) or the after school viewing of special movies or the participation in various additional training/tutoring sessions as additional credit to be applied to a student's grade. I will use the same strategy.