March 06, 2008

The Moodle Experience

The Moodle Experience - 

Learn to use Open Source Software - Moodle to add a virtual learning environmentMoodle to your teaching.

  • Session 1: Moodle from a Student Perspective
  • Session 2: Intro to Teaching With Moodle
  • Session 3: Assessment
  • Session 4: Design your own Learning Tasks
  • Session 5: Peer Feedback, Review, and Revise
  • 1.  Navigate to  http://vtlearn.org/

    2.  Register as a new student

    3.  Search for "moodle experience"

    4. Enroll in this class.  (scroll down)

    5. As your instructor I will guide you through "The Moodle Experience" using a combination of face to face and online activities.

    To view this course as a guest  (or to go directly to it after you log in, click on the link below:

    http://vt.globalclassroom.us/course/view.php?id=223

    I had trouble reaching the right place in the course, until I allowed popups for the VTlearn site.

    January 29, 2008

    Educon Reflection - It Wasn't about the Technology

    This is a cross Posted from My Infinite Thinking Blog Post - January 29, 2008

    Friday morning I found myself standing in a starkly naked room filled with empty desk and chairs that replicated those that the Founding Fathers of the United States Government sat in as they deliberated the future of their new nation. Two centuries ago, a brilliant group of passionate men came together to craft a document that would lay the foundation for a vision that would shape the future of their country. These men were so committed to crafting a document that reflected the best of their deep thinking and strong convictions that they gave up on the tasks of ‘tweaking’ the Articles of Confederations and created a brand new document – The U.S. Constitution .

    As I listened to the Independence Hall guide, I thought back to the recent conversation responding to Will Richardson’s Some New Year's Dreaming post, debating whether whether a change in education could come about by evolution, or whether revolution was the only hope for transforming our schools.

    These thoughts were the perfect launching point for what was to be 2 and ½ days of conversation amongst some of the most passionate, caring, and thoughtful educators I’ve had the privilege of meeting. Two days of conversations about the possibilities for education when the right combination of passion and pedagogy are supported by transformative tools left participants of EduCon 2.0 emotional and inspired as they returned home to continue the work of transforming our 21st century schools.

    Emotions, reflection, call to action, manifesto’s, and yes… more conversation continue far beyond the weekend, and extend way beyond the walls of the Science Leadership Academy, where Chris Lehman (visionary Principal and leader extradonaire) and his learning network hosted this fabulous Un-Conference. If every participant finds themselves able to channel the emotion, energy, and inspiration from Educon 2.0 to "just win more than three" colleagues as Kevin Jarret's Educon reflection suggest … than the weekend was truly an agent of change.

    But the change agents, were not just those who attended, it was also each of you who participated in the conversation remotely through U-Stream modeling the power of transformative tools in learning. As many of us stated over and over again this weekend – it was not about the technology. The transformative part was not that we were using U-Streams to record or wikis to post our notes. The transformative part was that the sessions were set up as CONVERSATIONS not presentations. And these conversations would not have been the same without the hundreds of remote participants contributing through the backchannel chat; nor would they have been the same without the collaborative features of wikis to dynamically share knowledge throughout the weekend and beyond; nor would they have been the same had they not been extension of many prior conversations happening throughout the edublogosphere.

    For those of you who missed the event – it’s not too late to participate. The hundreds of pictures already on Flickr will provide visual cues to the energy level that was present. My favorite was the photos of the MAC Lab noticeably void of computers adjacent to the photos displaying the white Apple branded laptops visible throughout the school, in the hands the students whose job it was to care for and use the tools in the service of learning. But more symbolic to me than the laptops in those photos were the white lab coats worn by the students at SLA – the uniform of inquiry.

    While some of these bright and inquiring minds brought the voices of students in the conversations, others offered a wonderful service to the community unable to attend by operating video cameras that made the conversations available through U-Stream. Each of the wiki pages that accompanied the 6 strands of “conversations”, not only contain notes, digital handouts, and links, but also contain an archived U-Stream video when possible. And for those who prefer their conversatoins in a 3-D space, check out the space Konrad Glogowski created for Virtual EduCon in Second Life. The richness doesn’t stop there; hundreds of blog posts tagged EduCon provide insights, reflections, and opportunities for the conversations to continue. So whether you were in Philadelphia this weekend, or elsewhere, transformative technologies coupled with thoughtful, pedagogically sound format for a “conference “ -- or “unconference” has provided you with an entry point into the conversation. May you join the conversation! Thank you to all who contributed to Educon and the learning that is extending from it.

    January 20, 2008

    Awakening the Spirit of Innovation

    Cross Posted on Infinite Thinking Machine Sunday, January 20, 2008

    I’ve been “green” with envy as some of my colleagues who ordered an XO laptop unpack their little GREEN machines. Mine has not arrived yet. But as I listen to their first impression comments , I’m reminded of the VISION of the OLPC (one laptop per child) project and that the nature of children to explore, express, and learn were key in the design of this tool that would find itself in the hands of children all over the world. I hear questions like:

    "Why doesn’t it come with a spreadsheet?”
    “Where’s the productivity suite?”
    “Would this be a tool I could use in my classroom with my students?”

    Suddenly I realize that we are thinking like teachers. This tool was not designed for us. According to the OLPC website, the XO laptop was intended to give children

    “…tools for writing, composing, simulating, expressing, constructing, designing, modeling, imagining, creating, critiquing, debugging, and collaborating."

    “The laptop takes learners beyond instruction. They are actively engaged in a process of learning through doing. …. “

    “The laptop helps children build upon their active interest in the world around them to engage with powerful ideas”


    The XO laptop was even designed to be taken apart and repaired by kids. No, This Does No Void the Warranty! ;-)

    I’m not going to predict the impact of the OLPC, nor argue its merit. But this event certainly has me revisiting thoughts about the impact on society of not providing children with enough opportunity to “explore, express, and learn” . A re we continuing towards the “perfect storm” that Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson warns of if we ignore the “quiet crisis” of not growing the next generation of scientist and engineers?

    While educators have become tuned into the fact that more and more kids are coming to school without book sense and are developing researched based programs to address this, a kindergarten teacher in Tennessee worries “about the number of kids coming into my classroom who don’t know how scissors work.” Educational consultant, Jim Moulton, ponders the impact of this and asserts that


    the mastery of scissors is even one of the early steps on the road to Advanced Placement physics or chemistry. I believe that the kinesthetic experience they provide around equilibrium, experience gained in struggling to master this simple tool so as to be able to cut construction paper smoothly, lays a foundation for future complex conceptual understandings.”


    It was exactly this type of need that lead Gever Tuller to create the Tinkering School. Despite the provocative title of his Ted Talk “Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do”, the message is really about allowing kids the freedom to explore to make them stronger, smarter, and safer.

    Children receiving the XO laptops have not lacked the opportunity to explore the principles of physics in their natural environments, but now have access to a new tool equipped to support their desire to learn, express, and explore. But what about places, where children currently have access to such tools? Do they have access to the opportunity to use these tools the way the XO laptops will be able to be used? Or will the access to these tools continue to be stifled by “teacher think” and “school restrictions” or “lawsuit fears” ?


    Having spent many of my teaching years reconciling the need to report on a ‘checklist’ of foundational skills that every student must know about a subject area with my project based learning approach, I understand the struggle. Accountability that is based on reporting what we can measure, doesn’t leave much time for the type exploring, expressing and learning that grows innovators and scientists.

    But as I watch the excitement in my “grown up” friends as they explore their little green machines, I have a renewed interest in finding ways to bring back learning by exploration to today’s students. And I’m not talking about waiting for the availability of the XO laptops in your country; I’m talking about reaching for tools that are currently available that will promote this type of learning.

    • Let’s dig out our old version of Incredible Machine or look for new games like Crayon Physics that stimulate innovative thinking in our students.


    • Let’s get rid of the obstacles that prevent tools like the many WEB 2.0 applications from being fully deployed in schools. Ning, Wikispaces, and Voice Threads are leading the way by adding features that make it possible to safely deploy these excting tools thus supporting this type of learning in schools.


    • Let’s share the resouces we find with our fellow educators and support a network of educators who are committed to give this generation of “incredible thinking machines” -- our students—the resources, the permission, the encouragement, the guidance they need to use technology in the spirit of innovation.


    I invite readers to share some of the games, tools, web 2.0 apps, etc. that they feel have this type of potential. I’d love to do a followup post filled with these resources.

    November 25, 2007

    Thanksgiving 2007

    I took my first trip to the desert this Thanksgiving.  I few to Tucson; visited the Sonora Desert, then drove through Sedona on my way to the Grand Canyon.  The way back brought us back through Sedona.  It was wonderful to have a host who had much experience with the Canyon and the desert.  Knowing that Craig had hiked down and back when he was 16 with his Dad, and once again with his daughter when she was 16 was part of the experience. 

    www.flickr.com
    This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called Arizona 2007

    You can view these pictures as a Slideshow.

    November 05, 2007

    Podcasting Workshop at ANESU

    Welcome to a series of 3 podcasting workshops for Addison NorthEast Supervisory Union.  This workshop will take on a constructivist learning approach and be shaped by participants using this wiki.

    November 01, 2007

    Redesign Research with Social Bookmarking

    Redesigning Research With Social Bookmarking Tools
    for Vermontfest 2007
    Thursday - 9:40 - 10:40 Northstar 2
    Presentation Link

    Social bookmarking sites such as __del.icio.us__ and Furl are replacing 'favorites' and 'bookmarks' amongst fans of Web 2.0. Understanding the power of these tools will increase your productivity as a teacher; it can also help you redesign assignments in ways that increases and assesses critical thinking skills in your students. Alan November encourages educators to fight increased plagiarism by redesigning the assignment. Social bookmarking tools allow you to do just that.
    Based on this blog entry which I posted at InfiniteThinking Machine----

    October 31, 2007

    Web 2.0 to School 2.0

    From Web 2.0 to School 2.0 - VermontFest 2007 Pre-Conference Workshop
    Lucie deLaBruere (Northstar 2  October 31, 2007 6:00 - 9:00) -


    Presentation Link for this workshop.

    Web20 The potential of Web 2.0 to bring the pedagogy of John Dewey back in focus in today's educational landscape has everyone talking about School 2.0 . This hands on workshop will introduce participants to Web 2.0 tools that can support John Dewey's tradition of active, engaged, constructivist learning. Come learn how to redesign research assignments using social bookmarking tools like __del.icio.us__ , use YOU-Tube and other video sites,~ work on group projects using Wikis, publish to a global audience by blogging and podcasting, collaborate with Google Docs and Spreadsheet, and more. Examples of real teachers using Web 2.0 with their students will accompany practical hands on instructions during the workshop.

    October 17, 2007

    Vermont School Library Association Presentation

    Blogs, Wikis and Social Bookmarking ( a Dynamic Combo)
    How can librarians share resources dynamically by combining the power of social bookmarking with blogs and wikis? What are the differences between each and which practices do each of these support best? The session will include a brief hands-on session to start using each of these three tools

    Let's get started at: http://vsla.wikispaces.com/

    By the end of the workshop you will understand

    • the difference between a blog and a wiki
    • how bookmarks got social
    • and how these 3 tools work together as a dynamic combination of tools
    • how 21st century librarians are using these tools

    Many thanks to Carolyn Foote for providing such wonderful resources for this presentation.

    September 27, 2007

    Two Incredible Opportunities for Learning this Fall

    Coming up in the next month are two exciting conferences that I’m encouraging educators to attend. 

    The first is one of two educational technology conferences held in Vermont each year.  VTFEST (formerly known as Applefest) has been  providing professional development and networking opportunies for educators using technology for almost 30 years.  Here are 3 reasons I recommend educators consider attending Vermont Fest.

    1)      It’s wonderful to see real live examples from our peers of how they are implementing technology in their classrooms.  Knowing that one of our very own has discovered a new way to use technology and is willing to share it with us not only informs us, but also makes us proud.

    2)      The opportunity to network with our colleagues from around the state rejuvenates us and renews our commitment to work together to bring equitable access to technology resources in all our Vermont classrooms (no matter how rural)

    3)      An opportunity to drive to any corner of Vermont on a crisp Autum day and to soak in Vermont’s best hot tub (at the Killington Grand) will have you returning to school refreshed and inspired to learn and lead with technology.

    The second is the annual K12 Online Conference  starting with a half a dozen inspiring preconference keynotes during the week of October 8, followed by two weeks of fabulous workshops (Octoer 12 – 26) from leading technology using educators from all over the world.  This year’s theme “Playing with Boundaries” is bound to provide some innovative insight and provocative discussion in how to use Web 2.0 tools to improve learning.  Here are 3 reasons I will be attending the K12 Online Conference.

    1)      There isn’t a single workshop I wouldn’t want to attend; and I won’t have to choose, since I can attend each one in my own space and my own time.

    2)      The price is right!  And since travel related to professional development was cut from our budget during the last round of budget defeats, I can still get award winning professional development from the best tech using educators in the world.

    3)      I’ve enriched the graduate class I teach by giving my students a choice of attending one of over 30 top notch guest speakers for one of our class sessions.

    K-12 Online Conference 2007

    See you soon – either on the mountain side of beautiful Killington Vermont or online at the K12 Online Conference!

    Happy Learning!

    Creating Virtual Communities a la Moodle

    As first posted at www.InfiniteThinking.org on September 15, 2005

    "The daily working life of most teachers is one of unrelieved time pressure and isolation; they work, largely alone, in a classroom of 25-30 children or adolescents for hours every day." Prisoners of Time. National Education Commission on Time and Learning. April 1994


    Since this publication was released over a decade ago, many technological tools have emerged that have potential to relieve the isolation and combat the lack of mutual time to plan, converse, and reflect that teachers so desperately need. In her article "Professional Development Through Learning Communities", Kathleen Fulton talks about how the same forces that drive us to use technology to create learning communities for students, "offer the opportunity for new models for the professional growth of teachers. Learning communities share a way of knowing, a set of practices, and shared value of the knowledge that comes from these procedures. These learning communities, with expanded human and technological resources, bring together students, teachers, and community members in directing the course of education in new ways."

    Tools like Tapped In, Second Life, Google Groups, and Ning communities such as Classroom 2.0 provide innovative ways to create virtual places for professional development, collegiality, collaboration, and social interaction. But one tool, that may be overlooked to help teachers form learning communities is Moodle       (For the rest of the story.. check out Infinite Thinking - September 15 2005)